Started by a mother and daughter-in-law duo, The Chhaunk is a cloud kitchen offering homemade Bihari cuisine right to your doorstep

Launched in July, Chhaunk, is the brainchild — or rather the culinary combination of the mother-in-law, Hiranyamayi Shivani and her daughter-in-law, Manjari. For them the journey began when they were stuck in the city during the lockdown. Since Manjari loved cooking, they decided to set up a cloud kitchen. 

Keeping it authentic, the recipes come straight from her mother. “The need to start this cloud kitchen in Delhi was to present one of the most diverse cuisines of Bihar to the world which was always underestimated and to grab their attention,” says daughter-in-law Manjari Singh.

From snacks, local dishes to desserts they have a variety in the menu which takes you to Bihar. 

We started with the Sattu Paratha which was flavourful and well stuffed. This went well with pickles on the side and mind you even one can be very filling. We washed it down with their Sattu Sharbat, which is so heavy that it can be a meal in itself. The sattu is mixed with salt, sugar, lemon and cumin powder.  

One must note that Sattu is an integral part of Bihari cuisine and is considered a staple of the northern state. Naturally we were sent a lot of it and next in line was their Sattu Puri. This one was also quite heavy and we tried it with their Alu Bhujia. The Bhujiya is basically potatoes cut into small strips and fried with chilies. 

We saved up a little of the bhujiya to have it with the Mudhi (puffed rice). They usually have it with Ghugn (black chickpea) which is eaten as an evening snack. The mudhi is mixed with peanuts, masala and fried chilis. One can just munch on it as a snack. The Ghugn is spicy and is garnished with onions and lemon. Do try it with their Alu Bhujia as well. It makes for an interesting combination. 

A similar combination, the Chura Mattar too, is often eaten as a snack. Chura or as we call it chivda is flattened rice. This one is roasted in masala and has a good helping of peanuts. It can be eaten by itself like the mudhi or with the mattar, which are peas mixed with spice, onions and lemon. 

Next we went on to try the most popular offering of Bihar – Litti Chokha. One simply cannot say they have tried Bihari cuisine without having a mouthful of this dish. The flavorful dough balls were stuffed well with sattu and were quite crispy. For the chokha, they had sent roasted eggplants which complimented the littis. This one is a meal in itself. 

We ended our main course with puri sabji, both of which were quite oily to my taste. The puri was crispy but the potato sabji was oily and a tad bit salty. You can perhaps give it a miss. 

Ending things on a sweet note, we tried their halwa which has a generous helping of ghee and is filled with raisins and nuts. 

“To our great surprise, the non-Bihari are placing many orders as they are loving the taste and packaging of the food. Delhi is filled with food explorers, these explorers are ordering our food and we are getting amazing feedback from these folks as well,” shares Singh. 

Review on invitation

(The Chhaunk is available on all food delivery apps)