Rajasthani cuisine

I know a lot of you don't know much about rajasthani cuisine, so just wanted to throw some light over it...

Rajasthani cooking, it was inclined to the war-like lifestyle of its inhibitants and the availability of ingredients of the region. Food that could last for several days and could be eaten without heating was preferred, more out of necessity than choice. Scarcity of water, fresh green vegetables have had their effect on cooking.

In the desert belt of Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner, cooks use a minimum of water and prefer, instead, to use more milk, buttermilk and clarified butter. A distinct feature of the Maheshwari cooking is the use of mango powder, a suitable substitute for tomatoes, scarce in the desert, and asafoetida, to enhance the taste in the absence of garlic and onions.

Generally, Rajasthani curries are a brilliant red but they are not as spicy as they look. Most Rajasthani cuisine uses pure ghee (clarified butter) as the medium of cooking. A favourite sweet dish called lapsi is prepared with broken wheat (dalia) sautéed in ghee and sweetened,along with the more popular Dal bati churma.

Crops like millet (bajra) and barley (jowar) is also used as it could be cultivated in parts of Rajasthan. Use of beans from locally grown plants like sangri, ker etc besides dried lentils is also popular here. Gram flour is a major ingrediant here and is used to make some of the delicacies like khata, gatta ki sabzi, pakodi; powdered lentils are used for mangodi, papad.Also there's yummy moong dal bhajjis. The daily food in Rajasthan typically comprises unleavened bread, made of wheat, barley, millet or maize.The bati, lachhedar paratha and besan ki missi puri are types of bread peculiar to Rajasthan.

Rajasthan is famous for its collection of exotic desserts too, like ghewar , pheni, jalebis, rasgullas, falda, Mishri Mawa, Sohan Halwa, Mawa Katchori, Dil Jani etc.Rajasthan is also famous for spicy chutneys and pickles. Bikaner also has a whole range of other savories and snacks like the world famous Bikaner ki bhujia.The best part about Rajasthan cuisine is not just the taste, but the way it is served for guests.

I hope i've given a good overview of rajasthani food. Here's its all veg, but red meat is also popular, i don't know much about it ,being a vegetarian myself

The above picture of the typical rajasthani thali(that i googled out), is not a exaggeration. Even now when i go back to my hometown,or have some religious function we are served thali's like this only......

Posted by Neha

Labels: miss.