DAL BATI

The evolution of Daal Baati

So where did Baati really originate? This little wheat globe made of unsalted wheat, ghee and camel milk was first mentioned during the time of Bappa Rawal – the founder of the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan. Known as a nomadic warrior tribe before they settled into the tapestry of a kingdom and got Chittor in form of dowry from Maan Mori, Baati was the Guhilot’s official war time meal.
It is said that soldiers would break the dough into chunks and leave it buried under thin layers of sand to bake under the sun. So when they returned, they could find perfectly baked roundels that was dunked into ghee and had; on a good day there would be curd or buttermilk as well. Churma and the Panchmael Dal came as a later addition as civilization set in. And though a few anthropologists believe that at grass root level, baati was still paired with ghee and buttermilk or curd made of camel or goat milk, it was the upper caste who enjoyed the combination of dal and baati. This could have been the result of traders settling in Mewar, or what many believe, the influence of Gupta period cooking style where Panchmael Dal was considered a delicacy and was eventually adopted by a royal chef and it became popular.