Madhya Pradesh -- Indori Poha with Jalebi Recipe

Blogging Marathon# 39 – Indian States: Day 15
State: Madhya Pradesh
Dish: Indori Poha with Jalebi

We are exploring Madhya Pradesh today. Madhya Pradesh is in Central India and the name literally means ‘Central Province’. It is nicknamed ‘Heart of India’ because of its geographical location in India and it is the second largest state in the country by area. Madhya Pradesh is home to a large tribal population, who have been cut-off from the main stream development.

Cuisine: Like any other state the cuisine of Madhya Pradesh varies regionally. Wheat and meat are common in the North and West while South and East are dominated by rice and fish. Bhopal is known for meat and fish dishes. From what I’ve read, Indore is foodie’s paradise and therefore it’s now on my bucket list 🙂 Street food of Indore is renowned with eateries that have been active for generations.

Specialties: Dal bafla (consisting of a steamed and grilled wheat cake dunked in rich ghee which is eaten with daal and ladoos), Poha and Jalebi.

Today’s Dish(es): When I read that the most famous breakfast item in Indore is Poha (flattened rice) with jalebi, I knew I had to make it. Jalebis are made all over India, but the combination of poha with jalebi is something that is very unique to Indore.

Jalebi is something that I’ve had 0% success rate thus far, so I wanted to give it a try one final time. Jalebi has a very special place in my heart — it was my dad’s favorite and he used to buy it very frequently. I think of jalebis when I think of my dad and not able to make them well has been bugging me for quite some time now. So finally I was able to make some decent looking jalebis and I wish my dad was here to taste them.

I made poha with onion and potato, but most of the Indori poha recipes I’ve seen only had onion (kanda). Poha is garnished with sev, pomegranate seeds and then served with hot jalebis. This sure was a very interesting combo for breakfast, but I thoroughly enjoyed this Indori breakfast feast. Found this post that explains about being married to an Indori — quite funny.