A Taste of Rajasthan: What to Eat in Jaisalmer

Rajasthan's signature dish: hard, baked wheat rolls (baati) cracked open and doused in ghee, served with spiced lentil dal and a sweet, crumbled churma made from the same dough. It's rich, filling, and the dish most locals will point you to first.

A distinctly Thar Desert vegetable dish made from ker berries and sangri beans — both wild, drought-resistant plants — cooked with dried mango powder and desert spices. You won't find it easily outside Rajasthan, which makes it worth seeking out here.

The best way to try everything at once. A typical thali brings together dal, gatte ki sabzi (gram-flour dumplings in yogurt curry), roti, rice, papad, pickle, and a sweet, refilled as you go. Most restaurants in the old city near Jaisalmer Fort serve a version of it.

For breakfast or an evening snack, look for street stalls frying up kachori — flaky pastry stuffed with spiced lentils or onions, served hot with tamarind chutney. It's the fastest, cheapest way to eat like a local while wandering the fort's lanes.

Jaisalmer has its own take on Rajasthani mithai, with ghotua laddu — a besan-and-ghee sweet similar to boondi laddu but denser and richer — among the local specialities worth trying alongside classics like malpua and mawa kachori.