Rajasthani Thali - Full Course Meal

I am part of this wonderful group called South North Challenge, started by Divya Pramil of "You too Can cook". I belong to the Southern team, and each month we have to complete the challenge set by the Northern team.

This month's truly challenging recipe was given to us by Manjula of "Desi Fiesta". She had made a beautiful Rajasthani Thali, which inspired us to create one of our own. She was very helpful throughout the process, answering all our doubts, and hence it was possible for us to make this awesome platter.

Each and every dish had its own distinct flavor. I was very happy at the end of the whole process. I have tried to give a detailed procedure throughout the post. So bear with me if it is too long. Hopefully, the pictorials would help you understand the recipes much better and inspire you to try the same.

The menu for this Rajasthani Thaali is –

• Goond Ki laddu
• Baati
• Dal
• Panchmel Subzi
• Gatte ki Kadhi with rice
• Dhana wadi/Moong wadi curry
• Bajiri ki roti
• Makkai ki roti
• Matta/Boondi chaas
• Kesar Malai Lassi

Goond ki laddu – (Sweet made of wheat flour and edible gum)

Using edible gum in cooking was a very new technique for me, and I have to tell you that I fell in love with this gum the minute I ate some of this laddu. The gum made it so much easier to make the laddus because it helped bind them together without using too much ghee (fat), and the crunch it gave to the laddus was wonderful.

I found the edible gum easily in the local Indian store. There were two kinds of it available. One was the larger crystals that were expensive and the other one that I used in the smaller crystal. This laddu was very easy to make, but it requires a little bit of patience when frying the wheat flour.

I also learned from Manjula’s post that goond /edible gum is heat heat-producing food, which is consumed during winter to raise our body temperature. Hence, this laddu is a winter treat that is usually eaten with a glass of warm milk or after a nice meal.

Preparation time – 5 mins
Cooking time – 30 mins
Difficulty level - easy

Ingredients – (makes around 12 medium Laddus)

• Wheat flour/Aata – 1 ¼ cup
• Goond/edible gum – 3 tbsp
• Powdered sugar/Confectionery sugar – ½ cup
• Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
• Ghee/clarified butter – 8 tablespoon (plus more if you have a hard time shaping the laddu)

Procedure –

• Heat about 3 tablespoon of ghee in a wide pan and add the wheat flour to it. Fry the wheat flour in low to medium heat until it turns golden brown and very aromatic. Keep stirring when roasting the wheat flour because it is very easy to burn it.

• Once the wheat flour is roasted, keep it aside and let it cool.
• Meanwhile, in the same pan, heat about 2 tablespoon of ghee to fry the edible gum. We are going to fry the gum in 3 batches of one tbsp. So once the ghee heats up add 1 tablespoon of the goond and fry it. The goond starts to puff up when you fry it. This takes only a minute. Drain the fried gum in a paper towel and repeat with the rest 2 tbsp. Add about 1 tablespoon of ghee each time you fry the gum.

• Once the wheat flour and gum have cooled down, mix them and add the sugar and cardamom to it. Mix it well and start shaping it into small balls. The gum makes it quite easy to shape, but if in case you are having trouble shaping the laddus, add a little bit of melted ghee and then shape them. Store it in an airtight container.

Dal Baati

Dal Baati is a very famous Rajasthani combo dish. Any Rajasthani platter is incomplete without this combo. Baked wheat flour dumplings served with lentil soup on the side is a very filling dish of its own. This bread is very famous in Rajasthan because of its long shelf life and high nutritional value. Baati can be made plain or with fillings. The baatis are crushed and drizzled with pure ghee and then eaten with a bowl of dal to make it a complete meal.

Baati

Preparation time – 20 mins
Cooking time – 30 mins
Difficulty level – easy

Ingredients – (makes around 10 medium Baati)

• Wheat flour – 1 ½ cups
• Salt – to taste
• Water – to make stiff dough
• Ghee – 3 tbsp

Procedure –

• Mix the wheat flour, salt, and 1 tablespoon of ghee. Add warm water to make stiff dough. Let the dough rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Divide the dough equally into 10 parts and then make balls out of it. Place them on a greased baking tray and slightly flatten each ball with your palm.

• Bake for about 15 mins and then flip the baatis and bake them further. If needed, drizzle with some ghee when baking. Bake until it is golden brown.
• Take it out of the oven and smear with ghee. Traditionally, these are dipped in pure ghee for about an hour and then eaten, but to watch the fat intake, we can just brush them with ghee. Keep it warm until ready to serve.

Dal/Moong Dal – (Split green gram soup)

Ingredients – (serves 4)

• Split green gram dal/Yellow moong dal – ¾ cup (I used split green gram dal)
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Asafetida – ¼ tsp
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Green chilies – 2 (slit lengthwise)
• Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
• Red chili powder – ¼ tsp
• Garam masala – ½ tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Oil+ghee – 1tbsp

Procedure –

• Cook the split green gram dal (Moong dal) in pressure cooker or stove top until it soft and mushy.

• Heat oil/ghee and add the cumin seeds. Once the seeds sputter add the green chilies, rest of the masala powders and ginger garlic paste and sauté for 10 secs.

• Now add the cooked dal and adjust the thickness of the dal. If needed add water to bring it to the right consistency. Let it boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.

• Serve hot with baatis!

Panchmel Subzi –( A dry curry made with five different vegetables)

Ingredients - (serves 4)

• Gawar beans/cluster beans – ¾ cup (chopped)
• Long beans – ¾ cup (chopped)
• French beans – ¾ cup (chopped)
• Cucumber – ¾ cup (chopped)
• Bell pepper – ¾ cup (chopped)
• Tomato – 1 large (chopped)
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Chili powder – 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Dhania powder/coriander powder – 2 tsp
• Oil – 2 tbsp
• Salt – to taste

Procedure –

• Heat oil in a pan and then add the cumin seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add all the chopped vegetables (except the tomatoes) and let it cook until half way done.

• Now add the tomatoes and all the dry masala powders along with salt and cook until the vegetables are almost done. Do not add any water since the vegetables lets out water when cooking.

• Don’t cook the vegetables until mushy. The curry traditionally is left with a little crunch on them. Serve with rotis!

Gatte Ki Kadhi

Ingredients – (serves 4)

For the Gatta (dumplings)

• Gram flour/kadalai maavu/besan – ¾ cup
• Chili powder – 1 tsp
• Carom seeds/Ajwain – ½ tsp
• Yogurt – 1 tbsp
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Salt- to taste

For the kadhi

• Yogurt – 2 cups (whisked)
• Gram flour/kadalai maavu/besan – 1 tbsp
• Curry leave – few
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
• Asafetida – ¼ tsp
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Chili powder – 1 tsp
• Ghee/oil – 1 tbsp
• Salt – to taste
• Cilantro - garnish

Procedure –

To make the gattas –

• Mix all the ingredients mentioned above for gattas and make firm dough adding very little water if needed.

• Divide the mixture into 8 and make small cylindrical shape (the size of your finger).

• Boil water in a large pan and once the water boils, add these dumplings into water and cook for about 10 mins.

• Remove with slotted spoon and cut into bite size pieces. Keep aside until ready to assemble.

To make the kadhi –

• Combine the yogurt, besan, curry leaves and ½ cup water and whisk well until no lump remains.

• Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and asafetida.
• Once the seeds crackle add the turmeric powder, chili powder and fry for a minute.

• Now add the whisked yogurt mixture, 1 cup water and salt. Bring it to a boil while stirring constantly to avoid the yogurt from splitting.

To assemble –

• Once the kadhi boils, add the steamed gattas to it and bring it to boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the kadhi thickens. Serve with rice!

Dhana Moong Wadi (A curry made with dried lentil nuggets)

Ingredients – (serves 4)

• Moong wadi or mangodi – 1 cup
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Red chili powder – 1 tsp
• Dhania jeera powder – 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Oil – 3 tbsp
• Cilantro – to garnish

Procedure –

• In a pan heat about 2 tablespoon of oil and fry the moong wadis until they are golden brown. Drain and keep aside.

• In the same pan, add the remaining one tablespoon of oil. Fry the cumin seeds and then add all the dry spice powders and fry for a minute.

• Now add about 1 cup of water and mix well.

• To this add the fried wadis and let it cook covered on low heat until completely cooked. The wadis would be soft and mushy when done. When they are cooking keep checking to see if it needs more water. I did need to add more water as it was cooking.

• Garnish with cilantro and serve with any roti or rice.

Bajiri ki roti (Indian bread made with millet)

Ingredients – (makes 10 medium parathas)

• Bajiri aata (millet flour) – 2 cups
• Wheat flour – ¼ cup
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Water – to knead
• Ghee – to make the parathas

Procedure –

• Mix all the flours and salt in a bowl and add little water at a time to make stiff dough. Keep the dough aside for about 20 mins to rest.

• Now divide the dough into 10 equal parts and then roll it out on top of a well floured plastic sheet.

• Transfer the rolled dough into your palm and then put it in a hot tawa.
• Let it cook on one side and then flip it to the other side. Smear both the sides with ghee and cook on the other side too.

• Serve hot with some curry! This roti needs to be eaten when piping hot; otherwise it could become hard and chewy.

Makki Ki Roti (bread made with corn flour)

Preparation time – 20 mins
Cooking time – 20 mins
Difficulty level – easy

Ingredients – (makes around 10 medium parathas)

• Corn/maize flour – 1 cup
• Salt – to taste
• Ghee – to spread over the roti’s

Procedure –

• Combine the corn flour and salt and add water to it slowly to make soft dough. It does take a while to form dough, so knead it patiently adding water little by little.
• Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 mins.
• Divide the dough into small balls and flatten each piece of dough over aluminum foil. It also helped to lay a piece of plastic over the dough when flattening it.

• Then invert the flattened dough on a hot tawa and let it cook for about a minute. Gently peel the aluminum foil back and then cook the rotis on both sides applying little ghee.
• Keep warm until ready to serve.

Matta/boondhi Chaas (Boondhi raita)

Preparation time – 5 mins
Cooking time – none
Difficulty level – easy

Ingredients – serves 4

• Yogurt – 1 cup
• Water – 1 cup
• Boondhi - ½ cup
• Cumin powder – ½ tsp
• Red chili powder – ¼ tsp
• Salt – to taste

Procedure –

• Whisk together all the ingredients except boondhi to a smooth mixture.
• Add the boondhi to the yogurt mixture.

• Keep it chilled until ready to serve.

Kesar malai lassi – (A sweetened yogurt based drink)

Manjula had made this drink with milk, but I used yogurt to make it. This was the first time I used whipping cream in my lassi and it gave a very rich flavor.

Preparation time – 5 mins
Cooking time – none
Difficulty level –easy

Ingredients – (serves 4)

• Thick Yogurt – 1 cup
• Water – ½ cup
• Whipping cream – ½ cup
• Sugar – 4 tablespoon (or to taste)
• Saffron strands – few (soaked in 1 tablespoon of warm milk)
• Salt – a pinch

Procedure –

• Use a blender or a hand blender to mix all the ingredients to a smooth and frothy mixture.

• Pour in a glass or matka (clay pot) and serve chilled.