Rajasthani Cuisine

Each religion in India has its own traditional dishes and specialties. In the royal kitchen of Rajasthan, as well as most other states, food was very serious business and raised to the level of an art form. Hundreds of cooks worked in the stately palaces and kept their recipes a closely guarded secret. Some recipes were passed on to their sons and the rest were lost for ever. It became a matter of great prestige to serve unusual dishes to guests & the royal cooks were encouraged to experiment. It was perfectly normal to have live pigeons fly out of elaborately decorated dishes .

The finest cooking in India was derived from the Mughals and did influence the royal kitchens of India. But the common man's kitchen remained untouched, more so in Rajasthan. Cooking here has it's own unique flavor and the simplest, the most basic of ingredients go into the preparation of most dishes.

In the desert belt of Jaisalmer cooks use the minimum of water and prefer, instead to use more milk, buttermilk and clarified butter. Dried lentils, beans from indigenous plants like sangri, ker, etc. are liberally used. Gram flour is a major ingredient here and is used to make some of the delicacies like khata, gatta ki sabzi, pakodi, powdered lentils are used for mangodi, papad. Bajra and corn is used all over the state for preparation of rabdi, kheechdi and rotis. Various chutnies are made from locally available spices like turmeric, coriander, mint and garlic.

Besides, each region is distinguished by its popular sweet -- Laddos from Jodhpur and Jaiselmer, Malpuas from Pushkar, Jalebies from most big cities, Rasogullas from from Bikaner, Dil Jani from Udaipur, Mishri Mewa & Ghevar from Jaipur, Sohan Halwa from Ajmer, Mawa from Alwar.....