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ROYAL & ENCOUNTERS

Savour the flavours of Rajasthan

Authentic ambience: The Rani Bhoo Ratna Kumari at the Sheesh Mahal, Deogarh.

We hurtled up the rough and craggy rocky hills in a four wheel drive. There was another open jeep racing down the same hill. Why was it swaying so fearlessly towards us? Shatrunjay raised his hand and said, “Khama gani, see you at Seengh Sagar later.” The driver of the jeep was a lady. Her head covered and the palla of her sari tucked under her arm. “She has some gumption, driving over a ‘no roads’ terrain with such ease,” I thought. Shatrunjay spoke with immense pride, “That’s my mother, she takes care of the kitchen.” What otherwise would be taken as a normal thing for a “head covered” woman had different implications here. She was on her way to oversee the cooking of the evening meal at the Mahal. The “kitchen” happened to be a huge scale of operations — the Deogarh Mahal’s.

I was introduced to her over succulent sulas grilled over charcoal, stuffed kebabs and a silent landscape gently lit with candles. I walked over to the chullah where another “head covered” lady was deftly rolling out makki ki rotis while keeping a keen eye on the dal. Throwing in green chillies, ginger, garlic in a earthenware pot, smiling at the protesting sizzle, she answered, “dal ko ‘chamka’ lagayo.”

I smiled and went back to the Rani of Deogarh, Rani Bhoo Ratna Kumari. She’s led an action-packed life, with her husband, the ruling Rawat of Deogarh, Nahar Singhji. We launched into a “cookery talk”… “I had no idea about cooking at all. When I was growing up my mother used to tell me, ‘start learning, what are you going to do?’ After I got engaged, I stayed with my family at Shahpura where my uncle and aunts taught me a few dishes. I learnt to make ‘Jajariya’ with wheat or corn, meat and rice dishes. I learnt to rustle up palak ka halwa. Kaka was a very good cook, he taught me to make mutton — doh pyaza, rogan josh, biryani.

“When I came to this house, it was quite a change for me because here the day to day cooking was done by the ladies, and they were so interested in it. It was quite unnerving for me since I had no idea about day to day cooking. I knew how to make some special meat, pulaos but didn’t know daal kaise banti hai, roti kaise sekte hain, ya saada chawal kaise banta hai.”

“I started learning by observing. I slowly picked up a few tips. We moved to Ajmer when my husband took up teaching in Mayo College. A jeep overturned, our cook was hurt. The task of cooking everyday fell on me and my two younger sisters in law. We went through the usual mishaps (then a very big deal!). She laughs, recalling those days.

The recipe book which proved a Bible to her was by Mrs. Balbir Singh. That was a connection we made, crossing generations. My mother in law introduced me to this treasured cook book when I was newly married in 1989. “Her chutneys and murabbas, her rogan josh…” we both lapsed into our personal “oohs and aahs” over Balbir Singh. Reminiscing about the days past, “I learnt to make partridges from my nani. She used to add hara chanas to the dish, now we add the chanas to chicken. Chicken came into our menu much later I learnt all this from what was being cooked in our kitchen on a daily basis.

“Green fenugreek seeds are soaked and boiled, and cooked with fresh green chanas, or with mangodi. In Rajasthan there weren’t too many seasonal vegetables so everything was dried and stored for future use as well as eaten fresh. Spinach, fenugreek, dill, moong dal, were all cooked together to make a spinach dal.”

The topography and the climate of Rajasthan predetermined most of the cuisine that has evolved over the years. In the Mewar region, a lot of corn is used for making a variety of sweet and savoury dishes as well as main courses. It was imported from South America and its versatility made its use universal. We can make corn pakoras, meat soyeta, chicken soyeta, roti, dhokla, a sweet jajariya (a type of halwa) made from sweet milky corn, corn pulao or simply young sweet corn dipped in gram flour batter and fried whole. “Makkai ka raab in buttermilk is a Mewari broth. We make raab with fresh green milky wheat the same way. It can also be dried, roasted and added to meat or kadhi or simply turned into a dish in a masala base. ‘Raabodi’ is makkai atta cooked in milk, dried in the sun, like a papad and then a vegetable is made out of it with spring onions or in a gravy.” In Marwar, bajra (millet) is used with the same degree of flexibility. “In Mewar, we make mutton soola, in Marwar, they make the mutha but that is chunkier and does not melt in the mouth like soola does.

“Deogarh Mahal is a part of the village and we wanted to keep the food served as authentic and local as we could. Mewari cuisine is what we make at home. It’s as simple, what the Italians call polenta, we call makkai ka daliya. This daliya and Bajra ka meetha kheech served for breakfast was a big hit with all our guests. We, as a family, make it a point to be there at meal times to explain the food and its origins, then our guests really savour it better.”

Jungle maas was created by Rajput warriors roaming in the jungles. “You don’t have onions and garlic when you are in the jungles, you have only ghee, salt and red chillies.” Khada masala meat was also the result of such meanderings. “There were no tools to grind and chop so the onions, ginger, garlic, spices all went in with the meat whole and the result was one of the tastiest meat dishes. When I got married and came to Deogarh, tomatoes and ginger weren’t available at all, they weren’t even grown locally. I had to buy lemon and coriander from Ajmer. Till 1964, in Bikaner, vegetables were never available. That is why one sees the evolution of recipes using local products and produce. I make partridges with green chanas which is a typical dish from Shahpura.

Women in Rajasthan have remained predominantly vegetarian. “The gatta sabzi, panchkutta from Marwar are dishes peculiar and typical of that area. Rajasthani food is rich because curd, buttermilk, ghee, fresh butter were used more than water. They believe that biloya hua makhan is rid of all bad cholestrol and is healthy. I keep telling my sons, we must serve more of our food, pickles, chutneys...”

Though the Rajasthani kitchen was able to create much from little, it had also to cater to different communities with their own ritual observances. The Rajput warrior, for example, was not averse to shikar, killing game to put in his pot at night. The Vaishnavs, followers of Krishna, were vegetarian, and strictly so, as were the Bishnois, a community known for their passion to conserve both animal and plant life. Even among the Rajputs, there were enough royal kitchens where nothing other than vegetarian meals were cooked. The Marwaris, of course, were vegetarian too, but their cuisine, though not too different from the Rajputs, was richer in its method of preparation.

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