Pahadi food in Dehradun is harder to find than momos or bun tikki, which is odd for the capital of Uttarakhand. The city's best-known street food is chole katlamba, bun tikki and momos. The food of the Garhwal and Kumaon hills is cooked at home, at weddings and in a small number of restaurants. If you only eat out on Rajpur Road, you could live here for years without trying it.
Uttarakhand turned 26 on 9 November, its Foundation Day. The state was formed on 9 November 2000 as Uttaranchal, carved out of Uttar Pradesh, and was renamed Uttarakhand from 1 January 2007. That seemed like a good excuse to write down what to order.
The pahadi food to try in Dehradun
Hill cooking is built around what grows on terraced fields: millets such as mandua (finger millet) and jhangora (barnyard millet), local lentils like gahat (horse gram) and bhatt (black soybean), and greens. Mustard oil, ghee and jakhiya, a small seed that crackles in hot oil a bit like cumin, do most of the seasoning.
1. Kafuli
A thick green curry of spinach and fenugreek leaves, ground and cooked with a little rice paste so it holds together. It's traditionally made in an iron kadhai. In Garhwal some families call it dhapdi. Eat it with rice or mandua roti.
2. Phaanu
Lentils, usually gahat, soaked for hours, ground and simmered slowly into a thick gravy. It's served with plain rice.
3. Chainsoo
Whole urad dal is dry-roasted first, then ground and cooked with jakhiya, cumin and garlic. The roasting gives it a nutty taste, and the dal comes out thick.
4. Bhatt ki churkani
Bhatt, the black soybean grown in the hills, coarsely ground and cooked in rice water with jakhiya, turmeric and green chillies.
5. Dubuk
Rajma or bhatt cooked with very little water and few spices, so the flavour of the bean carries the dish.
6. Aloo ke gutke
Boiled hill potatoes, cut into chunks and fried in mustard oil with red chilli, turmeric and jakhiya. It's the easiest pahadi dish to start with if you're new to the food.
7. Mandua roti
Roti made from finger millet flour, dark brown and a little dense. It's usually eaten hot with ghee or white butter, alongside kafuli or a dal. Mandua flour is also the base for gahat parathas, which are stuffed with cooked gahat.
8. Jhangora ki kheer
Kheer made with barnyard millet instead of rice, cooked in full-fat milk with sugar or jaggery and cardamom.
9. Arsa
A sweet made from rice and jaggery, shaped into small rounds and fried in mustard oil.
10. Bal mithai and singori
Two sweets from Kumaon, both made with khoya. Bal mithai is a brown slab of roasted khoya coated in tiny white sugar balls. Singori is khoya wrapped in a maalu leaf and folded into a cone. Both are linked with Almora.
Where to eat pahadi food in Dehradun
Pahadi restaurants in Dehradun open and close more often than the city's older food places, and online listings for them are often out of date. Doon Dekho hasn't eaten at the places below yet, so treat this as a list to call, not a recommendation. Check that they're open and ask what's on the menu that day before you go.
- Kaafal, Sahastradhara Road near the IT Park. Its menu has had a pahadi thali, mandua roti, kafuli with jakhiya tadka, aloo gutke, chainsoo, arsa and buransh (rhododendron) squash.
- Pahadi Rasoi, listed in Ballupur and Jakhan as a Garhwali kitchen.
- Yellow Hills Uttarakhandi and Multi Cuisine Restaurant, Ajabpur Khurd.
- Pyari Pahadan Restro, listed at Kargi Chowk and Morowala.
If you're eating out, pahadi thalis are the easiest way in. You get two or three of the dishes above in small portions with rice and mandua roti, and you'll know what to order next time.
Local tip · if you're in Mussoorie for the Winterline Carnival at the end of December, the carnival has had pahadi food stalls in recent years, with kafuli, chainsoo, aloo ke gutke and mandua breads.
Where to buy pahadi ingredients
To cook at home, you need the grains and lentils first. Mandua flour, jhangora, gahat, bhatt and red rice are sold at the city's pahadi produce shops. Doon Dekho lists Pahadi Store, Dehradun in Ballupur and near the Doon University campus, PAHADI ORGANIC HUB in Ajabpur Khurd and Pahadi brothers organic in Ajabpur Kalan. We haven't visited these yet either, so call ahead if you want something specific. The produce section of Doon Dekho's local shops listing has more.
Gahat and bhatt need long soaking, often overnight, so buy a day before you plan to cook.
A simple way to start
If you've never eaten pahadi food, order aloo ke gutke, kafuli with rice and a mandua roti, and finish with jhangora kheer. That gets you the potatoes, the greens, the millets and a sweet in one meal.
What is the most famous pahadi food of Uttarakhand?
There isn't one dish, but kafuli, phaanu, chainsoo, aloo ke gutke, mandua roti and jhangora kheer come up in almost every list. For sweets, bal mithai and singori from Kumaon are the best known.
Where can I eat pahadi food in Dehradun?
A few restaurants serve it, including Kaafal on Sahastradhara Road near the IT Park and places listed as Pahadi Rasoi in Ballupur and Jakhan. Call ahead, because pahadi restaurants in the city change often.
What is kafuli made of?
Spinach and fenugreek leaves, ground and cooked with rice paste, usually seasoned with jakhiya and cooked in an iron kadhai.
When is Uttarakhand Foundation Day?
9 November. The state was formed on 9 November 2000 as Uttaranchal and was renamed Uttarakhand from 1 January 2007. It turned 26 in 2026.
Where can I buy mandua flour in Dehradun?
At pahadi produce shops such as Pahadi Store in Ballupur and PAHADI ORGANIC HUB in Ajabpur Khurd. Call to check stock first.