Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Special Rajasthani Cuisines


Rajasthan is arid land where shortage of water and fresh green vegetables has greatly affected on food habit of the people. Even shortage of water forces people to cook meals with the use of milk, buttermilk and clarified butter, particularly in the desert belt of Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner. Although there is a scarcity of water and also hot climate, the variety of food is no less than any other regions of India. Some of the very popular food items are as follows: -

Ker-Sangri on Bajara Roti

This dish is prepared from dried lentils, beans from indigenous plants like sangri, ker. Other ingredient such as churmaand is used liberally to make the dish sour. This dish is served with papad. It is quite a staple food of Rajasthani with other common food such as unleavened bread, made up of wheat, barley, millet or maize.

Rajasthani Dal-Bati-Churma

It is the most popular food gained immense popularly outside Rajasthan. This is a simple food called dal-bati that is cooked lentils and roasted balls of dough with diverse kind dried or pickled berries cooked in different ways.
Chapatti

The chapatti of Rajasthan is somehow different from other regions of India. The unleavened bread is more of a brown colored and thick. It complements the food it scoops up and the smoothness of the chapatti easily lure anyone.

Frying Puris

Puris are delicious, fried wheat bubbles which have varied uses; as snacks, scoops for food and as a complement to hot spices.

Khud khargosh

Khud Khasrgosh is meat of hare or rabbit cooked in a pit. It is a traditional Rajput dish, especially savor during summer when rabbit is lean and soft. The hare is skinned and stuffed with spices, wrapped in dough and finally in layers of mud-soaked cloth.

Lassi

Natural yogurt is churned to remove the butter content for the making of Lassi or buttermilk a cooling summer beverage.

Sula - Tender Morsels of Meat

During early days, Rajput hunted boar or some other animal and cooked the meat marinated in a mixture of dry yogurt, browned onions, garlic, ginger, coriander, red chilli and and kachri, a small pod which tenderizes meat and lends a particular sharp-sour flavor. The preparation was also called sula means tender morsels of meat. The meat was then smoked, spitted on skewers, and grilled over hot coals. Now a days, sulas are made up of chicken, mutton, pheasant or fish.

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