Gujarat state is world-famous for its vibrant festival Dance forms Garba & Dandiya and secondly for its ravishing Gujarati dishes. If you ever had a chance to visit Gujarat and not tasted the sweet and spicy Gujarati traditional dishes, then it’s a waste. If you’re who loves eating sweet in everything, then you will like Gujarati food as it is the uniqueness of Gujarati food that some amount of sugar is there in each dish.
Gujarati cuisines include variety of street food as well as sweet dishes.
Let’s look out some of the famous food of Gujarat cuisine.
- Khandvi – Khandvi is the most popular snack in Gujarat. Made from gram flour batter consisting yogurt turmeric, and ginger paste. The batter is cooked and rolled into small pieces and served as a snack, either hot or cold. The khandvi dish is garnished with grated coconut, cheese, and coriander. Generally served with chutneys.
- Gujarati Samosa – Gujarati Samosa is a spicy treat that is not only popular in Gujarat but all over the country. The white flour batter is rolled in shape and stuffed with a filling of sauteed peas, sugar, and lime juice. Best to enjoy with a cup of tea.
- Undhiyu – Undhiyu is a classical Gujarati dish made in an inverted clay pot. The dish is made from eggplant, muthiyas, potatoes, yam, green peas, bananas, beans, buttermilk, coconut, and spices. Undhiyu is a winter delicacy served with puris and shrikhand during Gujarati weddings.
- Gujarati Kadhi – Gujarati Kadhi is a traditional summer staple prepared with plain yogurt or fresh curd. The curd is mixed with gram flour and a variety of spices like cumin seeds, mustard seeds, ginger, and chilli peppers are added and then cooked. Gujarati Kadhi has a subtle sweetness due to the addition of sugar or jaggery in it. It is garnished with coriander and served with rice or roti bread.
- Dhokla – Dhokla is the most popular, and a favourite vegetarian snack originated from Gujarat. This dish consists of fermented chickpea and rice batter, spices such as chilli and ginger and garnished with coriander, coconut, or chopped chillies. Different variations like semolina, rice powder, or cheese dhokla are also there. Dhokla is a low calorie dish.
- Bardoli ki Khichdi – BardolikiKhichdi is a Gujarati delight that is prepared with the rice, dal, spices, peas, potatoes, and raw mangoes.
- Thepla – Thepla is a healthy flatbread made from gram flour, whole wheat flour, fresh fenugreek leaves, and spices. Thepla has many varieties such as fenugreek, spinach, amaranth, or raddish theplas. Theplas are served with fresh curd, pickles, or chundo.
- Dal Dhokli – Dal Dhokli is also known as varanphal or chakolya. It is the most famous food of the Marwar region and also found in all Gujarat and Rajasthan. The dish is the wheat dumplings made with urad dal, garlic, peanuts, kokum, and turmeric.
- Fafda – Jalebi – Fafda is a crunchy and fried chickpea flour snack whereas, jalebi is a sweet deep-fried dish made of wheat flour and dipped in sugar. It is served with dry papaya chutney that make the dish more flavourful.
- Handvo – Handvo is the traditional savoury cake prepared in a pressure cooker. Handvo is prepared with a fermented and baked batter of lentils and rice. The dish can also be pan-fried with sesame seeds to make it crispy and golden. It is served with green chutney and a hot cuppa.
- Patra – Patra is a traditional vegetarian dish of Gujarat. This dish is prepared with colocasia leaves stuffed with a spicy mixture of jaggery, gram flour, green chilli paste, and a variety of spices. The leaves are then rolled, steamed, and fried until becomes crispy. Patra is served with the chutney and a cup of tea.
- Muthiya – Muthiya is a dumpling made of chickpea flour, turmeric, chilli powder, fenugreek, and salt. After shaped, it can be either fried or steamed. There are many varieties of Muthiya, such as made with spinach, cabbage, or gourds. Muthiya is garnished with mustard seeds, sesame seeds, and coriander.
- Lilva Kachori – LilvaKachori is a popular delicacy of Gujarat made with a filing of pigeon peas. The Kachori dough is prepared from white flour and semolina, rolled, and filled with the mixture of pigeon peas, green chillies, coriander, and spices. The rolled balls then deep-fried and served hot with tangy chutney or sauce with a cup of tea.
- Sev Tameta nu Shak – SevTameta nu Shak is a sweet, salty, tangy, and spicy shak made from tomatoes and sev. The dish is made with diced and sauteed tomato and onions with spices and garnished with crispy sev along with coriander. This dish is served with paranthas, theplas, or roti.
- Khichu – Khichu is a popular snack of Gujarat commonly found during Dandiya and Garba nights. The Khichu dish includes rice flour, green chillies, cumin seeds, and sesame seeds, cooked in steam, and seasoned with groundnut oil. Its other varieties are wheat flour, ragi flour, bajra flour, and jowar flour.
- Gota – Gota is a special pakoda dish of Gujarat made from gram flour and fenugreek leaves. This dish has origin from the village Dakor in Gujarat. Gota is the traditional dish of Gujarat and specially made during Holi. It is served with variety of chutney made from dates, tamarind and ketchup.
- Mohanthal – Mohanthal is a traditional sweet dish made from sweetened gram flour and flavoured with saffron, cardamom, and nuts like almonds and pistachios. The dish is usually made during the festival of Janmashtami.
- Murghanu Shaak – MurghanuShaak is a unique non-vegetarian dish of Gujarat that has Gujarati flavours with drumstick, potatoes, and the Gujarati masala. This dish consists of marinated chicken and the gravy of onion, garlic, ginger, chilli powder, garam masala, and different varieties of vegetables.
- Ghati – Ghati is a sweet dish also called as Surati Ghati because it is mainly found in Surat. Ghati is usually served at the time of the Chandani Padva festival. It is made of milk, ghee, and puri batter having sweet fillings inside it and then moulded into round shapes. It can be made in different flavours like pistachio, almonds, etc.
- Khakhra – Khakhra is a popular flatbread of Gujarat. Khakhra is made with wheat flour, mat bean, and oil. It is a crispy and healthy snack for breakfast that is served with chutneys or curries. Khakhra can be made a sweet by topping it by ghee and sugar. Gujarti Khakhra is popular throughout the world.
- Doodhpak – Doodhpak is the sweet dish of milk that contains boiled rice, Kesar, and dry fruits. This dish is somewhat like ShahiKheer. Doodhpak is usually made at the time of festivals or occasions and distributed to people as Prashad.
- Dabeli – Dabeli has origin from Kutch in Gujarat and served in other parts of the country as well. Dabeli blends toasted Pav buns filled with mashed potatoes and spices like coriander, turmeric, cardamom, fennel seeds, chilli peppers, and all. The filling is topped with roasted peanuts, pomegranate seeds, sev, crispy noodles, and served with different varieties of chutney.
- Ghughra – Ghughra is a traditional Gujarati snack that is also known as Gujiya and Karanji. This dish is prepared by using the refined flour dough stuffed with the filling of roasted semolina, or rawa, grated coconut, cardamom powder, sugar, and dry fruits like almond, raisins. It’s a unique dish of Gujarat as it is having half moon shape.
- Gathiya – Gathiya is a popular fried snack from Gujarat. Gathiya is made from chickpea flour and served with tea. This Soft and puffy snack specially made at the time of Diwali festival. It also has a sweet version called mitha gathiya.
Now add all these Gujarati dishes on your itinerary list and try to taste when you visit Gujarat.