Dal bati

Jaipur, Amer Fort, Chittorgarh Fort

What it is

A plate arrives with a few hard, round wheat rolls, golden brown and shiny with ghee. Beside them sits a bowl of cooked lentils, spiced and warm. Break a roll open and spoon the dal over it. The roll is the bati, the lentils are the dal, and together they are dal bati. In Rajasthan a sweet crumble called churma often joins them, and then the plate is a whole meal. Rolls and lentils like these are also eaten in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.

Where it comes from

Picture soldiers in the sun, pressing lumps of dough into the sand and leaving them there. When they came back, the rolls were baked, and they dunked them in ghee. So the story goes, and the accounts are anecdotal. Baati is mentioned in the time of Bappa Rawal, founder of Mewar, as a wartime meal of the Guhilots. At first it came with ghee and curd. Dal and churma were added later. Where it truly began is not well recorded.

How it is made

Flour goes into a bowl with salt, yogurt and water, and gets kneaded into dough. Hands shape it into round balls, about the size of a tennis ball. They bake in a very hot traditional oven or on an earthen stove until golden brown, then are greased with ghee. The dal is made separately. Lentils soaked for a few hours are boiled. Oil heats in a pan, mustard and cumin seeds go in, then green chilli, garlic and spices, and finally the boiled dal.

How it is eaten

The bati comes with ghee on it and the dal beside it. Around them may sit rava laddoo, rice, mint chutney, raw mango chutney, garlic chutney, a green salad with plenty of onion, and fresh buttermilk. Churma is the sweet part: fire-baked or fried dough balls are ground up and mixed with ghee, sugar or jaggery, and dry fruits. The full meal turns up at festivals such as Makar Sankranti and Diwali, and at weddings and housewarmings.

Where to try it

In Jaipur, look for traditional thali dining halls. On the road into Amer Fort there are thali eateries, and more in Jaipur's old quarter. In Jaisalmer, thali restaurants around the bazaar lanes are busiest at lunchtime, when the food is freshest. Mehrangarh has restaurants that serve it as a thali. Near Hawa Mahal it is served at traditional eateries, and at Chittorgarh Fort it appears on menus. It is rich, so a small portion or a shared plate is enough.

Sources

Wikipedia, “Dal bati” (CC BY-SA 4.0): the facts.

Picture 1: photograph (cropped) — DalBati.jpg — Niranjan.gohane, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Picture 2: photograph (cropped) — Daal Bafla.jpg — Sumit Surai, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Picture 3: photograph (cropped) — "Delectable Dal Baati Churma".jpg — Mahi Tatavarty, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Picture 4: photograph (cropped) — Daal baati (10437586756).jpg — Devika, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Picture 5: photograph (cropped) — Authentic-rajasthani-dal-bati---Folk-Cuisine.jpg — Bhuppigraphy, CC BY-SA 4.0.