Tehri, A Dish that Crosses Borders & Connects Communities

Shirin Mehrotra finds that the beloved UP Tehri appears in many forms, with avatars that stretch across the Deccan plateau, to the mountains of Kashmir, and cross the border to Pakistan, each with its own fascinating origin story.

A memory of wedding celebrations in Uttar Pradesh that remains firmly imprinted in my brain is of the entire family sitting under the winter sun, shelling fresh green peas; a degchi (large pot) placed on the stove, at the ready to cook tehri for the whole family. Despite lavish meals cooked during wedding season, one day would always be dedicated to the simple one pot meal of rice and fresh vegetables, served with raita, kachumber and pickle. So what is tehri? I’ve always had trouble explaining it to those who don’t know. Is it yellow pulao? Is it vegetarian biryani? In my opinion tehri is neither; it holds its own place in UP’s culinary repertoire. It is not made as an alternative to a biryani or pulao; it is cooked when we specifically crave tehri. Sliced onions are fried in mustard oil with whole spices, potatoes, and cauliflower; fresh green peas, red carrots are added in winter; rice is mixed in, and cooked in a covered pot. My mother also often adds mungodi — dried mung daal dumplings, a mainstay in most kitchens in Uttar Pradesh. And then there’s turmeric, lending tehri its distinct bright yellow colour. A spoonful of ghee is finally added to the cooked tehri, and it is eaten with yogurt salad, mint-coriander chutney or pickle. Tehri is cooked when there’s a bounty of fresh produce, as well as when there are only a few vegetables in the fridge; it is a perfect meal for the days we don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen, and still want a meal worthy of celebration.

The most common origin story of tehri is that it was created for Hindu bookkeepers in the courts of Awadh, the Kayastha community. However, food chronicler and researcher Ruchi Shrivastava says that she is yet to find any court literature that confirms this origin story. According to the popular anecdote, tehri was born in the royal kitchens, from where it trickled down to aristocracy, and then eventually to the common people. But Shrivastava offers a different hypothesis, “Either a cook in an aristocratic household attempted a vegetarian version of pulao; or it could just have been made by common folks, inspired by the stories of rich pulaos and biryans from the royal kitchens.” The need to link common people’s food back to royals, Shrivastava adds, is a recurring theme in many cultures, often with not much basis in facts. The stark difference between Kayastha and UP Khatri recipes for tehri is the use of onions and mustard oil; the Kayastha community use both, and the UP Khatris cook theirs without onions, and use ghee instead of mustard oil.

Tehri has many variations, and not just in UP. There is a version cooked in Jammu and Kashmir called tehar, the quintessential comfort meal in Kashmiri Pandit households. This is a simpler version of rice cooked with turmeric, with a tadka of mustard oil added to it. “Traditionally tehar is cooked as an offering to Zeshta Bhagwati in Zeathyar, the local deity on Thursdays,” says Nalini Moti Sadhu, owner of Matamaal restaurant in Gurgaon. It is typically served with tcharvan aloo (lamb liver and potatoes cooked in a rogan josh-like gravy). “Kashmiri Pandits cook tehar on birthdays. A pooja is conducted by the priest at home and tehar is offered as bhog to the deities. The bhog is then distributed as small palm-pressed rice-balls called tahri-me, and is also offered to birds,” says Indra Kilam who runs a YouTube channel for Kashmiri Pandit cuisine called Orzoo Kitchen. Food writer Marryam Reshii says that tehar is common in Kashmiri Muslim households too, where fried shallots are added to the dish, as a quasi-religious offering. Tehri/tahri emerges in a completely different form in the Sindh region, where it is cooked as a sweet dish with sugar or jaggery, cardamom, fennel seeds, and dry fruits; here, the mild yellow colour comes from saffron, and not turmeric. This version is similar to zarda, a celebratory rice dish made in UP. Food writer Pooja Makhijani, who has writes about this dish for NPR, says, “Tahri is served on Cheti Chand, or the Sindhi new year, wherein Hindu Sindhis offer the aromatic rice dish as Prasad.” She also mentions that during langar, this tahri is served with sai bhaji (the famous Sindhi stew made with lentils and green leafy vegetables), or bhee aloo (a lotus stem and potato preparation).

While tehri is considered to be predominantly vegetarian, there are meat variations in Bangladesh and the Deccan region. “Bangladeshi tehri is a famous dish originating from old Dhaka, and traditionally made with beef — making it different from Indian or Pakistani tehri,” says food writer Dina Begum. It is neither biryani nor pulao, as it is neither layered nor cooked in yakhni stock, she explains. Dhakai tehri gets its flavour from beef cooked in copious volumes of mustard oil, and green chillies, creating a strong pungent flavour and rich aroma. The Deccan variant too, is cooked with meat. “During the Battle of Plassey and Buxar, all the three forces — Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad — were working together to keep the British East India Company at bay, so there was intermingling of soldiers”, says Shrivastava. It is believed that tehri crossed over with the soldiers.

An influx of migrants from UP to Pakistan also ensured that tehri crossed the borders. “Tehri is comfort food in Pakistan, especially during the summer,” says food writer Maryam Jillani. “My mother’s family who migrated from Ludhiana in Punjab frequently makes it at home. Even though my family is from Eastern Punjab, I’m not surprised that tehri has its roots in Awadh. The region’s cuisine has had such a strong influence on the culinary culture of Muslims in the sub-continent,” she adds. Jillani’s version of the dish is similar to the one in UP, with the addition of ginger, garlic and nigella seeds. Even within UP, tehri is cooked differently; the most common version requires each grain of rice to be separate (khule chawal), and coated in fat. But during the new harvest season, tehri is lumpy because of the presence of starch. Tehri is in its most glorious form during basant (spring) when the vegetables and greens are full flavour; the bright yellow of the dish is a celebration of Basant Panchami.

Recipe: Tehri

Ingredients
2 cups rice
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 cup cauliflower florets
½ cup fresh green peas
½ cup mungodi
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp garam masala
1 tsp coriander powder
3 tbsp mustard oil
1 tbsp ghee
6 cups water
Green coriander for garnish
Salt to taste 

Method
Heat mustard oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
Fry mungodi in it till they turn golden brown. Remove from oil and keep aside.
Now add onions in the same oil and fry till they turn brown.
Add potatoes, cauliflower, peas and mungodi and fry for 3-4 mins.
Add rice along with water.
Add all the spices and salt.
Cover and cook on low flame till the rice is cooked. Make sure that the tehri is not dried-up completely. It always tastes better when it is a little moist.
Mix in ghee. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with kachumber (onion, tomato, cucumber salad), raita and green chutney. 

 Shirin Mehrotra is a freelance food writer and travels to explore regional food. 

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