Culinary Tour of Rajasthan

To experience Rajasthani cuisine, you don’t really have to step into a high end restaurant. I had some of the best and authentic Rajasthani dishes in the regular local restaurants and street side dhabas – the latter being one of my favorite food joints during my trip, especially the one in Pushkar.

A lot of these dishes were familiar to me as they are quite similar to Gujarati dishes and tasting them again was a definite wave of nostalgia for me.  Let me take you through a culinary tour of Rajasthan with 10 of my favorite dishes – and yes, all of them are vegetarian 😉

A gravy dish made out of plain curds – sounds a little strange but trust me, I loved the simple taste of the same. Plain curds with a sprinkle of mustard, spices and tomatoes roasted in oil and mixed with curds – completely giving curd a different flavor. This works well with any of the rotis or even rice dishes. 

The best Dahi ka saag that I had was in Jaipur at the Kailash restaurant, on the Hawa Mahal Road. 

Sev or Bhujia is actually a savory snack and one tends to eat the same plain or with bhel. This is the case across India but in Rajasthan, this is used to make a gravy dish that works well with Rotis. This along with Tomatoes is mildly spicy with a little tangy taste.  

This one is a popular Gujarati dish as well and is generally had with Parantha or Thepla. Since this is cooked without onions or any of the root vegetables, is a popular Jain sabzi as well.  

This one is so typical of Rajasthan and goes great with Missi ki Roti or Puris.  This also, tastes yummy with some boiled rice. Steamed dumplings made from gram flour, added to a gravy made with some curd and spices. This is one of the most recommended dishes as well as one of the most familiar dishes in Rajasthan. Almost every restaurant in Rajasthan offers this. 

Dal Baati Churma is a specialty Rajasthani dish. The Dal is made out of 5 different pulses and fresh spices. Baati is made out of wheat flour and gram flour along with lots of ghee (yep, it is quite rich ;-)). The same is broken and dipped in the dal and eaten along with it. As an accompaniment and to sweeten things, Churma is served with it. A mildly sweet dish, I love eating Churma just by itself. 😉

Till I visited Rajasthan, I always believed that there was only one type of Rajasthani Ghevar – the sweets the state is known for. It is amazing how many different types are there. Paneer, malai, Kesar are some unique flavors. This sweet is extremely popular during festivals like Sankranti and Teej.

Specifically, loved the Paneer ghevar, so much that I ended up carrying it back with me home for my friends and family. You can get this anywhere in Rajasthan, even the airport, where you can pick the packaged ones to take back home with you.

Lassi or thickened buttermilk? I mean, what is so special about it. It isn’t Rajasthani by origin but I make a mention of it here because I found so of the most unusual flavors and amazing tasty lassi here. Dry fruit lassis are a definite recommendation – especially, the Kesar Pista and Badam ones.  The Rosemilk ones were a little too sweet for me, but the kids totally loved them. And if you want to try an even richer lassi – try the Malai one.