Digging in to an authentic Rajasthani Thali can undoubtedly be the best part about being in Rajasthan. Flavorful spices are blended with the use of traditional and unique techniques to cook delectable dishes. These preparations combined with the unparalleled hospitality of Rajasthan are probably the perfect way to tickle and satisfy your taste buds to a complete bliss.
Mostly being vegetarian, Rajasthan has a huge variety of peppery curries and delightful sweets to offer. The food cooked and served here is indeed quite royal. There is a heavy use of spices, ginger, garlic and dry fruits in these recipes. The most common spices used here include red chillies, cinnamon, clove, mustard, amchoor, turmeric, pepper, saffron, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, kasoori methi, fennel, cumin etc.
Rajasthani food also uses a lot of ghee, butter, milk, yoghurt and buttermilk for getting cooked which adds a lot of flavor to the food. However, besides the taste, there is a historical reason behind such extensive use of ghee and butter which is that Rajasthan being a desert land has always faced shortage of water. Therefore, to reduce the use of water in cooking as well, an increased amount of ghee and butter was added to the dishes. Gram flour is also a leading ingredient used here. The most mouthwatering and popular cuisine include Daal Baati Choorma which can always be found in a typical Rajasthani Thali. Combination of five lentils tempered with ghee and spices makes the flavorful Daal which is served with a round shaped Baati made up of wheat steamed and fried. Choorma is a sweet dish which impeccably compliments the spiciness of Daal and Baati.
Other prominent and most loved preparations include Gatte ki sabzi, Laapasi, Panchkoota, beans curry, carrot curry, guwar fali ka saag, kadhi, makki ki raab, matar ki sabzi, karela, keri ki sabzi, bajre ki roti, makki ki roti etc. Though less renowned when compared to the vegetarian cuisine but Rajasthani non-veg cuisine is equally scrumptious. The typical meat dishes prepared here are safed maas, saanth ro achar, laal maas, mohan maas and khad khargosh. Some of the favorite sweet dishes are balushahi, ghevar, rabdi, besan-chakki, feeni, gujia, jhajariya, milk cake etc. A strange fact about sweet dishes here is that they are served before the meal unlike or the other parts of northern India where sweets are served after the meal. This is the reason sweets are never referred to here as desserts. Rajasthani people are also very fond of chutneys made up of garlic, chilly, mint and coriander as well as pickles as papad.
There are a few famous preparations that belong to particular regions of Rajasthan such as
- Mutton and Moth bhujia, Rasgullas, Papad, Sangria and Mangori from Bikaner
- Rawat onion kachori and Ghevar in Jaipur
- Alwar’s Palang tod
- Mawa kachori from Jodhpur
- Bajra from Shekhawati
- Nagaur ke masala
- Maalpuas of Pushkar
Having a well prepared and well served Rajasthani thali or platter is an extravaganza in itself, a pure delight which is nothing less than a feeling of complete ecstasy.
