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Cuisine of Rajasthan |
It is
rightly said that the Indians live to eat and the people
of Rajasthan are no exception. The cuisine of Rajasthan
has its own place through traditional dishes and
specialties. The cuisine of Rajasthan is very rich and
has a very unique flavour. The Rajasthani cooking was
mainly influenced by the war-like lifestyle of
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its
inhabitants and the availability of the ingredients in the
region. The food that could last for several days and
could be eaten without heating was preferred. Scarcity of
water and fresh green vegetables have had their effect on the
cooking. In Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner the cooks used very
minimum water and preferred to use milk, buttermilk and
clarified butter. The milk, buttermilk and yoghurt formed a
part of the main diet, except those region which were accessed
to the rice growing areas. The villager's diet mainly consists
of the bread of millets and gram flour, moth daal, a red
chilli, garlic chutney and raabri, a millet flour cooked in
buttermilk. The sweets like the rice-porridge, kheer never
became popular in Rajasthan. But milk based sweets, barfis,
still today are known all over the country, and the sweet
sellers all over the country refer to themselves as Bikaneri
sweet specialists.
Foreign Influences on the Cuisine of
Rajasthan
There was variety in the meals of the royal families as their
finest cuisine was mainly influenced by the Mughals and the
Europeans. The Mughal cuisine was varied and lavish and used
the huge variety of ingredients, all of which was harder to
come by in the desert, even in the erstwhile palaces.
Delicacies like the kebabs and the curries were introduced
into the royal menu as a result of the influence of the
Mughals. Even though most of the dishes of Rajasthan are
vegetarian, Khud Khargosh happens to be an example of a
mouth-watering item prepared with the meat of hare or a
rabbit. The Mewar or Udaipur family, forced to flee and hide
in the rocky countryside by the Mughals, devised the form of
barbecue known as Sooley.
The Kachchwaha family of Jaipur, created one of the state’s
finest delicacies, safed maas or white meat. The dish is white
in colour and consist of mutton, and uses a curry of
cashewnuts, almonds, fresh coconut kernel paste, white pepper
and poppy seeds. The old retainers and chefs were used to
prepare the shepherd’s pie or French onion soup so tasty that
the princes when going on the world trip for pleasure, would
carry their own chefs to cook their meals for them. The
British also influenced the manner in which the meal was eaten
at the table. Over the years, the peculiar Anglo-Indian
cuisine of the palaces too created a distinctive cuisine. It
also groomed the royals into the Western style of dining
habits. Earlier, the food was served in silver and gold plates
or thaals and placed on low tables before which they sat on
silk cushions. The number of dishes in the one meal ran into
hundreds. Even in this, a strict hierarchy was followed. The
royals ate on gold, the nobles on silver, and all others ate
on the bronze. Sometimes a thaal was shared between siblings,
or with kinsmen, to create the spirit of comradeship so
essential to kinship. |
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Marwari Cuisine in Rajasthan
The Marwaris were more lavish with the inputs in their
kitchen. The Marwaris also used the same ingredients
like the Rajputs but their method of preparation of
cuisine was very rich and various spices and herbs like
mango powder (amchur), rai (mustard seeds) and heeng or
asafetida were added to the masala and cooked in fat.
The Marwaris were great traders and their sweet tooth
was legendary. They were able to store dry fruits such
as almonds, pistachios, cashews, and poppy seeds (khus)
and also able to use them in their puddings.
Halwas,
barfis and ladoos were part of the |
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Marwari
cuisine, along with Til or sesame, which was used in both
sweets and in the main courses. In most of the festivals, the
dessert would consist of seera or halwa made of cooked wheat
flour in ghee or laapsi, a porridge made with desiccated
grains of wheat. Rice, a delicacy in Rajasthan, is also served
as a sweet with the addition of sugar, saffron and dried nuts
and raisins. Typically, all the members of the family would
sit together and the hot piping meals were served on the
chokis by the females of the house. The Marwaris eat two
meals, in the morning and at sundown. Both consist of a great
variety of rotis and puris puffed in piping hot oil. Their
typical meal consists of pishta-lonj served with a glass of
milk laced with cream. Then, puris fried in hot oil, made with
both wheat flour and with matar to provide a lovely green
colour. With it, tamatar-ki-sabji, a tomato curry,
gatte-ka-saag, and sangria-ker-ka-saag cooked in the clarified
butter and dahi-bhallas were eaten. This would be followed by
sooji-ka-halwa and a glass of lassi at the end of the meal.
Regional Specialties
The best known food which is found in the menu of the families
of Rajasthan is the combination of Daal, Baati and Choorma,
along with pickles and buttermilk. The daal consists of a
lentil curry and baati is a round ball of bread baked in a
charcoal fire with clarified butter concealed within and
choorma is a sweet dish made with bread bruised with jaggery
or sugar and ghee. The baati could be even made with wheat
flour or millet or with a mix of maize and wheat flour and
choorma can also be made with the bread of wheat, maize or
millet, and combined with desiccated coconut, khoya, or
raisins and dry fruits. The choorma can also be eaten in the
various varieties. This famous cuisine is more eaten in the
picnics, during the monsoon season, when the hills turn lush
green.
Each part of Rajasthan has its own traditional dishes and
specialties. Besides the spicy flavours, each region is also
known for its popular sweet. For example, Bikaner is known for
the bhujiya, papads, badis, lean mutton of the desert goat and
Rasogullas; Jodhpur is known for the Makhaniya Lassi, mawa
kachoris, hot green chillies laced with masala and Ladoos;
Bharatpur is known for the milk sweets; Alwar is known for the
Mawa; Pushkar is known for the Malpuas; Udaipur is known for
the Dil Jani; Ajmer is known for the Sohan Halwa and Jaipur is
known for the Mishri Mawa and Ghevar. Ghevar is a Rajasthani
delicacy which is linked with the monsoon festival of Teej. It
consists of the round cakes of white flour over which
sweetened syrup is poured. Muslim food has also occupied a
place in the overall cuisine of the state, not just in Tonk
and Loharu, but also in Jaipur where the Muslim craftsmen
celebrate Eid with great quantities of Kababs and Pasandas,
and with Sevaiyan. |
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