Preparing for 50°C: Rajasthan’s Summer Food Traditions
Sundried Rabodi made from cornmeal & buttermilk
Every once in a while, children in the desert state of Rajasthan wake up to a different kind of morning, one that moves with a flurry of colour and purpose. The chowk or the terrace becomes an area of ample importance. Women dressed in bright red, orange, yellow oodhnis move briskly through the house. These clothes, usually worn, are now used for a seasonal ritual that marks the beginning of summer preparations i.e. making rabodi.
The oodhnis are washed, dried, and spread across open spaces. A paste made from buttermilk and makkai (corn) flour is cooked, then spooned onto the cloth in small uneven patches. Under the blaring desert sun, the paste slowly dries and hardens into tangy, papad-like flakes. As unique as this might sound, rabodi is a common preparation in Rajasthani households, one of many ingenious food traditions developed to endure the heat of summer.
When the Thar Desert seems to stretch endlessly, temperatures often soar above 45°C. The land is arid, with cracked earth, sparse vegetation, and dry winds that without fail makes people sick at least once a season. These conditions demand a lifestyle that revolves around active preparation and resourcefulness. From food to water everything is carefully planned, and preserved.
The Land is Harsh But Not Unforgiving
The heat brings with it physiological discomforts – digestive issues, fatigue, and the risk of heatstroke. In this weather, people turn to foods that are light, cooling, and hydrating in nature. Preparation begins well in advance. Sun-drying is among the most relied upon techniques in this state. It is common to see rooftops, courtyards, and open grounds dotted with mats or old cotton sarees and oodhnis, covered in sliced vegetables and greens, laid out to dry.
Winter and monsoon produce like tindsi (a variety of Indian round gourd that is native to western Rajasthan) are dried into fofaliya. Bhee (lotus stem), when available, is peeled, sliced, and sun-dried to be used later in stews and curries. Kachri, a wild, tangy melon native to Rajasthan, is sliced thin and left to dry, eventually used to make sabzi or add a sharp, sour note to meat dishes and accompaniments.
Pansi, Sundried Carrot Greens
Even greens that might be considered too delicate elsewhere, like the leaves of radish or carrots, are sun-dried into thin, crisp flakes. These are later crushed and added to dals or mixed with bajra flour to make rotlas and sogras.
Sun-drying preserves ingredients, concentrates their nutritional value and makes them usable across seasons. So, what might seem like a simple practice is, in fact, a sophisticated form of food security passed down through generations.
To have a good understanding and reliable knowledge of all that grows in the wild desert and can be foraged and consumed also becomes imperative. The land might be harsh but it is not unforgiving, and provides one with ample foragable ingredients, that if you know how to find and preserve, can last for seasons.
Preserved Produce: Kumatiya, Sangri, Ker, Guar Phali, Kaachri
The desert offers ingredients that have evolved to survive these extreme conditions. Trees like khejri – Rajasthan’s state tree – provide the well-known sangri, that are sun-dried for long storage. The khejri thrives in the harsh climate by sinking deep roots to tap underground water and minimising leaf size to reduce moisture loss. The seeds from the kumatiya pods are similarly preserved and used as a vegetable. With thorny branches and a drought-shedding leaf strategy, kumatiya endures the desert by conserving water and protecting itself from grazing.
Melons, which are one of the only fruits that grow reliably in the desert regions of Rajasthan, are consumed heavily during summer. Their natural water content and cooling properties make them indispensable to the region. Musk melons and watermelons, especially the native variety with green-and-white stripes (dhari), are especially had as a relief against the sun.
Children often forage for peelu, small pink or red-ish berries from the jaal tree. Though not commonly used in cooking, they are eaten fresh or dried and stored for later snacking. Wild Indian jujube, or jhaadi ber, produces red berries enjoyed both fresh and powdered. Tamarind is dried or turned into cooling drinks. Derived from the dried flowers and seeds of the Kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra), fogla, though lesser known today by Rajasthanis themselves, once was common in indigenous diets. The produce of this tree is now quite rarely found as indigenous knowledge systems are lost, and a general lack of communication between generations makes it difficult to preserve. With the standardised diet being propagated throughout the country, many such produce are now not in use.
Rajasthanis Can Pickle Anything
Homemade Mirchi ka Achaar
Beyond foraging, desert communities rely heavily on some traditional preservation techniques. Pulses and legumes are turned into mangodi, rabodi, papad, and khichiya – where ingredients are soaked, ground, spiced, and then shaped into small pieces or discs before being dried in the sun. Often, buttermilk or fermented bases are used in the process, adding both flavour and nutritional benefits.
Pickling is another essential preservation method. It’s often said that Rajasthanis can make pickles out of anything. While it’s fun to attribute this tendency to their chatori tastes and appetites, it’s a much more logical deduction that this practice is mostly rooted in necessity.
Methi dana pickle is typical to the region, with its bitter, spicy notes mellowed by oil and mustard seeds, making it a perfect accompaniment to simple and light meals. The lasoda pickle, made from gum berry, is tangy and savoury.
Summers are ideal for pickling, as the hot, dry climate helps cure and preserve ingredients, intensifying their flavours over time. Common pickles include ker, sangri, gunda, red and green chillies, raw mango (kachhi keri), garlic, and even vegetables like radish and meat – each adding spice, sourness, or umami to an otherwise plain meal. Sweet mango chunda and sun-cured lemon pickles, both sharp and sweet, round out the season’s flavours.
Chaach: Favourite Beverage of the State?
Freshly handchurned Chaach (buttermilk)
Chaach (buttermilk) is often considered second only to water in importance. Traditional households still practice bilona – the hand-churning of curd to separate butter and produce chaach. This chaach is also used to make raabdi, often with bajra (pearl millet) flour. Sattu and gond katira are popular as well, cooked into cooling drinks or sweets. These foods are nutritious, hydrating, and often therapeutic, thanks to the lactic acid bacteria and yeasts involved in their fermentation.
Refrigeration, while increasingly common, is still not a given in many rural homes. Hence, sun-drying, fermenting, and pickling remain key methods of preserving seasonal abundance.
Water, too, is stored very thoughtfully. Large matkas (earthen pots) and surahis are used to keep water cool without electricity. In many villages, matkas are covered with a light coloured or white cotton cloths and left in open spaces so that the wind helps cool the water. Even today, under neem or jaal trees, one might find a makeshift pyaau (water booth), where these matkas placed in the cooling shade, ready to quench the thirst of any passerby.
As someone who’s grown up in this state, I’ve seen women from the community gather, one by one, at each other’s homes, making their own stashes of sun-dried veggies, rabodi, mangodi, etc etc. The end of the khichiya-making day was always my favourite. We’d scrape out the last bits of kheech, the leftover from the kadhai, which, by then, had cooked for so long it turned thick. It was too dense to spread, but made for a delicious dish on its own.
Now when I think about it, I’m awestruck. Despite the heat, the dry land, and the constant uncertainty, the people who came before us made this place not just livable, but much softer. They didn’t let scarcity define them. Instead, they worked with it and turned this place and its people into something truly special.
So, these food and water practices are not just about sustenance and survival, but also tradition, and well founded cultural knowledge. Summer is the time of festivals like Akha Teej, which marks abundance and the start of sowing season. It is a reminder that the community’s strength lies in its ability to adapt, preserve, and thrive, no matter how high the mercury rises.
