A kitchen built for the desert
Dry country: rain is scarce, wells deep, and for most of history green vegetables were a luxury of the monsoon.
Food that lasts: Jodhpur kitchens cooked with gram flour, millet, lentils, dried desert berries and beans, milk in every form, and ghee.
For travellers: dishes kept for days without spoiling, which suited a land of traders and herders always on the move.
- Staples
- Gram flour, millet, lentils, milk, ghee
- Desert pantry
- Dried berries and beans
- Village bread
- Bajra, pearl millet, in winter
- Chillies
- Mathania, just outside the city
- Cooking liquid
- Often buttermilk or yoghurt
- Rich and dry: that is why so many Marwari favourites are long-lasting, and so much is fried or cooked in ghee.
- Less water: where other regions cook vegetables in water, Marwari cooks often use buttermilk or yoghurt, easier to find in herding country.
- Gram flour everything: it becomes dumplings, noodles and batters.
- Bajra: pearl millet grows where wheat fails, and its heavy, nutty rotis are the village bread of winter.
- Sun-dried heat: red chillies add colour and fire, the most famous from Mathania.
- Jain and Marwari trading families: strictly vegetarian kitchens, some without onion, garlic or root vegetables.
- Rajput families: a tradition of game and mutton from the days of the hunt.
- Bishnoi households: simple cooking with milk, millet and seasonal vegetables.
- Muslim cooks: kebabs and biryani for weddings and festivals in the old city.
- The wider picture: our Rajasthani food guide.
If you only try six things
Mirchi bada: hot from the pan on Nai Sarak or near Jalori Gate, at breakfast or dusk, with a cup of chai.
Mawa kachori: one between two, in the morning while the pastry still crackles.
- Makhaniya lassi: at Shri Mishrilal Hotel by the clock tower, before noon.
- Ker sangri: in a home kitchen or a thali, the taste of the desert in one bowl.
- Laal maas: at a palace or village fort, eaten late, with bajra roti and white butter.
- Dal baati churma: the great dish of Rajasthan, best at a family table or a festival.
- For vegetarians: swap the laal maas for gatte ki sabzi, and you lose nothing of the city.
The street breakfasts of Jodhpur
- When
- From about seven in the morning
- The one dish
- Mirchi bada
- Savoury kachori
- Pyaaz, filled with onion
- Sweet kachori
- Mawa, one for two
- Where
- Nai Sarak, Jalori Gate, the clock tower
Mirchi bada, the city's own snack
What it is: a fat, long green chilli, much milder than it looks, split and stuffed with spiced mashed potato, dipped in thick gram-flour batter and fried until it blisters.
- Extra crunch: some cooks fry it twice.
- How to eat it: hot, with tangy green chutney or sweet tamarind, and always chai. One is a snack, two is breakfast.
- Where: Janta Sweet Home on Nai Sarak is one of the best-known addresses, and the stalls around Jalori Gate have loyal followings.
Pyaaz kachori
Shared pride: Jaipur claims it, but Jodhpur makes it just as well.
- What it is: a flaky, deep-fried pastry filled with onions slow-cooked with spices until sweet and dark.
- How to eat it: break it open and spoon in chutney, or eat it with kadhi, the gram-flour and yoghurt curry.
- Share one: it is heavy. Our pyaaz kachori guide tells its story across Rajasthan.
Mawa kachori, the sweet one
Jodhpur's great invention in sugar: a pastry filled with mawa, milk reduced slowly to a soft, sweet paste, mixed with dried fruit and cardamom.
- Finished: deep-fried, then dipped in sugar syrup until glossy.
- Rich and dense: one is plenty for two.
- When: fresh in the morning, while the pastry still crackles.
Samosa and kachori with kadhi
Shahi Samosa: near the clock tower, a well-known stop for oversized samosas of spiced potato and peas.
- A labourer's breakfast: plain kachori with a ladle of hot kadhi poured over it, which keeps you going until lunch.
- How: standing at the counter, as everyone else does.
Sweets and the old sweet shops
Makhaniya lassi
Where: Shri Mishrilal Hotel, at the gate of the clock tower market, serving it for generations.
- What it is: thick yoghurt whipped with sugar, saffron and cardamom, under a lid of cream and butter, which is what makhan means.
- More pudding than drink: locals have it in the morning, and it is freshest before noon.
- Also try: the shop's pedas, small milk sweets.
Gulab jamun, the Jodhpur way
The shops: several long-established sweet shops carrying the Chaturbhuj family name are known for them.
- What they are: dark, syrup-soaked milk dumplings.
- The surprise: gulab jamun ki sabzi, the same sweet dumplings cooked in a spicy, savoury gravy.
- Try it once: at a wedding or a thali restaurant. It works better than it sounds.
Ghevar, in the season of Teej
What it is: a lacy, honeycomb disc of fried batter soaked in syrup, often topped with cream and pistachio.
- When: the monsoon months around Teej and Raksha Bandhan. Many families would never eat it at any other time.
- July and August: the sweet shops stack it high.
- The connection: our piece on ghevar and Teej.
Winter sweets and laddoos
Gond ke laddoo: rich balls of wheat flour, ghee, dried fruit and edible gum, made to warm and strengthen.
- Besan chakki: a fudge of roasted gram flour and ghee.
- Churma: sweetened crushed wheat with ghee, the third part of dal baati churma.
- The full list: our Rajasthani sweets guide.
Home cooking and the community kitchens
Ker sangri
Ker: a small, sour wild berry.
Sangri: the long bean of the khejri tree, the tree the Bishnois protect with their lives.
- Dried for the year: both are picked in the hot months.
- Cooked: with oil, red chilli, dried mango powder and spices, into a tangy, slightly chewy dish that keeps for days.
- The desert in a bowl: read our piece on ker sangri.
Panchkuta
The name: five pounded things.
- What it is: five desert ingredients, among them ker, sangri and kumat seeds, cooked into a rich, sour and spicy relish-like vegetable.
- Festive and portable: it lasts well, perfect for travel in the old days.
Gatte ki sabzi and kadhi
Gatte ki sabzi: gram-flour dough rolled into logs, boiled, sliced into dumplings and simmered in a yoghurt curry with red chilli and turmeric. On almost every Marwari table.
- Kadhi: its everyday cousin, the yoghurt and gram-flour curry, sometimes with fried pakoras floating in it.
- With: rice or rotis.
Bajra roti and white butter
Winter bread: millet rotis patted out by hand and cooked over a fire.
- Served with: a spoon of fresh white butter and a lump of jaggery.
- The best simple meal: a village lunch of bajra roti, buttermilk and a vegetable, filling and slightly smoky.
Dal baati churma
The great dish of Rajasthan: and Jodhpur kitchens make it superbly.
Baati: hard wheat rolls baked in embers, cracked open and soaked in ghee.
- With: a mixed dal and sweet churma.
- Every occasion: festival food, picnic food and wedding food at once.
- At home: our dal baati churma recipe.
Royal kitchens and the food of the hunt
Laal maas: the most famous dish of the Rajput table, mutton cooked slowly with yoghurt, garlic, ghee and a great quantity of dried red chillies, traditionally from Mathania.
Colour and heat: both come from the chillies.
- Laal maas
- Red mutton with Mathania chillies
- Safed maas
- White mutton in milk and cream
- Jungli maas
- Ghee, salt and red chilli only
- Dhungar
- Smoking with charcoal and ghee
- The palace touch: kitchens soften it with more yoghurt and finish it with dhungar, a piece of charcoal dropped into the pot with a little ghee.
- Served with: bajra roti or plain rice, and a spoon of white butter. Our laal maas recipe explains the method.
- Safed maas: its pale opposite, mutton in milk, cream, cashews and white spices, a dish of the court rather than the camp.
- Jungli maas: the hunter's version, as it might have been cooked over a fire in the field.
- No game today: hunting has long been banned, so all are made with mutton or chicken.
- Where to eat them: often best in the heritage hotels and village forts, where family recipes are closely guarded.
Where we eat in Jodhpur
- Mirchi bada
- Janta Sweet Home, Nai Sarak
- Lassi
- Shri Mishrilal Hotel, the clock tower
- Thali
- Gypsy, Sardarpura
- Samosa
- Shahi Samosa, near the clock tower
- Gulab jamun
- The Chaturbhuj sweet shops
Janta Sweet Home, Nai Sarak
- Known for: mirchi bada, pyaaz kachori and mawa kachori. One of the city's best-known halwais.
- When: in the morning, as batches come out of the oil one after another. Expect to share a table.
Shri Mishrilal Hotel, the clock tower
Known for: makhaniya lassi, at the entrance to Sardar Market under the clock tower.
- The feel: simple and busy. The lassi is the reason to go.
- Combine it: with an hour in the clock tower market.
Gypsy, Sardarpura
Known for: the city's best-known thali, in the residential district of Sardarpura.
- How it works: dish after dish arrives in small bowls until you cover your plate with your hand.
- Good for: a cheerful local family place, and an introduction to the range of Marwari vegetarian cooking.
The halwais of the old city
Every lane: almost every lane has a halwai with a loyal following.
- How to choose: around Jalori Gate and the clock tower, follow the queue and the smell of frying chillies.
- Two more names: Shahi Samosa for samosas, and the old Chaturbhuj sweet shops for gulab jamun.
Dining at the palaces and havelis
Umaid Bhawan: a table on the terrace at Umaid Bhawan Palace, with the fort on its ridge across the city.
- RAAS: under the floodlit walls of Mehrangarh at RAAS Jodhpur.
- Rooftops: many heritage havelis in the old city have rooftop restaurants facing the fort.
- Private dinners: we arrange them in haveli courtyards and at the village forts. See our private palace dinners page.
A food walk, the way we would do it
Late afternoon: start at Toorji ka Jhalra and walk the lanes towards the clock tower, with a cup of chai on the way.
Mirchi bada: hot, near Jalori Gate or on Nai Sarak, where the halwais fry fresh batches as the evening crowd arrives.
- Sweet stop: share a mawa kachori and taste a gulab jamun at one of the old sweet shops of the walled city.
- Sardar Market: walk through as the lights come on, and buy spices from a stall that grinds them in front of you.
- Finish: a cup of hot saffron milk in winter, then a rooftop Marwari dinner with the fort floodlit above.
- Guided walks: our night markets page and our food experiences explain how we arrange them.
Eating street food without regret
Follow the queue: busy stalls with fast turnover fry fresh batches all the time.
Cooked in front of you: straight from the oil or the pan. Skip anything that has been sitting.
- Best hours
- Morning and early evening
- Choose
- The longest queue, the hottest oil
- Careful with
- Raw chutneys, cut fruit, ice
- Water
- Bottled or filtered
- Timing: morning and early evening are the busiest hours, when everything is freshest.
- Go easy: on raw chutneys, cut fruit, salads and ice if your stomach is not used to Indian food.
- Water: bottled or filtered, and refill your own bottle at the hotel.
- Start gently: one mirchi bada on day one, two on day two. Fried food in the heat can be heavy.
- Carry: hand sanitiser and small notes, though most stalls take UPI phone payments now.
- If in doubt: walk with one of our food guides, who know exactly which stall to choose. Our health and safety guide has more.
Vegetarian and Jain food
Mostly vegetarian: most of the city's street food and sweets, and many restaurants are entirely so.
Jain cooking: the great trading families, Jains in particular, built a cuisine of extraordinary variety without meat or eggs.
Strict Jain homes: no onion, garlic, potatoes or other root vegetables.
- Flavour without them: asafoetida, ginger and spices.
- Naturally Jain: ker sangri, gatte and papad ki sabzi, a curry of crisp lentil wafers.
- Tell us before you travel: we let your hotels know, and palace kitchens are used to preparing separate dishes for Jain guests.
- At street stalls: harder to be sure, so ask, or ask our guide to ask.
- After sunset: many Jains avoid eating then, and we plan the day around it if you wish.
- Vegans: ghee, yoghurt and milk appear in almost everything, so explain clearly what you do not eat.
What Jodhpur drinks
Chai, all day long
- The cup: milky, sweet, spiced with ginger and cardamom, from small glasses or clay cups at every corner.
- The city's handshake: offered in every home and shop. Accept it.
Chhach, the summer saviour
What it is: thin, salted buttermilk spiced with roasted cumin, sometimes mint.
- Why: it cools you down and settles the stomach after a rich meal.
- Ask for it: with your thali, and through the hot months.
Saffron milk at night
- Winter evenings: stalls near the clock tower boil milk in great iron pans until it thickens, then add sugar, saffron and nuts.
- Kesar doodh: a hot cup after dinner is a Jodhpur tradition.
Wine, beer and dry days
Where: hotels and many restaurants serve wine, beer and spirits, but some smaller places do not.
- Dry days: on certain national and religious holidays alcohol is not sold at all.
- The rules: our guide to dry days and alcohol.
Eating through the seasons and festivals
- November to February
- Bajra, white butter, laal maas
- April to June
- Chhach, raita, ker berries
- Monsoon
- Pakoras, ghevar
- Holi
- Gujiya and thandai
- Diwali
- Boxes of sweets
Winter, the season of millet and ghee
At every village lunch: bajra rotis, white butter and jaggery, from November to February.
- In the markets: fenugreek, mustard greens and fresh green chickpeas.
- Makar Sankranti: sweet shops make gond ke laddoo and til sweets of sesame and jaggery for January.
- Palace dishes: the best season for laal maas, eaten late on a cold night.
Summer, the season of cooling
Cooling food: chhach with every meal, raita, light dals and fresh ker berries from the desert bushes, from April to June.
- Evenings: kulfi carts and lassi shops do their best trade.
- First mangoes: they reach the market.
Monsoon, the season of frying
When the rains come: Jodhpur fries. Pakoras, mirchi bada and kachori taste best on a wet afternoon.
- Ghevar: fills the sweet shops for Teej and Raksha Bandhan.
- Lake picnics: families cook dal baati over a fire at the lakes on the city's edge.
Holi and Diwali
At Holi: homes make gujiya, sweet pastries of mawa and dried fruit, and cooling thandai, spiced milk with almonds and fennel.
- At Diwali: every family exchanges boxes of sweets, and the old sweet shops work through the night.
- Join a family: ask our guides to take you to a family celebration, where the food is always the heart of the day.
Cooking with a Marwari family
Where: with Marwari home cooks in the old city, and with the families who run the village forts.
What you do: grind spices, knead dough for baati or bajra roti, temper a dal and make a simple sweet.
- Then: sit down to eat what you have made with the family.
- The feel: relaxed and personal, nothing like a cookery school.
- How it works: our haveli cooking class, and our food trail journey builds a whole trip around Rajasthan's kitchens.
- Rather watch: many hotel kitchens will let guests see laal maas or dal baati being made.
Table manners in a Jodhpur home
Wash first: before and after eating. Families often bring water and a bowl to you.
Right hand: eat with it if you eat with your fingers. Tearing rotis one-handed takes practice.
- The refills: your host will keep filling your plate. Cover it with your hand and say you are full. Once rarely works.
- Taste everything: you needn't finish it, but trying each dish is polite.
- Don't waste: leave food only if you must, in a land that remembers famine.
- Who eats when: in many homes men and guests eat first and the women of the house later. Accept it gracefully, and thank the cook directly.
- Shoes off: before a kitchen or dining area in a traditional home.
- Greet and thank: say khamma ghani on arrival. A compliment on the food is the best gift you can give.
