Taste of Rajasthan!!!

Land of the Rajputs, this quintessential place known for its rich culture, tradition, vast deserts, glittering jewelry and its art forms is also known for it’s incredibly lavish food as much as its palaces.

I was always amazed about Rajasthani cuisine when some of my dear friends who belonged to the marwar region served me their delectable vegetarian dishes with such love and affection. One will be mesmerized by the variety of their dishes that will tickle your taste buds and allow you to indulge more.

With 60% of the state covered by the Great indian desert, there’s always been a scarcity for water and fresh vegetables. Much of the food was prepared such that it needed to be preserved for longer days without heating. Dairy was extensively used in their culinary. Curries were cooked using ghee, butter, cream etc so that less water was used. This enhanced the taste as well as made their curries rich and creamy.

The berries and vegetables were sundried and preserved so that they could be used as substitutes during extremely dry seasons.

During earlier times the Rajput maharajs
who went hunting into the jungles brought back their game and used to cook themselves. One such invention in their hunting camps was the junglee maas. It is believed that the maharajs enjoyed treating their special guests with their own cooking skills..

Maas here meant the meat. It could be either a deer or a boar or any pheasant that they had caught. Since ingredients were scarce they just cooked their meat in ghee and generous amounts of red chillies. Over time the meat was either lamb or goat. Laal maas was their speciality because of the redness of their chillies, and was a very spicy dish. It is said that one required courage to eat this. One more version was safed maas, where the curry was simmered for long hours in a white creamy gravy until the meat was tender.

Mughals may not have had much influence over rajasthani food but the pathans did influence the cooking. Barbecuing was mastered and smoked kababs were learnt with perfection. Invasion of the British didnt have much effect on their food but was seen in their table mannerisms.
The cooks of the royal kitchens were addressed as maharajs or purohits. Menar is a region in Rajasthan which is located 30kms away from Udaipur. This is known as the regions of chefs and has produced some of the well known chefs who have cooked for families like the Ambanis, Hindujas and celebrities like Lata mangeshkar. These cooks have manged to migrate out of their small town and passed on their skills over generations.

With the majority of the population following vegetarianism there are many popular dishes indigenous to the region. one such is dal bhati churma. Like every dish this bhati also has a story behind its origin. It was said to be a war time meal of the Rajputs during the reign of Bappa Rawal of Mewar. The bhatis were roundels of wheat dough which were left burried under the sands before the rajputs left for war so that they would be baked well under the sun by the time they returned. They would later gather them and crumble to small chunks and eat by dousing them generously with ghee. Later these bhatis were served with panchmel dal that was cooked with five different lentils. Churma was the crumbled bhati mixed with jaggery served as sweet. Thus was the famous Dal bhati churma which was a meal by itself.
The natives enjoyed preparing a variety of chutneys with locally available ingredients like mint, coriander, garlic. Their popular chutney was the spicy lahsun chutney which the Rajputs enjoyed.
Sweets were an integeral part of their daily meal. When you visited a Rajasthani home one was welcomed with a variety of sweets. Different varieties were served between every course of your meal.
Ghevar is a popular sweet that originated from Rajasthan and one should never miss this served with Rabri. Apart from this there are many popular ones like Balushah, Imarti, malpuas, Dilkushal, Gehun ka Dhoodiyaan Keench, Makhan bada, dry fruits based sweets and many more.
Bhajra ki roti or lahsun ka chutney, dal bhatis, dal dhoklis, bikaner bhujias, pyaas kachoris or marwari bhojanalayas… the list is endless and are lavishly Rajasthani!!