Tarua is Mithila’s everyday fritter: thin slices of seasonal vegetables — parwal, potato, brinjal, bottle-gourd, cauliflower or the prized tilkor leaf — dipped in a light rice-and-gram batter and shallow- or deep-fried in pungent mustard oil. Crisp at the edges and tender within, it is a fixture of the Maithil thali and of festive bhoj meals alike.
The dish shows the logic of Mithila’s kitchen: a fertile, watery land yields a parade of vegetables through the year, and the cook’s art is to give each one its moment. Seasoned with little more than turmeric, chilli and salt, tarua lets the vegetable — and that unmistakable note of mustard oil — speak for itself.