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.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.[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).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.