My Favourites of Rajasthani Cuisine – Shalini [Guest Post]

Hey guys, I’ve got the talented, warm, friendly, and awesome Shalini of Shalzmojo here today with her guest post on her favourite dishes from the Rajasthani cuisine. It’s going to be a mouth-watering read 😉

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I am a Marwari belonging originally to Jaipur in Rajasthan and though I didn’t live there long enough, I possess a liking for this cuisine. Its strange cause my mom is not Marwari and has never cooked most of these dishes at home. Yet I have a curious affinity to the Rajasthani food or so I found out when I started traveling to this region. I am going to take you through this cuisine with my eyes and beg for your patience to indulge me please.

Rajasthani cuisine is not all about Dal Batti Choorma – something which has found favour with the tourists as it’s over sold as the “ethnic” stuff. In Rajasthani kitchen, the gram flour or besan is used very extensively and somewhere I think it forms the basis of this cuisine.

Let’s start with Kadhi – it’s a dish prepared by beating some yoghurt and gram flour together and then cooked with spices to prepare a delicious gravy dish. Dumplings are also made out of gram flour and water mixture which are fried and then soaked in the gravy. Yummmm!!! Though there are various versions of this dish in other cuisines- Gujarati, Sindhi, Punjabi, etc- my favourite is this one and I can live on it – I swear!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next comes the famous gatta curry which is made with gram flour again. A blend of spices, ginger paste is mixed with gram flour to make a thick batter out of which cylindrical pieces are made and fried. Later these are soaked in hot water, then cut into small roundels which are then cooked in a tomato based gravy. Oh man…… this is ultimate nirvana to me (second to the Kadhi) And in the thali, it’s placed next to it!!!

Then comes Ker Sangri – this is a local vegetable indigenous to the desert. It’s a bean like veggie which is cooked with typical spices and is a little crunchy and tangy In texture and taste.  Order a Rajasthani thali in Rajasthan and 99% of the times, this would be one of the many dishes on it.

Another yummy item in this cuisine is the Tamatar ki subzi! Now we all know that the ephermal debate of whether Tomato is a fruit or a veggie has been on-going for decades now. But in Rajasthani kitchens it’s given the full honour of being a vegetable and a whole dish is dedicated to it. The tomatoes are cut into half and cooked for a little while; just enough to soften them but quite retain the bite. This is cooked in its juices with a few spices and garlic. Trust me when I say – this is mind-blowing and has no similarities to its chutney form or the soup avatar.

Ok enough talk of savoury and now let’s talk sweet!

I am sure you are no stranger to Boondi – those tiny balls which are soft and sweet; often soaking with syrup. This can be had on its own or is compressed to form Laddoos – again it’s made out of gram flour (isn’t it quite versatile?) and is quite a delicacy in Rajasthan. It’s served as a side dish to the main dessert; almost like an of course!!

Then there is the infamous Ghevar which is quite a creative sweet as it’s very artistic in its presentation. It’s made out of all-purpose flour and sugar and is quite the thing to make on weddings and bigger festivals of Rajasthan. I love its honeycomb look which lends it some crispness even as the whole thing is quite soft and juicy.

Of course there are tonnes of other stuff of note in this cuisine, I haven’t quite scratched the surface yet. There is the famous pittod, methi ki chutney, bajre ki khichdi, mirchi bada, papad ki subzi and in the non-vegetarian section, there are delicacies like jungle maas, Laal maas, etc. But that’s I guess a post for another day as today I am only talking about some of the stuff that gets me drooling in this cuisine!!

 

Hope you enjoyed reading about my favourites and maybe I have managed to change your perception of this awesome cuisine and next time you try out stuff other than Dal Baati Choorma!!

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About Shalzmojo

An interior designer by profession, writing is a passion which coupled with travel love blossomed into this blog where I love to just “do my thing”! Be it recipes, food events, travel jaunts, fiction dreaming or even meditative musings; all of it’s taken up quite passionately on my blog. I am a serious wine guzzler and love to chase butterflies in my free time.

Read about my tryst with Armenian-Bengali cuisine here

This post is written for the December bloghop #mymojo with Shalzmojo

Linking up for #wordsante with Namysaysso for every post deserves some love

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Past, Present, or Future [Guest Post – Karishma]

Past, Present, or Future – which phase do you live your life in and why?

First of all, thank you Vanessa for giving me this prompt !!! Because of you now I know myself much better. It helped me in evolving new myself.

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Past : My past is the most wonderful thing that has happened to me, like a roller-coaster ride…..with many ups and downs but yet the most precious time which even today when thought about, brings a smile on my face…..how stupid we were!!! But I suppose that stupidity was the essence of my childhood.

Here I would like to share one incident. I and my younger brother had an afternoon school whereas, my elder brother used to go in the morning….we used to be jealous of him, that he used to get more time to play than us.

One day, we both decided to bunk the school. I was in third standard and he in fourth standard. We went to school as usual and acted like Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya Balan…..so natural ….that teacher decided to send us home as we were having severe stomach ache. This continued for almost 3 days but on 3rd day our bus driver felt suspicious so he decided not to take us back home. And, I tell you, our school was 10kms far away from our house.

Now, we were out of school, bus driver didn’t take us, with no money in the pocket….what would we have done!! And, the fun begins here!!

We started walking and after half an hour’s continuous walk my brother asked what if we take our lunchbox as our parents will doubt us!! What a detective thought!! How foolish that we didn’t knew that even if we walk whole day we would not reach home by 6 in the evening and then what? (makes me smile how smart we were).

So we sat on a bench outside temple to have our tiffin!! Weren’t we smart enough!! But then, my uncle who used to come to the bank near to that temple, he had come for some work. And, guess what, firstly he thought some kids have bunked their school and wasting their time here.

The more we came to close to each other, more shocked were we!! He took us home and then you can understand what would have happened with us. Till today I haven’t forgotten the smacking we have got ….but still I will not call it abuse in foreign terms.

This is just one incident and my past is full of such precious moments….and when you have such a wonderful past, won’t you love to stay in it forever and ever??

And now my answer to this prompt is:

Yes, I live in the present taking along the positivity and freshness of my past to give my future (my kids) the most wonderful future, like the past I had – A CHILDHOOD loaded with fun, enjoyment, foolishness, innocence and TRUE HAPPINESS!!!!!!

And, what about you, where do you LIVE??

By Mocktailmommy – Karishma

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I’m excited to host my first guest on 5 Minutes – Karishma from MocktailMommies! Our past defines our present – we’re the sum of our past experiences; and Karishma has accurately illustrated this point with her nostalgia packed post.

This post is written for the December bloghop #mymojo with Shalzmojo

Linking up for #wordsante with Namysaysso for every post deserves some love

Manic Monday

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Another Monday, another start of a week, another countdown to the weekend. This is all my life is at the moment.

I always thought that I would never be one of those people who succumbed to the pressures and routine of life. But alas, I have become one of those people, which goes to show that I’m just another human being.

I had more pride in myself while I was growing up. I had high ideals, wild ideas, and a passionate drive toward living life with a smile on my face.

Unfortunately, a series of life’s challenges pounded me to a pulp, even though I valiantly fought with every fiber of strength within me. Though I emerged victorious from all the challenges life boxed me with, they did a good job of tiring me out, rupturing my iron will, and smashing my rose-tinted glasses to smithereens (poor poor glasses of mine).

My heart and mind bear battle scars and wounds that burn wickedly when I attempt to soothe them. My soul is sitting quietly in a corner, trying to recuperate from the bashing and punches thrown its way by life.

It’s currently disoriented and fractured. It’s going to take a while before I feel whole again.

Till then, oh, it’s just another manic Monday!

Which reminds me, it’s a good day to hear it’s namesake song

 

This song makes me feel that I’m not the only one going through the routine of life. I guess we all identify with this song. For me, I identify most with the lines:

Have to catch an early train
Got to be to work by nine.
And if I had an aeroplane
I still couldn’t make it on time.

‘Cause it takes me so long
Just to figure out what I’m gonna wear…

I guess that’s why people like Steve Jobs preferred wearing the same colour and style clothes everyday – does save a LOT of time.

Anyway, so how do you greet Monday? With a smile or a frown? Do you listen to any song to PEP up your Monday? Do share. Would love to hear from you. 

Linking up to Write Tribe’s #MondayMusings

Cheers,

Venice 🙂