Rajasthani Dal Bati

Dal Bati -a traditional dish from the state of Rajasthan in India. Hard wheat balls are baked and then eaten a spicy mix of lentils. It’s topped with lots of ghee which makes it extremely flavorful.

India has a very rich culture, that is of course well known all over the world. However I think how rich and diverse our food is not really known. Indian food in the west is synonyms with curry and naan. And that actually is just a fraction of our food. Each state in India has it’s own cuisine, which is totally different from one another. It’s so different that growing up in North, I would have hardly even eaten anything from say Gujarat or Assam or Rajasthan. Simply because the food is so different! I am sure if you are an American or British, you would have probably never eaten/or heard of dosa (rice-lentil crepe) or khandvi (chickpea flour rolls) or dal bati. That’s why I always say to my American friends, the food you eat in Indian restaurants doesn’t represent our real food, nope not at all.

Indian cuisine has always been a paradise for vegetarians. It’s amazing the variety of vegetarian recipes we have. Rajasthani food is one of my favorite and I have mentioned this before when I shared the recipe for Gatte Ki Sabzi. I am always amazed by all the delicious vegetarian food people created in Rajasthan without any fresh produce. Today I am sharing probably one of the most famous recipes from the state- Dal Bati. It’s usually Dal Bati and Churma but I did not make the 3rd part of this dish so just sharing the recipe for Rajasthani Panchmel Dal and Bati.

Now what exactly is Dal Bati? Dal of course you already know is Indian term for all kinds of lentils. This dal however is called Panchmel Dal. Panch means five so we mix 5 types of lentils in this dal. It’s seasoned with lots of spices. The dals that I have used here are – arhar/toor dal [split pigeon peas lentil], chana dal [split garbanzo beans], green moong dal, urad chilka [split black gram lentil] and urad dhuli. A lot of people also use masoor dal (red lentils) in this recipe so you can use that too.

And what is bati? It’s a hard whole wheat roll/dough ball which is baked and then flavored with lot of ghee. There’s also a third part to this dish – “Chruma” which is almost the same dough as bati (minus the spices and salt), the balls are fried then crushed and mixed with ghee, nuts and sugar. And how you eat it? You crush the bati coarsely, add dal and then add lots of ghee on top and then eat it with chruma on the side. Also chutney, papad and chaas (buttermilk) are usually served along with. So yum! Yes there’s lot of ghee in this dish and that’s what makes it so flavorful.

So if you are feeling a little adventurous in the kitchen, it’s time to make some Rajasthani Dal Bati!