Bohra Cuisine

Dawoodi Bohra's are Mustali subsect of Islamili Shia Islam originated in Yemen, who later spread to India and Pakistan. Widely spread across the globe, from the Middle East, Pakistan, Egypt, Africa, Iraq, Iran, India to western world, the cuisine has adapted from all the influences. There is also a lot of overlap in cuisines compared to other Indian Shia sub sects and Ismaliis.  


The early settlement of Bohra's in Gujrart particularly Surat, has led to major Gujarati influences in the cuisine. A lot of Mughlai dishes specially kebabs and tikkas are widely made in Bohra families.The roots being from Yemen, the cuisine has many Arabic and Middle Eastern influences as well.

Food plays an integral part of Bohra's daily life. Apart from the detectable and distinctive cooking style, there are certain traditional ways in which food is prepared and served. One of the important and age old traditions is eating in thal. Thal is large round metal plate, where the family sits around it helping themselves from the same dish, course by course to have any meal of the day. Its considered to be a symbol of unity, equality and sharing. A square cloth called safra is placed on the carpet, and raised metal or wooden round called kundali is placed on which the thal is kept.  Even on a daily basis, if a dish has been placed on the thal, there must be at least one person seated before it as food must not be ignored and while the other person eats, one can't get up when done.

Every meal starts and ends with taking a grain of salt which is believed to clear the taste bud and cure many diseases. Another important traditional is of eating sodanna which is basically cooked rice sprinkled with granulated sugar and ghee (clarified butter) to start the meal on special religious occasions. 


Unlike the common norm, Bohra meal starts with dessert instead of ending with dessert. There are many sweets which are distinguishably Bohra like Malida (a sweet made with wheat and jaggery), lacchka (a cracked wheat halwa, usually made on first day of the year of Bohra calender), Kalamro (a yogurt based rice pudding) to name a few. Sancha (hand cranked) icecreams are also churned on special occasions.

The dessert is followed by a savory appetizers and then a full course meal is served usually accompanied with salad. Rice dishes are made extensively in Bohra cusine from Biryani to all kind of pulaos. Bohra khichda (delicacy made mutton and beaten wheat) , kheema khichdi ( minced meat pulao), Lagan ya seekh (layered minced meat topped with eggs), kheema na samosa (minced meat samosas ), mutton kari chawal (spiced coconut milk based stew served with fragrant basmati rice studded with peas) are some specialties of Bohra cuisine that one can never get enough of. 

Bohra's make a variety of soups generally to company the rice dishes. Soups can be cold soups like Sarki (made with tuvar dal garnished with cucumber, tomatoes, spring onions and beaten yogurt) , to hot soups like Sarka (made of tuvar dal, groundnut and coconut)  to spiced tomato soups.

Different from the western practice of grilling, roasting or searing, meat is often  boiled with ginger, garlic and chilly paste. Beef though not restricted, is seldom a choice of meat. The sauce or the gravy for the curry is prepared and the boiled meat is added to create the final dish resulting in a perfectly soft and succulent chicken or mutton. This could have been adapted from the Arabic way of cooking meat, which often involves boiling meat. 

A talk about Bohra food can't be completed without mentioning Dal Chawal Palidu (DCP). DCP is essentially vegetarian a rice dish which had three different components to it. Dal which is the generic name for Indian lentils, chawal referring to rice and palidu is a flour based stew, stewed with drumstick or bottlegourd. The rice is mixed with tuvar dal (pigeon pea lentil) and served with palidu.  Boiled mutton can also be added to the dal making it non vegetarian.

Bohra cuisine has a large array of unique recipes which I'll be covering on blog from time to time. If you have a food blog featuring Bohra cuisine, send me the link I would love to add it to the blogroll.  


*Please note that recipes that come under Bohra cuisine may be made in any other Indian house, but when I mention it under Bohra cuisine I mean that its generally made in Bohra household. 

Sweets/Desserts

Pineapple halwa - Pineapple pudding 

Kheer - Indian rice pudding

Khajur no Halwo - Date Pudding 

Appetizer - Savory 

Shami kebab - Meat patties made with lentils and spices

Teekha aloo - Spicy potatoes 

Maincourse

Non Veg

Gosh ni tarkari - Mutton stew 

Lagan ya seekh - Minced meat layered with tomatoes, potatoes and finished with egg 

Mutton korma - Mutton cooked in tomato sauce and finished with yogurt and fried onions

Spicy fried fish

Veg

Kefti dal - Mixed lentil soup

Patwalya - Colocasia leaf rolls

Gavarfali ni sabzi - Cluster beans cooked in spices and tomato sauce 

Dudhi ni tarkari - Bottle gourd soup 

Salads or Sides

Baigan nu bharta - Baigan ka bharta - Roasted eggplant with yogurt

Blogs featuring Bohra recipes
One Life To Eat