Festival Food Specialties Across India

India’s unity and diversity reflected in its food

Its festival time - the time of diyas, sparklers, rangolis, well-lit and exquisitely decorated houses and yes of course mouth-watering delicacies. While the entire country celebrates Diwali – the festival of togetherness and lights - Gujaratis also celebrate their new year on the next day of Diwali.

And pray what festival is complete without food? The platter ranges from traditional sweets (laddus, shakarpara, kaju katri et al) to fusion sweets (motichur cake, soufflé in rasmalai flavour, chocolate barfi etc.); and for those with a leaning for the spicy, fried delights like puris, samosas, kachoris, mathiyas et al.

Food everyone will undoubtedly agree is the ingredient that binds people together’ besides being the best conversation starter. Manifold relationships have been set up just by a mere exchange of recipes; and many a flagging morale has been boosted with a genuine compliment for a lovingly prepared dish. 

Understanding this Foodism brings you a quick peep into what’s cooking in the kitchens of various Indian States during Deepawali –

West Bengal

The cultured Bengali community offers two lip-smacking Indian desserts - rasgullas which are small white cottage cheese balls dipped in sinfully sugary syrup; and sandesh which is a cottage cheese preparation. 

Uttarakhand 

Besides sweet borrowings like jalebi, laddu and halwa from Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; niche to Uttarakhand is bal mithai and singhori which is a brown-coloured square-shaped sweet laden with white coloured garnishing.

Uttar Pradesh

Walk into a household in this North Indian state and gorge on a host of yummy delicacies like gulab jamun (condensed milk balls fried and dripping in sugary syrup), jalebi and peda

Tamil Nadu

The southern-most part of India is famous for its coconut barfi (small squares made from condensed milk and coconut); payasam (the traditional rice pudding replete with thick cream and dry fruits) and pongal which is rice cooked with jaggery 

Rajasthan 

This state of deserts is equally popular for its desserts! Diwali is adorned with manifold dishes like - anjeer cutlets, mawa mishri, milk cake, sohan halwa and ghevar to name a few. 

Punjab

Besides panjiri, gaajar ka halwa and punjabi pooda their food basket comprises of spicy snacks like samosas and kachoris 

Odisha

Alongside popular varieties from its neighbouring state (West Bengal) like rasgulla and sandesh; Odisha boasts of chenajhili which is white flattened pieces of dry sweet with no sugar syrup and greasing on it.

Maharashtra 

On the platter during Diwali one can find - rava laddu (a semolina, sugar and clarified butter preparation); besan laddu (made from gram flour, powdered sugar and clarified butter); and karanjee/gujiya (coconut and sugar filling in crescent moon shape with a textured border). The best part is that all these sweets have a long shelf life

Madhya Pradesh

As this state falls bang in India’s centre its platter is inspired from all its neighbouring states! So one can find - gujiya, shakkar paare (flaky fried flour crispies coated with sugar syrup), dry fruits barfi, balushai, mawa bati khoya jalebi, garadu (yam) to name a few! 

Kerala 

“God’s own country” produces equally heavenly desserts! Alongside the popular payasam and coconut barfi; Kerala also produces ilayapam, kozhikodan halwa, and unniyaappam.

Kashmir 

Besides traditional sweets alike other Indian states, Kashmiris prepare shufta which is a lip-smacking Diwali delicacy laden with dry fruits.

Karnataka

Puran poli or rather holige/obbattu as it is traditionally termed is a Diwali must-have from this State. It is basically a sweet pancake with a filling of powdered jaggery and coconut, flattened and laden with dollops of clarified butter; holige comes in multiple varieties like – peanut, sugar, coconut, tur dal, sesame seed, etc. Another sweetmeat from this state is mysore pak, a lavish sweet dish prepared with clarified butter and gram flour.

Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh

While anarsa (deep fried oval shaped balls with sesame seeds forming the largest component) is a must-have in Jharkhand; khurmi is a Chhattisgarhi sweet deep fried made with jaggery ghee and flour.

Himachal Pradesh

This mountain state specializes in babroo – which is a dough and sugar preparation ideal for the winter chill.

Haryana

Besides the laddus, barfis and jalebis, this Jat state has on its festival platter - gond ke laddu and pinni. The former are a winter specialty filled with dry fruits like cashews, raisins, almonds and dates amongst others. Pinnis are little cakes made from clarified butter, jaggery, wheat flour, and almonds; additionally flavoured with khoya (thickened or dried whole milk) or modified to include ingredients such as cashews and raisins; once shaped, they are covered with crushed cardamom or chopped nuts and left to chill before consumption.

Gujarat

A self-proclaimed state of foodies Gujarat celebrates their new year bang on the next day after Diwali which gives them a legitimate excuse to whip up a rich variety of delicacies. So besides sweets like mohanthaal, magas, shrikhand, doodh paak, et al; the Gujarati platter also includes spicy snacks like – mathiyas, puris, ganthiyas, pahuano chevdo, chorafali etc. for those who do not have a sweet tooth

Bihar

This Bhojpuri state is renowned for khaja (meaning - just grab it and eat it) which is dough layered and soaked in sugar syrup. 

Assam

This tea state is famous for narikol or coconut laddu. This is basically a preparation wherein coconut is shred and rolled into small little white laddus with powdered sugar.

Andhra Pradesh

This Southern state specializes in Mughlai sweets like - shahi tukda (bread fried in ghee and soaked in sugar syrup coated generously with milk cream), phirni (a condensed thickened and creamy milk dessert) and qubani ka meetha (an apricot preparation), tirupati ladoo, pootharekulu, ariselu and karijalu.

Wickedly tempting eh? No worries if you can’t visit these states and taste their delicacies; step into your kitchen, log on to the internet and after reading the recipe tweak it to make your customized version of ghevar or khurma or pinni or anything which attracts your fancy!

And hey… don’t forget to share the recipe with us for other food buffs to try out!