The baked balls of dough (baati), flavourful panchmel dal, and the sweet notes of churma –– the combination is faultless. A wholesome and fulfilling meal, the three-pronged dish, in fact, has a rather interesting history to it.
Way back when Bappa Rawal ruled the Mewar Kingdom in Rajasthan, baati was no less than a wartime meal. Before heading into war, the Rajput soldiers would almost bury these dough balls or chunks under the top layer of sand, and would find baked versions of them when they returned. Once dusted off, they would dress them with desi ghee and pair it with some form of buttermilk or curd.
When the Gupta Empire trickled into Mewar, they brought along their love for the panchmel dal. A mixture of five lentils (hence the name, panchmel) –– moong dal, chana dal, toor dal, masoor dal and urad dal –– is prepared with aromatics and spices such as cumin, cloves, chilli, and more.
The churma, was apparently an accidental invention. From the Guhilot clan of the Mewars, a cook mistakenly poured sugarcane juice onto some baatis. This led to the baatis becoming softer and soggier. This came to be the desired state, as the Guhilot women wanted to keep the baatis softer until the men returned home, and so, they began dunking the rather tough dough balls into a mixture of water and jaggery or sugarcane.
Eventually, as the baati remained moist, it may have begun to fall apart into what we now know as churma. With time, locals added cardamom or any other spice or sweetener they desired.
This series of consequences in history gave birth to one of the most iconic dishes in India. Wholesome and nutritious in all possible ways, this triple threat of a dish is one that creates memories.
Dal Baati is eaten with Churma popularly in regions of Rajasthan and Haryana. Churma is a sweet delicacy made of coarsely grounded wheat flour, bajra (millet) flour, or semolina. It is made by grinding the fire-baked or fried dough balls and mixing it with ghee, powdered sugar, and dry fruits.