Rajasthani cuisine

It was influenced by various factors like the warlike lifestyles of its inhabitants, the availability of ingredients in an arid region and by Hindu temple traditions of sampradayas like Pushtimarg and Ramanandi.

[6] The Rajwaadi cuisine is characterized by high usage of dry fruits & milk products like Yogurt for preparing rich gravies, ghee & butter for cooking & frying, mawa & chhena for sweets, usage of Kesar, kewda water & rose water and whole spices like jayaphal, javitri, cardamom etc.

[8][9][10] Another popular non vegetarian dish from Rajasthan is Maans ra Soola, which is a kind of spitted or skewered meat.

[13] Another royal non vegetarian recipe is Khadd Khargosh or Khadd Susalyo is a curried rabbit dish, based on a traditional Indian hunter dish common in the days of the Rajput kings, where the rabbits would be wrapped in leaves and baked in a freshly dug pit which acted as an oven.

Indus Valley site : Kalibangan in Rajasthan has the earliest archaeological evidence of using clay ovens resembling present day tandoors.

Often Soolas of maans (meat), macchli (fish) & chhena (cottage cheese) were barbecued using skewers in these clay oven.

Khadd ka Pind is yet another barbecue technique employed by Rajasthan royal princes while their hunting expeditions.

[14] Since Rajasthan is mostly an arid state, wheat and millets form the staple diet instead of rice (which are common in rest of India).

Pan cooked breads like parathas (mostly stuffed with vegetables, dals or chhena), cheelas, pudlas, tikkads, malpuas etc.

Milk and its products like chhena, mawa, malai, makhan, ghee, rabdi are used abundantly in many of the Rajasthani sweets & desserts.

In this tradition, the temple deity is offered royally embellished food and sweets rich in dry fruits and milk products.

Some unique vegetables used in Rajasthan are: Ker (Capparis decidua), Sangri (Prosopis cineraria), Gunda (Cordia dichotoma), Kumatiya (Acacia senegal), Guar phali (cluster bean), Moringa (drumstick), Kikoda (spiny gourd), Kamal kakdi (lotus stem), Kachri (Cucumis pubescence), fogla, borkut ber, fofaliya (dry tinda).

Other common vegetables of Rajasthan are Aloo (potatoes), Kanda (onion), Bhindi (okra), Gajar (carrot) cucurbits like pumpkin and ash gourd.

Launji refers to sweet & tangy relish prepared from vegetables or fruits, which is served as an accompaniment in a Rajasthani meal.