Food You Should Not Miss In Rajasthan

 Rajasthan is a state in the northern part of India. Many tourists visit yearly to witness its rich culture, colorful and vibrant arts, fascinating landscapes, graceful dance, exotic folk songs, and tempting food. If you are one of those planning to visit this beautiful state and looking to satiate yourself with the best dishes, this post is for you. Before listing down, let’s quickly brief ourselves about the source of food in Rajasthan.

Rajasthan cuisine - A brief synopsis

The climate and the temperature have never been in favor of Rajasthan. It ranges from arid to semi-arid throughout the year. This is why green leafy vegetables are hard to grow in these regions. The main crops of Rajasthan are bajra, ragi, jowar, ground nuts, pulses, etc. So that would equate to all the crops that need significantly less water to grow. Also, you will observe a lot of spices, pickles, and chutneys in Rajasthani cuisine. It is because the land has faced many ravaged wars and shortages of food because of those long ongoing wars. To preserve and store the food for the long run extra spices and oils were used.



Now, let us look into the most exotic, tempting, and mouth-watering dishes of Rajasthani cuisine.

Best Rajasthani Food to eat in Rajasthan

Dal Baati Churma

I am sure you must have heard of this authentic dish. This dish is a complete course in itself.

Dal
The lentil curry comprises around 11-15 various types of lentils and is cooked under medium flame for several minutes. It is generally moderately spicy.


Baati
To prepare baati, a tight dough of wheat flour, salt, ghee, fennel seeds, carom seed, and dry fruits are kneaded using lukewarm water. Traditionally baati was cooked on fire using cow dung and wood. But now people use electric ovens and gas stoves to bake them. After being completely baked, the prepared baatis are soaked in pure ghee (Melted butter).


Churma

It is also prepared using various types of flour. It is a sweet dish. A dough is kneaded, it is roasted on a flat skillet, and broken into small chunks, and refined sugar, and melted butter are added to the chunks.


Many local vendors and restaurants serve this dish. You must give it a try whenever you visit Rajasthan.

Bejad ki roti

You can also refer it to as “multigrain chapatti” which is protein-rich, nutritious, and super healthy bread. It contains barley, soybeans, black chickpeas, fenugreek seeds, and wheat flour. The dough is kneaded a little soft and rolled thick. Coals and a special type of skillet are used to cook this chapatti in the most authentic way. It tastes best with curd, curries, and chutneys.



This roti is high in protein, fiber, saturated fats, and antioxidants. Being so nutritious, it helps in weight loss, reduces heart diseases, and balances the sugar level in your body. People having heart problems, high cholesterol, and sugar, or wishing to reduce their weight must include this in their diet.

Ker Sangri ro saag

Ker and Sangri both plants grow in the desert facing all the harshest conditions. Ker is a green berry-like fruit that grows on a thorny bush, and sangri is a wild bean. Many parts of Rajasthan lack rainfall, which results in very less vegetation. Under such dry and arid conditions, these wild berries could thrive.



The Ker Sangri ro saag is mildly spicy and the preparation process is similar to pickle. Sangri pickle is also very famous in Rajasthan. It is a great source of protein and tastes delicious.

Bajre ki khichdi

Bajra (pearl millet) Kharif crop that is sown from June to July and is harvested between September to October. It is a great source of protein, carbs, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It takes a lot of effort and time to prepare the khichdi. The grains of bajra are soaked in water for hours, They are then dried and beaten until clipped into the smallest pieces. The clipped bajra grain is cooked for hours on medium flame. You can eat it with jaggery and clarified butter or it tastes best with “Rajasthani kadi” as well. There are other variations also. This khichdi is a super healthy dish to beat the chilling wind of the winter.

Gatte ki sabzi

It is one of the famous dishes of Rajasthan. Gatta or gatte (plural) are small roundels that are made of gram flour. This gatta is added to a gravy of curd, onion, and tomato. Various techniques are used by various people. But, the traditional way of cooking is in curd gravy and spices only. Hence, no vegetables are used. Again a very protein-rich dish to eat.

Laal Maas

The literal meaning of Laal Maas is “Red meat”. The non-vegetarian fare of Rajasthan involves game meat. In ancient times, the king along with his close courtiers would go on hunting and the slaughtered animal was cooked. The process of cooking the hunted animal was known as “jungle maas”. But now that hunting has been banned in India, it's the lamb that is cooked.



The signature non-vegetarian Rajasthani laal maas meat is cooked in a red gravy of fiery red chilies, onion, garlic, and yogurt. The dish is extremely spicy and served along with “rumali roti”.

Safed Maas

Safed means “White”. The white meat is the cousin of “laal maas”. The laal maas is prepared using hot red chilies and the safed maas is prepared using cream, milk, almond-cashew paste, and spices. Both the non-vegetarian dishes come from the royal families of Rajasthan and are still loved by everyone.

Ghevar

Ghevar is the mouth-watering sweet dish of Rajasthan. It is disc-shaped and preferably consumed in the month of august during the rakhi and Teej festivals. It is made of flour, ghee, and sugar syrup. It is prepared by frying the flour batter into ghee, then dipping it into sugar syrup, and finally coating it with mawa and dry fruits. Nowadays many different flavors like mango, chocolate, etc can also be added.

Dil Khushal (Mohanthal)

‘Mohan’ is another name for the Indian God Krishna’ and ‘thal’ means plates. This dish is named after his sweet tooth tales. It is made of chickpeas flour (besan). The besan is cooked in clarified butter, the tiniest granules are filtered. Sugar syrup is then added to the mix and it is garnished with almonds, cashew, aluminum foil, and pistachio. Generally, people in Rajasthan make this dish at home during any auspicious occasion.

Churma Ladoo

At the beginning of this article, we have seen the process of making “churma”. Adding a little butter to the churma and binding it in a round shape will give you churma laddoo. You can other variants such as pineapple churma laddoo, besan churma laddoo, gulab churma laddoo, and mango churma ladoo.





Rajasthani food is all about spices, dried vegetables, and melted butter. The lack of rainfall created more creative dishes that contains fewer green vegetables. The people of Rajasthan are friendly, kind, and courteous. Whenever you visit Rajasthan never miss the opportunity to try on these innovative and flavourful dishes along with the hostile service of people.