Travel Guide

Best delicious food of Rajasthan

Rajasthan is a kaleidoscope of colours, rich heritage and lip-smacking cuisine. There is wide array of delicious food that one can get to see in Rajasthan. Most of the main course and desserts are worth a mention.

Rajasthani cooking was influenced by the lifestyle of the Rajput and Brahmin inhabitants and the availability of ingredients due to its arid region. As there is an acute scarcity of water in Rajasthan, the food is generally cooked in milk or ghee giving a rich touch. Rajasthani food is predominantly vegetarian and has a variety of dishes. As ghee is an integral part in the preparation of Rajasthani food, the spices are used on the higher side. The people use yogurt, buttermilk, milk and ghee quite bit in their cooking. Crops like millets (bajra), barley (jowar), beans and dried lentil are widely cultivated in this region. Rajasthani’s are basically sweet-tooth and love preparing them. They have them any time before, during or after a meal.

Rajasthani food is impeccable and especially the Rajput cuisine is royally rich in meat preparations. It includes the wild boar, hare and birds. Safed Maas (white meat), a traditional Rajasthani delicacy influenced from the Moghul preparations is a must to eat. The dish is rich in its flavor and is a perfect amalgamation of onion, ginger – garlic paste, salt, pepper, cashew nut past and cardamom. Rajput food is fiery and piquant coz rich in ghee, dry-fruits. It is said that Rajput’s eat biting hot fare to balance the exterior heat. Fresh vegetables are supplemented by dehydrated pulses and herbs and normally available vegetables are stored in dry form and later soaked in water just before use.

Marwari and Rajput cuisines are a part of Rajasthani cuisine. Besan or gramflour is main ingredient used in the Rajasthani food because of the paucity of fresh vegetable in the Dessert region. Other popular Rajasthani dishes are Dal-bati & Churma, the signature dish of Marwari cuisine is a fine example of survival for the people of Rajasthan amidst the climatic constraints. Other few dishes like Gatte ki subzi (curried gram flour dumplings) and Kadhi (curried gram flour in yoghurt) are also a major dish of the Rajasthani cuisine. Not to forget the Marwari Chakki ra saag, a preparation made of whole wheat flour, kneaded into spongy dough is fried and curried in yoghurt.

The Besan-chakki is a very popular sweet dish made of gram flour. Corn is used in a lot of preparations both spicy and sweet. A popular sweet dish made of corn and milk is Jhajariya. The traditional Rajasthani dishes consists of Daal-Baati, Tarfani, Raab di, Panchkoota, Chaavadi, Ghoogri, Guvar fali ki saag, Kadhi, Makki ki raab and many more. While typical Rajasthani non-vegetarian dishes include – Mohan maans (meat cooked in milk), Laal maans (meat cooked in red chillies curry), Safed maans, Saanth ro achaar (wild boar meat pickled), Khad Khargosh (wild hare cooked and roasted underground). The popular sweet dishes are the – Churma, Halwa, Ghevar, Palang Torh, Besan Chakki, Makkhan bada. Not to miss are their cool, refreshing lemon water with mint known as Jal Jeera, Thandai (cool almond milk), Camel milk tea, Chhaach (butter milk) and Pani Puri.

If you happen to try a Rajasthani feast, then don’t miss on making these 10 popular Rajasthani dishes to treat and delight your guests with. They are simply exceptional, exotic, aromatic and appetizing to eat. Here goes the ten popular dishes:

Dal Baati

Bati or Baati is hard unleavened bread cooked in the dessert areas of Rajasthan, Malwa and Gujarat. It can be either plain or have various kinds of fillings like onions, peas and sattu. Bati is prized mainly for its long shelf life and high nutritional content and consumes minimal quantity of water for its preparation. It is always eaten with Dal (lentil curry).  Rajasthani cuisine is very popular for their signature dish called the Dal Bati Churma. There is no festive or wedding menu complete without the Dal Bati Churma where Dal is made of lentils, Bati is a baked wheat bread and Churma is sweetened powdered cereal.

Churma

Churma is a quintessential Rajasthani sweet served with dal and bati. It is a coarsely ground wheat mixture crushed and cooked in ghee and jaggery or sugar. Traditionally a delicious churma is made by crushing the wheat flour bati in ghee and added with jaggery and garnish with chopped nuts and dry fruits. It is rich in flavours and mouth-watering sweet.

Gatte ki Subzi

Rajasthani Gatta curry or Gatte ki subzi is a very popular Rajasthani vegetarian dish made from besan atta (Bengal flour or chickpea flour). Dumplings made from gram flour and dry spices are steamed and cooked in a spicy and tangy yoghurt based sauce. This dish tastes exceptionally good with any type of India flat bread like roti, chapatti, paratha, puri or bhakri or steamed rice.

Lapsi

Lapsi or dalia or daliya is also known as broken wheat or bulgar wheat or cracked wheat in different regions. They are of different sizes too. The method of preparing Rava Lapsi is very similar to the semolina or sooji halwa. Rava lapsi is usually prepared in northern India especially in the state of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Gujarat etc. It’s a wholesome stomach filling dish good for growing kids. Halwa’s are generally prepared during festivals namely Diwali, Dusheera etc.  This dish is also eaten by women especially who are fasting the whole day (vrats etc) as its rich in taste, flavour and nutritional value. Made with ghee, it tastes extremely incredible and flavourful. A hot plate of Rava lapsi taken during winter season is truly divine, appetizing and yum.