Cuisine of Rajasthan

Rajasthan Cuisine Is A Mix Of The Rich Food Of The Royals, Warrior Lifestyle Of Its People, And Cooking With Minimum Use Of Water In The Desert Belt.

Cuisine in India varies not just from region to region and community to community but also at a range of every few kilometres, over short distances, due to reasons of topography, culture and ethnicity. No wonder, food in India is so varied and delicious and has found its rightful place among food lovers all over the world. Rajasthani cuisine is also an eclectic mix of various influences.

Royal clans, ingredients available in the desert landscape and scarcity of water, as well as the necessity to cook food for a number of days to be eaten preferably without reheating, due to the various wars, all have influenced the cooking style of Rajasthan.

The gastronomic delights of the various royal families of Rajasthan have raised food to an art form. Typically, the recipes are a secret with the family of the Khansama (Royal Cook) and are handed down from generation to generation.

In the desert belt of Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Barmer, cooking involves minimal use of water. Instead, more milk, buttermilk and clarified butter are used. In Maheshwari cooking, mango powder, a substitute for tomatoes, scarce in the desert, and asafoetida, to enhance the taste in the absence of garlic and onions are used.

Dried lentils, beans of indigenous plants like sangria and ker and gram flour are the key ingredients used in Rajasthani food. Some of the delicacies are khata, gatte ki sabzi and pakodi. Powdered lentils are used for mangodi and papad. The daily food in Rajasthan typically includes unleavened bread made of wheat, barley, millet or maize.

Rajasthani curries usually are a brilliant red in colour but they are not very spicy. Pure ghee (clarified butter) is used liberally as the medium of cooking. A sweet dish called lapsi prepared with broken wheat (dalia), sauteed in ghee and sweetened is a favourite dish here.

While some of the Rajasthani communities like Vaishnavs, Bishnois and Marwaris are vegetarian, most are not. Combination of dal, bati and churma is perhaps the most well known among Rajasthani dishes apart from Lal Maas (red coloured meat that may be prepared with kid/lamb, pork or poultry. Its red colour comes from red chillies).

The Kachchwaaha family of Jaipur is credited with a delicacy called Safed Maans or white meat. Prepared with white mutton, its white curry is made from cashew nuts, almonds, fresh coconut kernel paste, white pepper and poppy seeds. Mishri Mawa, Kalakand and Ghevar of Jaipur are also very famous.

Bikaner is well known for its spicy Aloo Bhujiya, Papads and Rasgulla. The region of Mewar or Udaipur is believed to have contributed Sooley and Dil Jani, forms of barbecue to the Rajasthani cuisine. Jodhpur is famous for Makhaniya Lassi, Kachoris, hot green masala chilies and Laddoos. Jaisalmer is known for Laddoos, Pushkar for Malpua, Ajmer for its Sohan Halwa, Alwar for its Mawa and Bharatpur for several types of sweets made from milk.