Biriya Curry: A Maithil Delicacy Made with Chickpea Greens
From the Mithilanchal region of Bihar, is a unique recipe featuring chickpea greens, sundried and coated in flour, to be used in a spicy potato and mustard gravy.
My mother, like all mothers, tried endlessly to incorporate greens into our meals. I always resisted lauki and karela, but spicy biriya curry was an immovable favourite. Biriya, a dried form of chickpea greens, are a native delicacy of the Mithila or Mithilanchal region of Bihar. The Maithili-speaking districts span Begusarai, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, and even include a few districts of south Nepal.
There are several parallels between the food cultures of this region and Nepalese and Bengali cuisine, differentiating Mithilanchal from the food culture of the Bhojpuri people of Bihar, whose cuisine is influenced by Awadhi. Distinctive to our cooking style is the extensive use mustard, and our tempering technique, or chauka. Most Maithil curry recipes use a mustard gravy, including fish curry, and the curry in our spotlight today — biriya.
No meal within the Maithil community is considered complete without the inclusion of leafy dishes known as saag. Our cuisine is an ode to saag: bathua, laal saag, patua saag, genhari, karmi, sariso saag. Leafy curries like colocasia curry (arikanchan or kanch, in Maithili) or leafy fritters (tarua) made from Ivy gourd leaves or pumpkin flowers as favourties accompaniments. Colocasia curry is also cooked in a mustard gravy.
Oher popular dishes from the cuisine include - chura-dahi, kachri-murhi, jhilli, badi, baingan-adauri, aloo-kumhrauri, teesi-sajmain (bottle gourd with flax seeds), moong dal chutney, sattu puri, dal puri, ole (yam) chutney, maach jhor (fish curry), taral maach (fried fish), doka jhor (oyster curry), kankor (crab) chutney, makhana kheer, sakrauri (boondi cooked in milk and sugar) and dudh-bagiya (rice dumplings cooked in milk and sugar).
Chickpea is essentially a winter crop in the tropics, and a summer crop in temperate regions. But the preparation of its leaves as bidiya is enjoyed all year round in Maithil kitchens. It is also an excellent source of several nutrients and minerals required by the human body, and is considered more nutritious than spinach and cabbage.
Biriya pods are also prepared out of khesari saag, or leaves of Indian grass pea, Lathyrus sativus. The sale and storage of grass pea itself has been banned by the Indian government since 1961 based on reports that it contains a neurotoxin that causes paralysis of lower limbs. But the leaves are safe, and still used in rural kitchens to make biriya.
The taste of biriya is much like methi, slightly bitter. Its texture is grassy, with an extremely mild aroma. For the preparation of biriya pods, gram greens are washed thoroughly (at least three times), to wash out any soil. The wet leaves are then collected in a tiny bunch, and fastened at the ends to form pods. They are then left out to sun-dry for a day. These pods are then dipped in gram flour or wheat flour paste the following day, so the pods tack together, and are sundried again. These dried greens are now ready to cook a delicious biriya curry.
RECIPE FOR CHICKPEA GREENS OR BIRIYA CURRY
Ingredients
10-15 biriya pods
300 g potatoes, chopped
3 tbsp mustard paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
Chilli powder, to taste
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp mustard oil
Method
Heat mustard oil in a pan, stir fry the biriya pods lightly and set aside.
Add more oil, and add in the mustard seeds and bay leaves as the oil heats up. When the seeds begin to crackle, add the potatoes and fry.
Now, add the mustard and garlic paste and fry with the potatoes. Add the turmeric, salt and chilli powder into the pan. Your kitchen should be heavy with spicy aroma.
Allow to cook for a few minutes, then add 2-3 glasses of water to the fried greens.
Stir gently and cover; bring to simmer on a medium flame until it achieves the desired consistency (as thick or as runny as you like).
Your Maithil style biriya-curry is now ready to be served. It is best enjoyed with hot rice. Some sliced onions on the side are a great accompaniment.
Geetika Mishra is a freelance writer, from the land of Litti-Chokha. She also runs a small business in the milk processing sector in her hometown Madhubani. You can follow her work here.
ALSO ON THE GOYA JOURNAL
