Desserts to Celebrate Diwali: What to Make for This Festival of Lights
Diwali is a five-day festival, and an important celebration for many Hindus in South Asia and its diaspora. While the rituals, deities, stories, and foods associated with Diwali differ from region to region, family to family, the meaning of the holiday is universal — light over dark, good over evil. It’s the only Hindu holiday I celebrate — I’m not particularly religious — because it has always meant family and community gatherings and lots of food.
Sugar is integral to Diwali, as the holiday is celebratory and indulgent and is often observed by sending elaborate gift boxes of sweets, dried fruit, and nuts to family and friends. Many traditional sweet-makers do half of their business for the year in the month before Diwali.
This year, more than ever, we need to celebrate light, and Diwali is a great entry point to discovering and celebrating one aspect of South Asian culture. To honor the festival, make one of these popular dessert recipes desserts by my favorite South Asian food writers and chefs — or, better yet, make a sweet and deliver it to someone you love (safely and socially-distanced, of course) — and take a moment to ruminate on the symbolism of the holiday.
- Nik Sharma’s gulab jamun (a dessert consisting of fried balls of a dough made from milk solids and semolina, soaked in sugar syrup)
- Madhur Jaffrey’s kheer (rice pudding with cardamom)
- Tejal Rao’s shrikhand (sweet strained yogurt)
- Maya Kaimal’s vermicelli payasam (sweetened noodles)
- Junoon’s shahi tukda (bread pudding)
- Meera Sodha’s kopra pak (coconut milk fudge)
- Surbhi Sahni’s dark chocolate-topped coconut-orange barfi (coconut and orange milk fudge)
- Chetna Makan’s kaju katli (cashew nut fudge)
- Maneet Chauhan’s pistachio ladoo (a soft and round sweet made with pistachios)
- Julie Sahni’s gajar halwa (glazed carrot fudge)
- Hetal Vasavada’s masala chai with green tea
- Cheetie Kumar’s gajak (peanut sesame brittle)
I also informally surveyed friends on social media and asked them to recommend their favorite sweet treats; here is their collective list, which is reflective of varying geographies and diasporas:
- Athairasam - jaggery and rice flour fried pastryr (Ajitha R.)
- Jalebi - spiral shaped funnel-cake like sweets, soaked in sugar syrup (Keya W. and Uma R.)
- Nelagadale unde - peanut ladoo (Jessica M.)
- Sooji sheera - semolina pudding (Rosie K.)
- Besan barfi - chickpea flour fudge (Natasha P.)
You can also check out Pooja’s recipe for cardamom cashew shortbread.
Papercut illustration by Anna Brones
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