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Indian · regional cuisine

Rajasthani

A desert cuisine built for scarce water and fresh produce: gram flour, dried beans and berries, millet, ghee and buttermilk, alongside the fiery game and mutton cooking of the Rajput courts.

Flavour character: Hot and robust: dried red chillies (Mathania chillies near Jodhpur are prized for laal maas), garlic, asafoetida, amchur and yoghurt; lots of ghee; a sweet finish from churma and ghevar.

4 recipes
Gatte ki sabzi: gram-flour dumplings in a spicy orange yogurt gravy with coriander

History

In the Thar desert, water and green vegetables were scarce, so cooks relied on foods that keep: gram flour (gatte, pakodi, papad), dried ker berries and sangri beans from the khejri tree, millet, lentils and plenty of ghee and buttermilk. Many dishes were made to last for days on journeys. The Rajput nobility hunted, and their kitchens produced robust meat dishes such as laal maas and safed maas. The largely vegetarian Marwari merchant community, with Jain influence, carried their food across India as they settled in trading cities.

Well documented

Geography and influences

The Thar desert in the west, the Aravalli hills across the middle and greener Mewar and Hadoti in the south and east. Bajra (pearl millet) is the main crop of the dry west; maize grows in Mewar.

  • Rajput court and hunting culture
  • Marwari and Jain vegetarianism
  • Mughal alliances (Amber/Jaipur)
  • Desert trade routes

Regional variations

Marwar (Jodhpur, Bikaner)
Pyaaz kachori, mirchi bada, Bikaneri bhujia from moth-bean flour, desert vegetarian food.
Mewar (Udaipur)
Maize (makki) breads and dishes; greener and less arid.
Shekhawati and Jaipur (Dhundhar)
Merchant-house vegetarian food and Jaipur's ghevar and kachori.
Rajput non-vegetarian
Laal maas, safed maas (white mutton in cashew, cream and yoghurt), khad (pit-roasted) meats.

Festive and seasonal food

  • Teej and Raksha Bandhan: ghevar (disc-shaped lattice sweet soaked in syrup)
  • Gangaur: ghevar and sweet gunas
  • Diwali and weddings: dal baati churma, mohanthal

Signature dishes

Not on the site yet: Dal baati churma, Ker sangri, Safed maas, Panchkuta, Pyaaz kachori (Jodhpur), Mirchi bada, Ghevar, Mohanthal, Bikaneri bhujia, Papad ki sabzi, Bajre ki khichdi

Rajasthani recipes