Bihar, India's second most populous state, is located the northeast of the country, bordering Nepal. Its territory is home to multiple socio-linguistic groups, with distinct but related cultures. Its cuisine thus encompasses Angika, Bhojpuri, Maithil and Magahi cuisines and is related to both northern and eastern Indian cuisines. In all, it's omnivore cuisine which relies on the use of chicken and goat meats and a plethora of dairy products. Bihari is also known for its stuffed breads, including dal puri - flat bread stuffed with a chickpea mixture.

As much as I would have liked to explore Bihari cuisines in detail - and I will have to seek out Bihari restaurants to do so -, my sojourn into Bihari cuisine was very quick and I only made one dish:

Madhubani Chicken Curry

Madhubani is a small city near the border with Nepal, but this chicken curry seems to be cooked and eaten beyond its borders. It's very simple, and characterized by the use of both cilantro and mint. Indeed, I chose it because I had a lot of mint at home I needed to use. Unfortunately, the flavor is pretty generic - probably owing more to that half-a-teaspoon of garam masala than to the herbs in the recipe. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a generic Indian curry and I did enjoy it.

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Madhubani Chicken Curry Ingredients 2 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cubed 4 tsp salt, divided 3 tsp ground Kashmiri or Aleppo pepper, divided 2 1/2 tsp turmeric, divided 5 green cardamon pods, or 3/4 tsp ground green cardamon 5 black peppercorns or 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds or 1 1/4 tsp ground coriander 6 garlic cloves, peeled and halved 1 1/2" ginger root, peeled and sliced 2 green chili, trimmed 1/3 cup mint leaves 1/3 cup cilantro leaves 1/4 cup mustard oil 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 6 onions, sliced 1-2 cups water or chicken broth 1/2 tsp garam masala Directions Put chicken pieces in a bowl, season with 3 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp Kashmiri pepper and 1 1/2 tsp turmeric, rub all over and allow to marinate in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Remove seeds from cardamon pods. Grind together the cardamon seeds, black peppercorns and coriander seeds. Alternative, mix the ground cardamon, black pepper and coriander. Using an electric food processor, mini-chopper or blender, chop together the garlic cloves, ginger and chili pepper. Add the mint and cilantro leaves, the ground cardamon, black pepper and coriander, the remaining teaspoon of Kashmiri pepper and turmeric and a little bit of water. Process until you have a smooth paste. Heat the oil in a kadhai or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the cumin seeds and cook until they are aromatic. Add the onions and remaining teaspoon of salt, turn heat to medium, and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions are golden brown. Turn heat to low, add spice paste and sauté stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the chicken, turn heat to medium, and cook until all sides have turned white. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil, cover, turn heat to low and simmer, uncovered until the chicken has cooked through, about 40 minutes. Add the garam masala and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Adapted from Andrew Grygus' recipe at Clove Garden and Shaila's Dastarkhwan's recipe on YouTube.

Other Indian cuisines I've cooked: Indian, Anglo-Indian, Assamese, Awadhi, Balti, Bengali, Bene Israel, Bodo, Chettinad, Cochin Jewish, Dogra, Dum Pukht, Garo, Goan, Gujarati, Haryanvi, Hyderabadi, Indo-Chinese, Karnatakan, Kashmiri, Keralan

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