With colours, cheer and celebrations, Holi arrives every year. Holi is also associated with a variety of homemade and traditional festive treats.
In the north, plates fill with gujiyas, malpua, and ladoos. Holi is also the time to enjoy glasses filled with the special bhaang thandai. In western India, homes prepare treats such as puran poli and crisp savoury snacks to share with family and visitors. Everywhere, regional variations have their own flavours, adding to the vaiety of local tastes and traditions.
Many of these dishes appear only once a year — sweets fried in ghee, milk-based desserts, and playful modern creations all find a place during the season.
Though the recipes differ from region to region, they share a common purpose — to bring people together and make the festive season memorable.
Gujiya
Ingredients
All-purpose flour: 2 cups
Ghee: 4 tbsp
Water: as required
Khoya (mawa): 1 cup
Powdered sugar: ¾ cup
Chopped nuts: ¼ cup
Cardamom powder: ½ tsp
Oil or ghee: for frying
Method
Mix flour and ghee until crumbly. Add water and knead into a stiff dough. Rest for 20 minutes.
Roast khoya lightly and mix with sugar, nuts, and cardamom. Roll small discs of dough. Fill with stuffing and seal edges. Deep fry on medium heat until golden. Cool before serving.
Thandai
Ingredients
Milk: 4 cups
Almonds: ¼ cup
Cashews: 2 tbsp
Poppy seeds: 1 tbsp
Fennel seeds: 1 tsp
Cardamom powder: ½ tsp
Sugar: to taste
Rose water: 1 tsp
Method
Soak nuts and seeds for 2 hours. Grind into a smooth paste with a little milk. Add paste to chilled milk with sugar and cardamom. Mix well and refrigerate. Serve cold, garnished with nuts.
Malpua
Ingredients
All-purpose flour: 1 cup
Semolina: 2 tbsp
Milk: 1 cup
Sugar: 1 cup
Water: 1 cup
Cardamom powder: ½ tsp
Oil or ghee: for frying
Method
Prepare sugar syrup by boiling sugar and water. Add cardamom. Mix flour, semolina, and milk into a smooth batter. Rest for 15 minutes. Pour small ladles into hot oil and fry until golden. Dip fried malpuas briefly in warm syrup.
Paan Pudding
Ingredients
Fennel seeds: 1 tbsp
Cardamom pods: 2
Hot water: ¼ cup
Betel leaves (paan patta): 2
Gulkand: 1 tbsp
Milk: 1½ cups
Sugar: ½ cup
Cornflour: 2 tbsp
Green food colour: 1–2 drops (optional)
For garnish
Silver leaf
Rose petals
Method
Soak fennel seeds and cardamom in hot water for 30 minutes.
Transfer the soaked mixture to a blender along with betel leaves and gulkand. Blend until smooth.
Make a slurry by mixing cornflour with ½ cup of milk.
In a saucepan, combine the remaining milk, sugar, and the paan mixture. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves.
Add the cornflour slurry and cook, whisking continuously, until the mixture thickens.
Pour into serving bowls or ramekins.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until set.
Garnish with silver leaf and rose petals before serving.
Chocolate Rasmalai
Ingredients
For the chenna
Milk: 4 cups
Vinegar: 3 tbsp
Water: 3 tbsp
Cocoa powder: 2 tsp
Cold water: as required
For the chocolate milk
Milk: 3 cups
Sugar: ⅓ cup
Cocoa powder: 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder: ¼ tsp
Chopped almonds: 2 tbsp
For the sugar syrup
Water: 4 cups
Sugar: 1 cup
Method
Heat milk until lukewarm. Slowly add vinegar mixed with water, stirring gently until the milk curdles. Strain through a muslin cloth and wash with cold water. Drain for 20 minutes to form chenna. Knead chenna until smooth. Add cocoa powder and knead again. Shape into small flattened discs. Boil sugar and water to prepare syrup. Add discs and cook covered for 8–10 minutes until they expand. Transfer to cold water briefly, then squeeze gently. Meanwhile, heat milk with sugar and cardamom. Whisk in cocoa powder and add almonds. Place chenna discs in warm chocolate milk and allow them to soak for at least 1 hour before serving.
Stuffed Gulab Jamun
Ingredients
For the dough
Gulab jamun mix: 250 g
Powdered sugar: 1 tbsp
Warm milk: as required
Ghee or oil: for frying
For the stuffing
Chopped almonds, cashews and pistachios: 2–3 tbsp
For sugar syrup
Sugar: 1 cup
Water: 1 cup
Cardamom pods: 4–5
Rose water: 1 tbsp
Lemon juice: 1 tsp
Method
Prepare sugar syrup by boiling sugar and water with cardamom until slightly sticky. Add rose water and lemon juice. Keep warm.
Mix the jamun mix and sugar. Knead with warm milk into a soft dough and rest for 10 minutes.
Shape tiny balls of chopped nuts for the filling.
Flatten small portions of dough, place stuffing inside, seal, and roll into smooth balls.
Fry on low heat until evenly golden.
Transfer immediately into warm syrup and soak for 10–15 minutes before serving.
Baked Namakpara
Ingredients
Whole wheat flour: 1½ cups
All-purpose flour: ½ cup
Baking powder: ½ tsp
Ghee: ½ cup
Carom seeds (ajwain): ½ tsp
Salt: to taste
Cold water: as required
Method
Mix both flours and baking powder in a bowl. Add ghee and rub into the flour until crumbly. Add salt and crushed carom seeds. Add cold water gradually and knead into a stiff dough. Rest for 10 minutes. Roll the dough into a thick sheet and cut into diamond shapes. Place on a greased baking tray. Bake at 200°C for 15–20 minutes until crisp and lightly golden. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.