|
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.
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.
|
 |
|
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.
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.
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. |
