As the sun kisses the desert dunes in the villages of Rajasthan, it signals the end of a hectic day. The hungry desert denizens return home, where a sumptuous fare of traditional food awaits them. As they laze on their charpoys (cots), they are served rabori, an appetiser made of bajra, jeera, chach and salt. This is followed by a full meal of the khejri vegetable and bajra rotis laced with ghee . "Life cannot get any better. A sumptuous meal of bajra rotis is all one wants to have a good night sleep,' says Narayan Das Prajapati, a Jodhpur-based farmer.

Bajra is popular in the state, as the millet can be grown in sandy soil under rain-fed conditions. The crop is also grown in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The temperature during the growing season should be 25-35