Jaipur travel guide

Dal bati churma

Rajasthan's iconic desert meal—hard wheat rolls (bati) baked over camel dung fire, dunked in a five-lentil dal, eaten with churma (crushed wheat with ghee and jaggery); the full meal is served at Rajasthani thali restaurants throughout the state

Laal maas

Rajasthan's fierce red meat curry—mutton slow-cooked in a sauce of Mathania dried red chilies, garlic and yogurt until the oil separates and the color is blood-red; traditionally deer-based but now mutton; try it at traditional haveli restaurants in Jaipur

Ghewar

Jaipurs lacework sweet—a disc-shaped deep-fried wheat batter honeycomb soaked in sugar syrup, topped with thickened rabri cream and pistachios; made only in monsoon season; the Teej festival without ghewar is unimaginable in Rajasthan

Pyaz kachori

Jaipur's essential breakfast pastry—crispy deep-fried kachori stuffed with a spiced onion filling; sold hot from 5am outside the Pink City's old bazaar area; eaten with a thin watery vegetable sauce by Jaipuris who queue before sunrise

Rajasthani thali

The most spectacular meal in Indian vegetarian cooking—multiple small bowls of dal, curry, rice, roti, papad, pickles, buttermilk and sweets on a large metal platter; Rajasthani thali restaurants refill every bowl indefinitely; the experience is overwhelming