What to eat in Khajuraho: From whole-grain bafla to mahua kheer sweet dish from Madhya Pradesh - what to eat in the historic Indian temple town

The Khajuraho Group of Monuments includes 23 temples built by the Chandella kings in the 10th and 11th centuries. A Unesco World Heritage Site, the group attracts tourists throughout the year. In addition to world cuisines, tourists can opt for local dishes like mahua kheer made with flowers of the local mahua tree. (Image via Pixabay)

The cuisine of Khajuraho has been influenced from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. There is a delicious mélange of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes in the city. A local specialty is bafla which is made with whole grain flour. It is quite similar to the Rajasthani baati that is served with lentils. While the dough is the same for both baati and bafla, for bafla it is boiled in order to make it tender before being baked.

Dishes are made with fresh seasonal vegetables. Various curries and dried bean preparations which are accompanied by rotis form an intrinsic part of this cuisine. In Khajuraho, you can also get mutton kebabs, rogan josh, korma, keema and chicken biryani.

(Image credit: Boby Ortain via Wikimedia Commons 4.0)

River fish are used to prepare a variety of cutlets and curries in Khajuraho. Rohu and pabda which are river fish are used for bhunji machariya or roasted fish, machariya ke kebab or fish kebabs and machariya tarkari or fish with vegetables. Aloo Chokha, the popular North Indian dish made with potatoes and spices is flavoured with onion, cumin and green chillies.

Baingan bhaja is essentially slices of aubergine that have been sprinkled with salt and pepper or marinated in a paste of mustard. These slices are then fried. Bhutte ka kees is a dish where corn from the cob is grated and then roasted with spices. Milk can also be added depending on one’s preference. It makes for a healthy snack and is eaten with roti.

Chakki ki shaak is a dish where wheat flour is used to make a curry. Some of the common desserts of Khajuraho include moong dal halwa and jalebi. Jalebi is also eaten for breakfast.

The cuisine uses limited artificial sweeteners with the mahua flowers addressing its sweet needs. Flowers from the Mahua tree and ghee are slow cooked to make mahua kheer that is a local specialty. Kusli is a half-moon-shaped dessert. It is made from refined flour, ghee and semolina. Kusli is stuffed with mawa and dry fruits.