It’s great when you try some new recipe and it turns out well. But when it doesn’t, you know what happens? You have to finish off an entire thali by yourself. And it’s almost a punishment.
After being used to either sweet stuff alone or spicy stuff alone, my taste buds have become stiff and doesn’t like the combination of two in a single dish. The combination of rice and sugar as a dry dish also didn’t suit my palate.
May be I didn’t prepare it the way it’s meant to be. I will really have to try the authentic version before I judge the dish :-).
But until then, I don’t think I will be making meetha rice again.
The good news is that madri and khatta were good. Both were easy to prepare. Khatta means sour. And this dish IS sour. It was a shock initially, but you learn to like it as you go. It tasted fantastic with curd rice (oh, come on! We have to have curd rice even if it is a Pahari thali :D).
Khatta is topped off with some boondi (ready made, of course) before serving.
Madra is a yogurt based dish. It’s prepared with chick peas usually. But the recipe I zeroed down finally had potatoes in it. Since I was preparing a chickpea based curry (with dates), I went ahead with the potato madra.
Like Kerala feast is called Sadya, Himachali feast food (for weddings and all) is called Dham. You can read a bit here in this link about Dham.
The Menu:
- Khatta : The dish lives up to its name. It’s really khatta (sour). This aamchur (dry mango powder) based curry is sprinkled with boondi and served
- Meetha Bhaat( recipe in the comments section) : This is a dessert. Rice cooked with sugar, milk and dry fruits.
- Himachali Madra : A yogurt based chickpea curry. The one I zeroed down was the potato version.
- Chhole Mithas Liye : Chickpea in a sweet date gravy. I personally didn’t like it.
- Plain rice
My Kitchen Trials 
Being from Himachal myself I would like to say that you need to taste food in a Himachali Dham.Its absolutely delicious.Dont take this in a wrong way but I don’t think you have succeeded anywhere near to what the original food is like in a dham.
LikeLike
Would you have by any chance thecrecipevof Chamba Chukh ? I am looking for an authentic recipe. Thanks so much. Ajay
LikeLike
Even I was about to ask about the rice…I wanted to check out why you didn’t like it..I loved your thali anyway..very nicely prepared!
LikeLike
Regardless of how the meetha rice tasted, it does look very tempting. You photographed it so well. Once again, great job on the thali. I made chana madra for this state.
LikeLike
you are tempting me with this comforting thali, all the dishes are so appealing and appetizing..
LikeLike
Love the clicks Rajani. That little plant has great screen presence :-)
All the dishes including the sweet rice look great (on the screen).
LikeLike
unique madra version with potato. I wont mind the rice:)
LikeLike
Love the thali there. Please pass on the sweet rice over here.
LikeLike
So madra gets your approval? :))
Everything looks good in pictures.
LikeLike
Looks like a delicious thali. Usually it is an acquired taste when we come to unknown dishes. Hope you like it after three or four times…
LikeLike
Yummmmm ! Am stopping t drool over the pics !
LikeLike
same pinch..i would not like chick peas in a sweet gravy…Himachali Food is actually very delicious, I picked it up from a chef there itself and trust me the khatta ..the madra, sweet rice ..all the dishes were super hit.It is rich food..delicious too, I love that thali to the core.
LikeLike
Loved the spread… I do not find the recipe of the sweet rice.. Did you not add it because you did not like it? Actually looks picture perfect… Others are yummy too, but that sweet rice caught my eyes..
LikeLike
love that miniature tree of yours.. makes every picture pretty. I was very doubtful about the khatta that I initially chose to do for Himachal Pradesh. I thought, decided, then changed my mind, again deliberated and finally decided against it. I didn’t know how my folks would take it.
LikeLike
You rock with ur thalis Rajani, dont makes me drool like this daily.. Seriously wish i could make thalis like u.
LikeLike