Find out how this Bihari mutton dish has become Mumbai’s popular street food

Champaran thali

This writer prefers to call herself a bit of an experimentalist, which is how we end up savouring all kinds of fare that the city dishes out as and when the opportunity arises. That is how we came across Champaran, a Bihari mutton dish. While Champaran has been popping up on the streets of Mumbai for quite a while, it is only now that it has come into the limelight of Mumbai's street food scene.

Champaran is made in a clay pot

Addressing the increasing popularity of this dish on the Internet, Rachna Prasad, a home chef who runs Ambrosia Kitchen, a cloud kitchen in Saki Naka, reveals that this dish has been discussed across Mumbai's food-scape for over five years now. "The dish name emerges from the place it originated from, Champaran village in Bihar. I have been making it for six years now. What attracts people towards Champaran is the fact that it is cooked on charcoal in a clay pot. We do not use water, and it is entirely made in meat and onion juices," Prasad tells us. "While it is traditionally cooked with goat meat, the chicken versions have been popularised now because of Mumbaikars' eating choices," she adds.

Raju Kumar (centre, in grey) stands at the desk as his assistant stirs a cooking pot. Pics/Aditi Chavan

A few days before our chat with Prasad, we tasted an authentic Champaran thali complete with phulkes at Raju's-The Handi Hut Champaran Meat House in Malad West. Raju Kumar, the owner, has been cooking this dish since 2016. It's a nondescript streetside shop with a few plastic furniture. We spotted a crowd keen to try out this dish in the afternoon that we had dropped by for lunch. After waiting for nearly 20 minutes, a steaming hot plate was served to us that we gobbled up while standing on the kerbside.

Dough keeps the pot air-tight

"We started in Delhi, and have been cooking in Andheri East for one and a half years now. I opened this branch about six months ago," Kumar mentions as we savour his dish. He reveals that even after marinating the meat for hours on end, it takes at least two hours to cook the dish. "In our village, we eat it with dhooskas, a fried bread made from a mix of lentils, which we have not included on our menu as we feel it is an acquired taste. Right now, we are glad to present a part of our culture in the form of this dish to the rest of the world," Kumar tells us, turning his attention back to catering to his
hungry customers.

Rachna Prasad

Raju's-The Handi Hut Champaran Meat House
At Metro Pillar 2A/433, near Inorbit Metro Station, Malad West.
Call 9004028103
Cost Rs 300 onwards (mutton); Rs 200 onwards (chicken)

Eat the dish

Earthen Kitchen Champaran
At Shop No 38, Vasudev Sky High, Mira Road East.
Call 9029019867
Cost Rs 1,879 (1 kg mutton); Rs 929 (1 kg chicken)

Ambrosia Kitchen
Call 9820968751 (place order 24 hours in advance)
Cost Rs 1,050 (750 ml mutton pot)

Desi Khao Champaran Meat House
At Shop No 11, Oshiwara Shopping CHSL, Jogeshwari West.
Call 7480001111
Cost Rs 1,799 (1 kg mutton); Rs 1,200 (1 kg chicken)