Rajasthan Cuisines
 Land
of Princes, as Rajasthan is called, shows off, many a fine gastronomic both
within the palaces and outside. The royal kitchens of Rajasthan, the preparation
of food was a very complex matter and was raised to the levels of an art
form. Thus the 'Khansamas' (the royal cooks) worked in the stately palaces
and kept their most enigmatic recipes to themselves. Some recipes were passed
on to their descendants and the rest were passed on as skills to the chefs
of semi states and the branded hotel companies. The personal recipes of
the royal KHANSAMA still rotates around their generations and are the highlights
of regal gatherings. Each state of Rajasthan had their own style of the
recipes, and are continued in the Rajput households. It was mainly the men
folks of the family that prepared the non-veg. Some of the Maharajas apart
from being great hunters relished the passion of cooking the SHIKARS themselves
for their chosen guests and the trend continues among the generation.
Rajasthani cooking was inclined to the war-like lifestyle of the medieval Rajasthan and the availability of ingredients of the region. Food that could last for several days and could be eaten without heating was preferred, more out of necessity than choice. Scarcity of water, fresh green vegetables have had their effect on cooking.
Generally, Rajasthani curries are a brilliant red but they are not as spicy as they look. Most Rajasthani cuisine uses pure ghee (clarified butter) as the medium of cooking. A favourite sweet dish called lapsi is prepared with broken wheat (dalia) sautéed in ghee and sweetened.
 Perhaps
the best-known Rajasthani food is the combination of dal, bati and churma(dal
is lentils;bati is baked wheat ball; and churma is powdered sweetened cereal),
but for the adventurous traveller, willing to experiment, there is a lot
of variety available. Besides, each region is distinguished by its popular
sweet - Mawa Kachori from Jodhpur, Alwar ka Mawa, Malpuas from Pushkar,
Rasogullas from Bikaner, Ghevar from Jaipur to name a few. Contrary to popular
belief, people of Rajasthan are not all vegetarians.The unique creation
of the Maharaja of Salwar is the Junglee maas. Junglee maas was a great
favourite among the Maharajas and due to the paucity of exotic ingredients
in the camp kitchen, the game brought in from the hunt was simply cooked
in pure ghee, salt and plenty of red chillies. However, now this dish has
been adapted to the less controversial ingredients like kid/lamb, pork or
poultry.
in the desert belt of Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner, cooks use a minimum of water and prefer, instead, to use more milk, buttermilk and clarified butter. A distinct feature of the Maheshwari cooking is the use of mango powder, a suitable substitute for tomatoes, scarce in the desert, and asafoetida, to enhance the taste in the absence of garlic and onions.
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