No onion, no garlic recipes (Swaminarayan and sattvic)

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Halasina happalaJackfruit papads

In Udupi and the rainy Malnad hills, families turn the glut of summer jackfruit into happala: raw bulbs cooked soft, ground with chilli and cumin, pressed into thin rounds and dried on the terrace for the monsoon months. Fried in coconut oil they puff into a crisp, earthy papad with a gentle chilli heat, eaten with rice and saaru or on their own with tea. The common mistake is pressing them too thick; they stay leathery and won't puff. Aim for about 2 mm, thin enough to see light through the edges. Chef's tip: oil your hands, the plastic sheets and the press, because raw jackfruit latex is very sticky and will glue everything together.

90 min

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Gond ke ladduEdible gum and flour laddus

When the January cold sets in around Lohri, Punjabi and Marwari kitchens make a tin of gond ke laddu, one of which is eaten each morning with hot milk to keep warm through winter. Edible gum (gond, from the acacia tree) is fried in ghee until it puffs into light crunchy nuggets, then crushed and mixed with ghee-roasted wheat flour, jaggery, dry ginger and plenty of nuts, so the laddus are rich, crumbly and crackle as you bite. Common mistake: frying the gum in oil that is too hot; it browns outside and stays glassy and chewy in the middle, so fry it on a medium heat until each piece swells to twice its size and turns opaque white. The flour is done when it smells nutty, turns golden and the ghee loosens at the edges. Chef's tip: roll the laddus while the mixture is still warm; once it cools it will not bind.

55 min

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Ranga alur pitheSweet potato coconut parcels

Poush Sankranti in Bengal is the day for pithe, and ranga alur pithe uses the sweet potatoes that come in with the winter harvest. Boiled sweet potato is kneaded with a little flour into a soft dough, wrapped round a coconut and jaggery filling, fried and then dipped in syrup, so you get a crisp shell, a melting orange layer and a sweet, nutty centre. They are eaten warm on the festival evening or the next day once they have soaked up more syrup. Common mistake: watery sweet potato; boil it whole in its skin and let it steam dry, or the dough gets sticky and the pithe burst in the oil. They are fried enough when they are deep golden and float. Chef's tip: the syrup should be warm and at one-string stage, a thread forming between finger and thumb; too thick and it won't soak in.

60 min

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Makhan mishriFresh butter with rock sugar

Stories from Mathura and Vrindavan tell of the child Krishna stealing butter from the pots of the cowherd women, so at midnight on Janmashtami the first offering in the temples and at home is a bowl of fresh white butter mixed with mishri, the rock-sugar crystals. The butter is churned from cream at home, so it is soft, cool and lightly tangy, and the sugar crunches against it. It is eaten as prasad in tiny spoonfuls, often with a tulsi leaf on top. Common mistake: churning warm cream, which turns greasy instead of breaking; the cream must be fridge-cold, and the butter is ready when yellow-white clumps separate cleanly from thin buttermilk. Chef's tip: rinse the butter in iced water two or three times and press it with a spoon; washing out the buttermilk keeps it fresh for a day.

15 min

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Mochar chopBanana flower croquettes

Mochar chop is the more patient cousin of the vegetable chop: croquettes of finely chopped banana flower cooked with potato, coconut and Bengali spices, crumbed and fried. Bengali families make them at home for Durga Puja evenings and Bijoya visits, when a plate of chops goes round with tea, and the best telebhaja shops in north Kolkata sell them through the festival. The filling is earthy, slightly sweet and nutty, under a very crisp crust. Common mistake: not removing the hard stamen and the papery hood from each floret, which stay tough and bitter however long you cook them. Chef's tip: oil your hands and drop the chopped flower straight into water with turmeric and a little salt; it stops the florets turning black and keeps your hands from staining.

75 min

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Mosaru avalakkiCurd flattened rice

On hot evenings in Mysuru and Bengaluru, mosaru avalakki is the cooling no-fuss dinner: thin poha folded into thick curd loosened with a little milk, sharpened with ginger and green chilli and finished with a sizzling mustard and curry leaf tempering. It is soft, tangy and refreshing, and often comes with pomegranate seeds or grated cucumber. The common mistake is mixing it too early; thin poha keeps soaking up curd and turns into a stiff paste if it sits. Chef's tip: stir in the milk last, just before serving, so the curd stays creamy and the poha keeps a little bite.

9 min

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Ulundu kozhukattaiUrad dal-filled rice dumplings

On Vinayaka Chaturthi, Tamil kitchens make two kinds of kozhukattai side by side: sweet ones with coconut and jaggery, and these savoury ulundu kozhukattai, filled with a crumbly, peppery urad dal 'usili'. The thin rice-flour shell turns translucent when steamed, and the filling is soft, savoury and fragrant with curry leaves. The mistake is a wet filling: if the ground dal isn't steamed and then crumbled dry in the pan, it leaks and the shells split. Chef's tip: make the shells as thin as you can while still holding the filling; thick shells taste stodgy.

75 min

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GhughuteFried jaggery dough shapes

In Kumaon, Makar Sankranti is Ghughutiya, and the evening before, families knead wheat flour with jaggery and shape it into little drums (damru), swords, knots and flowers, fry them and thread them into necklaces with an orange in the middle. The next morning children wear the garlands and call the crows: 'kale kale, ghughuti mala khale', offering them the first bites before eating the rest themselves. The ghughute are crisp outside and slightly chewy within, gently sweet with fennel. Common mistake: oil that is too hot; they darken in seconds but stay doughy inside, so fry on a medium heat until they are an even deep gold and sound hollow when tapped. Chef's tip: keep the dough quite stiff, like for mathri; soft dough loses its shapes in the oil.

60 min

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SunthavadaDry ginger, coconut and sugar mix

At exactly noon on Ram Navami, when Maharashtrian temples and homes rock a decorated cradle to mark Rama's birth, each person is handed a spoonful of sunthavada: dry ginger powder, toasted dry coconut, poppy seeds and sugar pounded together into a fragrant, warming powder. The same mix is given at Janmashtami midnight. It is sweet, nutty and gently fiery from the ginger. Common mistake: burning the coconut; it should be toasted on a low heat only until it turns pale gold and smells sweet, then cooled before grinding so it does not turn oily. Chef's tip: grind in short pulses; long grinding releases the coconut oil and the powder clumps.

15 min

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Chushi pithaRice flour strands in milk

When the new rice is in and the date palms start giving their winter sap, Bangladeshi families make pitha for Nabanna and through the cold months, and chushi pitha is the one grandmothers roll by hand, an evening of small grain-shaped strands rubbed out between the palms. The strands are cooked in reduced milk with bay leaf and cardamom, then sweetened with fresh khejur gur, giving a pale caramel pudding with soft, slightly chewy pieces. The common mistake is adding the jaggery while the milk is still boiling: it can curdle it, so take the pan off the heat and let it cool for a few minutes first. The strands are done when they float, turn translucent at the edges and are soft right through. Chef's tip: let the rolled strands dry on a tray for 15 minutes before cooking; they hold their shape instead of dissolving into the milk.

75 min

Bangladeshi Desserts

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Talela marchaFried green chillies

Every plate of gathiya, dalvada or bhajiya sold in Gujarat comes with a little heap of talela marcha, green chillies dropped into the farsan seller's kadai for a few seconds until they blister and turn olive green, then shaken with salt and a squeeze of lemon. Bitten between mouthfuls of farsan they give a fresh, smoky hit of heat. Use thick, fairly mild chillies if you can find them. The common mistake is frying wet chillies: water on the skin makes the oil spit violently. Chef's tip: slit them lengthways first so steam escapes and they don't burst in the oil.

13 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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Then mittaiSyrup-soaked rice and urad balls

Then mittai, 'honey sweets', were sold from glass jars at the petti kadai outside every Tamil village school in the 1980s and 90s, glossy red balls that crunch and then squirt sweet syrup. They're nostalgic now and great fun to make at home for children's parties. The mistake is frying too hot, which browns the outside before the centre cooks; they should fry slowly to a crisp shell. Chef's tip: let the fried balls cool for a minute before dropping them into warm, not hot, syrup so they stay crisp instead of going soggy.

60 min

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Bharela marchaStuffed green chillies

In Kathiawad, bharela marcha are made with the long, fat and fairly mild bhavnagri chillies that come in every winter, and they sit beside a thali of rotla, kadhi and khichdi as a sweet-sour-hot side. The filling is besan roasted in oil until nutty, mixed with sugar, lemon, turmeric and dhana-jiru, and the chillies are cooked covered on low heat until soft and blistered in patches. A common mistake is using small, very hot chillies; choose large mild ones, or the dish is too fierce to eat. Chef's tip: slit the chillies only on one side and scrape out the seeds and ribs; the heat drops right down and the filling stays inside.

30 min

Indian Sides

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Tal ni chikkiSesame jaggery brittle

On 14 January every Gujarati rooftop fills with kite-flyers, and somewhere between the manja reels there is always a tin of tal ni chikki, broken into shards. The thinnest kind, tal sankli, is rolled out so fine you can almost see through it; it shatters with a snap and tastes of toasted sesame and dark caramel. It is a two-ingredient sweet where everything depends on the jaggery. Common mistake: pulling the jaggery off the heat too soon; it must reach the hard-crack stage, when a drop in cold water sets instantly and snaps cleanly, or the chikki stays chewy and sticks to the teeth. Chef's tip: work fast and roll on the greased back of a steel thali; if it hardens before you finish, warm it in the pan for a few seconds.

30 min

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Congress kadlekaiSpiced roasted peanuts

Congress kadlekai is a fixture of Bengaluru's Iyengar bakeries and the Basavanagudi Kadlekai Parishe, the peanut fair held each November. Roasted peanuts are split in half, which is said to be where the name comes from, and tossed in a little hot oil with curry leaves, hing and chilli so the spices cling to the flat sides. It's salty, crunchy and very hard to stop eating with evening coffee. A common mistake is frying the peanuts in the tempering: they're already roasted and burn quickly, so add them off the heat. Chef's tip: rub the warm roasted peanuts in a cloth and blow away the skins; skinless halves take the masala much better.

20 min

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Puli avalTamarind flattened rice

Puli aval is the quick cousin of tamarind rice from Tamil Nadu, cooked in Kumbakonam and Tirunelveli homes as an evening tiffin or a light supper when there's no rice left in the pot. Thick flattened rice is soaked in tamarind water, then tossed into a crackling tempering of mustard seeds, dals, red chilli and peanuts. It tastes tangy, a little sweet and nutty, with soft flakes and crunchy bits. The common mistake is drowning the aval in tamarind water so it turns to porridge; it only needs to be moistened, not soaked. Chef's tip: let the tempered aval sit, covered and off the heat, for 2 minutes before serving so the flakes soften evenly and drink in the tamarind.

13 min

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KulerBajra ghee jaggery balls

On Nag Pancham, Gujarati women draw a snake in kumkum on the wall or visit a nag temple and offer kuler with milk and cotton: a raw sweet of fine bajra flour rubbed with ghee and jaggery, rolled into soft balls. Since the day is a cold-food day in many homes, nothing is cooked; the bajra simply soaks up the ghee. It is soft, earthy, sweet and slightly sandy. Common mistake: using coarse or stale bajra flour, which tastes bitter and gritty; use fresh, finely ground flour, and the mix is ready when a handful holds together when squeezed. If you prefer, you can lightly roast the flour first, though that is not the traditional way. Chef's tip: grate the jaggery very finely, or melt it with the ghee and cool slightly, so it blends evenly.

15 min

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Kuttu ki pakodiBuckwheat and potato fritters

Across North India, homes keeping the Mahashivratri vrat give up grains for the day, so the evening snack is made with kuttu (buckwheat) flour instead of gram flour, bound with mashed potato and seasoned only with green chilli and sendha namak (rock salt). The fritters come out dark, crunchy and nutty, and are eaten hot with yoghurt or a green chutney made with rock salt once the evening puja is done. Rules differ: some families also avoid coriander leaves or black pepper while fasting, so leave out anything your household does not use. Common mistake: making the batter too thin; buckwheat has no gluten, so a runny batter breaks apart in the oil. It should be thick enough to drop from a spoon in a soft lump. Chef's tip: fry at about 175 °C; the pakodi should rise to the surface within 20 seconds and turn deep brown in 3–4 minutes, so they cook through without soaking up oil.

30 min

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Urad dal khichdiRice and black lentil khichdi

Across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Makar Sankranti is simply called Khichdi: after a dip in the Ganga, raw rice and black urad dal are given away as alms, and the same two are cooked at home into this khichdi for lunch. Its four companions are part of the custom: 'khichdi ke chaar yaar, dahi, papad, ghee, achaar', so it comes to the table with curd, roasted papad, a spoon of ghee and pickle, often with aloo or baingan chokha too. The split urad with its black skin gives a creamy, earthy khichdi that is grey-brown and flecked with black. Common mistake: cooking it too dry; urad drinks up water, so it should be soft and loose enough to settle on the plate, and it is done when the dal grains crush easily. Chef's tip: let the cooker release naturally and rest 5 minutes before opening; the khichdi finishes softening in the steam.

50 min

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Mithi puriJaggery sesame puris

Mithi puri are the sweet half of the Randhan Chhath frying session in Gujarat: small, crisp puris of wheat flour kneaded with jaggery water, sesame and ghee, made the day before Shitala Satam so the family has cold food to eat while the stove rests. They keep for days, so they also go into travel tins and school lunchboxes. Common mistake: a soft dough, which makes the puris puff and turn soft; it should be stiff, and the puris are fried on a medium heat until golden brown and crisp right through, without puffing much. Chef's tip: prick each rolled puri with a fork so it stays flat and crunchy.

50 min

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Sing ni chikkiPeanut jaggery brittle

Peanut chikki is the sweet every Gujarati child grows up with, and in the week of Uttarayan, when the sky over Ahmedabad is crowded with kites, households make it by the tray to hand round on the terrace. Halved roasted peanuts are bound in dark jaggery and cut into neat slabs that snap cleanly and taste of caramel and toasted nuts. Common mistake: undercooking the jaggery; it is ready only when a drop in cold water hardens into a ball that cracks when pressed, and when the syrup is foaming and has darkened by a shade. Undercooked syrup gives chikki that bends and pulls out fillings. Chef's tip: rub the skins off the roasted peanuts and split them in half; halves pack together far better than whole nuts and the slabs don't crumble.

30 min

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Shakarkandi ka halwaSweet potato halwa

When winter sweet potatoes arrive in North Indian markets, they go straight into the Mahashivratri and Ekadashi fasting kitchen: boiled, mashed and slowly roasted in ghee with sugar and cardamom, they make a soft, fudgy halwa with a natural caramel sweetness. It is offered after the puja and eaten in small bowls, warm, often as the first thing that breaks a day without grains. A few communities do not eat sweet potato on a fast, so check your own tradition. Common mistake: hurrying the roasting; the halwa is ready only when the ghee starts to separate and glisten at the edges and the mixture rolls away from the sides of the pan as one soft mass. Chef's tip: steam or bake the sweet potatoes rather than boiling them in water; drier flesh roasts faster and gives a deeper flavour.

40 min

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Arisi upmaBroken rice and dal upma

Arisi upma is the old Tamil country breakfast and evening dinner, especially in Tirunelveli and Madurai homes, made from rice and toor dal coarsely broken at home and cooked in a heavy pot. The best part is the 'kaanthal', the crisp golden crust that forms on the bottom, which families fight over. The mistake is too much water, which gives a sticky porridge; use about two and a half times the volume of the broken rice. Chef's tip: once cooked, leave it on the lowest heat with a lid for ten minutes, undisturbed, to build that crust.

40 min

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Thatte idliLarge flat plate idli

Thatte idli comes from Bidadi, on the old highway from Bengaluru to Mysuru, where roadside hotels steam plate-sized idlis on round thatte trays from dawn for travellers' breakfast. Poha in the batter makes them soft and spongy, and they are served with a knob of butter melting on top, coconut chutney and a thin sambar or podi. A common mistake is a stiff batter: thatte idlis need a looser, pourable batter than ordinary idli or they turn dense in the wide plate. Chef's tip: grind the urad dal with ice-cold water until it is light and almost doubled; that air carries the whole idli.

50 min

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Suran nu shaakYam with cumin and peanuts

Suran, the knobbly elephant-foot yam, is a favourite of the Gujarati farali table on Mahashivratri and Ekadashi: boiled until tender, then stir-fried with cumin, green chilli and crushed peanuts and sharpened with lemon. It is filling and earthy, a little like a dense potato, and goes well with rajgira thepla or farali kadhi. Because suran is a root vegetable it is not eaten by Jains, so this is a Hindu fasting dish only; some families also skip cumin on a fast. Raw suran contains crystals that make the hands and throat itch, so wear gloves when peeling and always boil it with something sour. Common mistake: under-boiling to keep the cubes firm; undercooked suran scratches the throat. Boil until a cube is soft right through when pierced. Chef's tip: a few pieces of kokum in the boiling water work as well as lemon and give a pleasant blush to the yam.

45 min

Indian Vegetarian

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Mor kaliButtermilk rice flour cake

Mor kali is a quick Tamil tiffin of the old style, made in Tirunelveli and Chennai Brahmin homes when there's sour buttermilk to use up. Rice flour is stirred into tempered buttermilk until it turns glossy and leaves the pan, then cut into squares, soft and wobbly with the salty, smoky crunch of fried mor milagai (curd chillies). The mistake is stopping too early: undercooked kali tastes raw and sticks to the teeth, so cook until it rolls into a ball that doesn't stick to a wet finger. Chef's tip: use buttermilk that is properly sour, a day or two old; fresh buttermilk tastes flat here.

25 min

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Kanchipuram idliSpiced temple idli

Kanchipuram idli is the temple prasadam of the Varadharaja Perumal temple, where it was traditionally steamed in tall bamboo baskets lined with mandarai leaves. It is coarser and richer than everyday idli, with cracked pepper, cumin, dry ginger and cashews fried in ghee folded through, and it's eaten for breakfast or festival tiffin with coconut chutney and sambar. The mistake is grinding the rice as fine as for plain idli; it should feel like fine semolina so the idli has a crumbly, open bite. Chef's tip: steam in tumblers or small bowls lined with banana leaf for the tall shape and a gentle leaf aroma.

60 min

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ChalimidiRice flour and jaggery sweet

Chalimidi is a no-cook-flour sweet from Andhra and Telangana, offered to the goddess at Navaratri and Nagula Chavithi and handed out at naming ceremonies and baby showers. Soaked rice is dried, pounded into fresh flour and stirred into a thick jaggery syrup with coconut, so it sets into a soft, damp, slightly crumbly dough that is shaped into small balls. It tastes of molasses and cardamom and is eaten as it is, at room temperature. The most common mistake is undercooking the syrup: a thin syrup leaves the chalimidi sticky and pasty, so cook it to a firm soft-ball stage. Chef's tip: use freshly ground soaked rice, not shop rice flour; the slightly damp flour is what gives chalimidi its tender bite.

35 min

Trinidadian Indian Sweets

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GojhaSweet coconut half-moon pastries

When Divali comes to Trinidad, Hindu families light rows of clay deyas along bamboo frames, and the kitchen fills up with sweets to share with neighbours of every faith: kurma, parsad, barfi and gojha. Gojha are the Caribbean cousin of the North Indian gujiya: a short dough rolled thin, filled with grated coconut cooked with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, folded into half-moons, crimped and fried golden; the same tray reappears at Phagwah, the spring colour festival. Common mistake: frying in oil that is too hot, which browns the outside while the pastry stays raw; keep the oil at about 170 °C and fry until the bubbles slow and the gojha are evenly golden. Chef's tip: seal the edges with a dab of water and crimp them tightly, or the filling leaks and spits in the oil.

60 min

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Parsi batasaSalted butter tea biscuits

Batasa come from the wood-fired Parsi bakeries of Navsari, Udvada and Surat, where they are baked low and slow until dry and pale gold, then sold by the tin for morning chai. They are domed, flaky-crumbly and buttery, with just a whisper of salt and sugar, and they are made to be dunked. Bakeries traditionally raise the dough with toddy; this home version uses yogurt and a little baking powder for the same light, short crumb. The usual mistake is baking them hot and fast, which browns the outside while the inside stays soft; batasa need a long, gentle bake to dry right through. Chef's tip: switch the oven off at the end and leave the biscuits inside with the door ajar for 20 minutes so they crisp completely.

100 min

Indian Baking

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Gato moutailleFried dough ropes in cardamom syrup

On Divali evening in Mauritius, Hindu households set out clay lamps and then walk plates of sweets round to their neighbours, Hindu, Muslim, Creole and Chinese alike; gato moutaille, gato cravate and gato zinzli are almost always on the plate. Moutaille (from the Bhojpuri mithai) are short ropes of soft dough twisted into knots or spirals, fried until crisp and soaked in a cardamom syrup so the outside is sticky and the inside stays slightly chewy. Common mistake: syrup that is too thick, which crystallises into a white crust; cook it only to one-string consistency, when a drop pulled between finger and thumb makes a single thread. Chef's tip: dip the moutaille while they are hot and the syrup is warm, then lift them out after a minute so they stay crisp.

60 min

Mauritian Indian Sweets

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Jamnagari kachoriDry sweet-spicy kachori

Jamnagari kachori are the little dry kachori that travel: Gujarati families buy them by the box in Jamnagar and carry them abroad, because the filling has no water in it and they keep for a month. The pastry is short and crisp, and the filling is a crumbly mix of roasted besan, dry coconut, sesame, fennel, coriander seed, sugar, raisins and a hit of chilli and dry mango, sweet, sour and hot at once. They are a tea-time snack and part of every Diwali tray. The common mistake is frying them fast; they need a long, slow fry on low heat so the pastry cooks crisp all the way through. Chef's tip: roast the besan for the filling until it smells nutty and just darkens, or the kachori taste raw and floury.

90 min

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NuchinundeSteamed dal and dill dumplings

Nuchinunde are steamed lentil dumplings from old Mysuru and Bengaluru homes, made for breakfast or an evening tiffin and often offered for Ganesha Chaturthi. Toor and chana dal are ground coarse with green chilli and ginger, mixed with fresh dill (sabsige soppu), coconut and curry leaves, shaped into ovals and steamed, so they come out soft but crumbly, herby and protein-rich with no oil. A common mistake is grinding the dal to a paste; it should stay grainy like coarse semolina or the dumplings turn rubbery. Chef's tip: drain the soaked dal for a full 15 minutes; extra water makes the mix too loose to hold its shape.

40 min

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Bread pakoraStuffed bread fritters

Every tea stall from Ludhiana to Delhi's Kamla Nagar has a tray of bread pakoras by ten in the morning, and school children and office clerks eat them standing up, squashed into a paper plate with ketchup and fried green chillies. Two slices of soft white bread hold a layer of green chutney and spicy aloo, and the whole sandwich is cut into triangles, dunked in a thick besan batter and fried until it puffs and crisps. The common mistake is a thin, watery batter: it soaks straight into the bread and the pakora comes out heavy and oily. Keep the batter as thick as idli batter and dip quickly. Chef's tip: use bread that is a day old, which holds its shape in the batter far better than fresh.

40 min

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Tala methi na muthiaFried fenugreek dumplings

In Surat and the towns of South Gujarat, winter means undhiyu, and undhiyu means a big batch of fried methi muthia. These little finger-shaped dumplings of fresh fenugreek, gram flour and coarse wheat flour are crisp outside and soft inside, sweet-sour from sugar and lemon, with the pleasant bitterness of methi. Many families fry extra to eat as a snack with tea or with green chutney. The common mistake is frying in oil that is too hot; the outside browns while the centre stays raw and pasty, so fry them at a steady medium heat. Chef's tip: a little hot oil rubbed into the flour (moyan) is what makes them crumbly-crisp rather than hard.

40 min

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SukhiyanGreen gram jaggery fritters

Sukhiyan is one of the old nalumani palaharam, the 'four o'clock' snacks of central Kerala, sold in glass cases in Kottayam and Ernakulam tea shops next to unniyappam and banana fritters. Whole green gram is cooked soft and mashed with melted jaggery, coconut and cardamom, then rolled into balls, dipped in a light batter and fried. The outside is thin and slightly crisp, the inside soft and earthy-sweet, lovely with strong black tea. A common mistake is a wet filling; if the jaggery mix is not cooked until it leaves the pan, the balls crack and leak in the oil. Chef's tip: a pinch of salt and a little turmeric in the batter give the classic golden colour and balance the sweetness.

60 min

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Chakka varattiJackfruit jaggery preserve

Vishu arrives in April when Kerala's jackfruit trees are heavy, and homes turn the glut into chakka varatti, a dark, glossy jam stirred for well over an hour in a wide uruli. It is eaten by the spoon, spread on dosa, and kept in jars for the payasam and ada made at festivals through the year. The taste is deep and caramel-like, with the floral sweetness of ripe jackfruit. The common mistake is cooking it on a high heat to save time: jaggery burns quickly and turns the whole batch bitter. It is done when the ghee starts to separate and shine at the edges, the colour is a dark mahogany brown, and the mass rolls round the pan as one lump. Chef's tip: use only very ripe, fragrant jackfruit bulbs, and if your jackfruit is the firm varikka type, steam it first so it purées smoothly.

120 min

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Bhuni chhalliRoasted corn on the cob

When the first rains cool Punjab in July, the smell of chhalli roasting over coal braziers drifts across every busy road, and the vendor fans the embers with a straw mat until the kernels pop and blacken. The cob is then rubbed with half a lemon dipped in salt and red chilli, so you get smoke, sour, salt and heat in one bite. Desi field corn is chewy and starchy rather than sweet, which is exactly why it chars so well. The common mistake is roasting on a low flame, which steams the kernels soft without colour; you want high, direct heat and constant turning. Chef's tip: keep a few husks on as a handle and dip the lemon in the masala fresh for every cob.

20 min

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Veppampoo rasamNeem flower rasam

Puthandu, the Tamil New Year in mid-April, falls when neem trees across Tamil Nadu are in flower, and the festive lunch has a little bitterness on purpose, to remind everyone that the year will bring both sweet and bitter. Veppampoo rasam does it gently: dried neem flowers are fried in ghee until crisp and stirred into a light tamarind rasam with pepper and cumin. It is thin, warming and sour, with a toasty bitter finish, and it is poured over rice or sipped from a tumbler. The common mistake is burning the flowers; they turn from golden to black in seconds and taste acrid, so have the rasam ready before you heat the ghee. The rasam is ready when it froths up to the top of the pan; take it off before it reaches a rolling boil. Chef's tip: fry a few extra flowers and scatter them over each serving for crunch.

30 min

Indian Soups

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KadambuttuSteamed rice and coconut balls

Kadambuttu are the steamed rice balls of Kodagu (Coorg), made in every Kodava home for breakfast and in great heaps for Puttari, the rice harvest festival in late November or early December. Broken rice is cooked to a thick porridge with coconut, rolled into balls and steamed, so they're dense, slightly sticky and mild, the perfect sponge for a fiery curry; at home they go with pandi curry, but a spicy kadala or mushroom curry works beautifully too. A common mistake is using whole rice flour or fine semolina; you need coarse broken rice, or the balls turn gluey. Chef's tip: wet your palms between each ball so the dough stays smooth and doesn't crack.

55 min

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Bhinda ni kadhiYogurt kadhi with fried okra

Bhinda ni kadhi is a summer and monsoon favourite in Gujarati homes from Ahmedabad to Surat, when okra is cheap: the familiar sweet, tangy yogurt kadhi gets a handful of okra rounds fried until crisp at the edges, which soak up the sauce and add body. It is poured over steamed rice or khichdi for a light lunch. Frying the okra first keeps it from going slimy. The common mistake is boiling the kadhi fast before it has thickened, which curdles the yogurt; keep stirring and keep the heat low until it reaches a simmer. Chef's tip: add the okra only in the last few minutes so the rounds stay whole and a little crisp.

30 min

Indian Curries

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Ratalu puriFried purple yam slices

Ratalu puri belongs to Surat's evening snack trail, where farsan sellers on Chowk Bazaar fry purple yam slices to order and shake a tangy masala over them while they are still sizzling. Inside the crisp, golden coat the yam turns creamy and faintly sweet, and the masala of dry mango, black salt and chilli wakes everything up. They are eaten hot with green chutney, usually on cool winter evenings when ratalu is in season. A common mistake is cutting the yam too thick: slices thicker than 3 mm stay raw in the middle by the time the batter browns. Chef's tip: oil your hands before peeling ratalu, as the raw sap can make skin itch.

30 min

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Kalkandu vadaiSweet urad dal rock sugar vadai

Kalkandu vadai is the sweet cousin of medu vadai, made in Chettinad homes for festivals and for the trays that go to a bride's house. Soaked urad dal and a little rice are ground fluffy and mixed with crushed kalkandu (rock sugar) and coconut, then fried into small golden rounds that are crisp outside, soft inside, with pockets of melted crystal sugar. They are eaten warm with coffee. A common mistake is grinding the rock sugar in with the batter, which turns the batter runny; crush it coarsely and fold it in just before frying. Chef's tip: fry these on slightly lower heat than savoury vadai, because sugar browns fast and burns before the centre cooks.

50 min

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Thiruvathirai kaliRice and moong dal with jaggery

On Arudra Darshan in the Tamil month of Margazhi, temples across Tamil Nadu, Chidambaram above all, celebrate Shiva as Nataraja, and homes offer him kali with ezhu kari kootu at dawn. The rice and a little moong dal are dry-roasted until fragrant, ground to a coarse rava and then cooked in jaggery water until soft and set, a loose, grainy sweet rather than a smooth halwa. Grated coconut, cardamom and plenty of ghee finish it. Common mistake: grinding the roasted rice to a fine flour, which cooks into a sticky paste; you want grains like fine semolina, and the kali is done when it leaves the sides of the pan and the ghee glistens on top. Chef's tip: roast the rice only until it smells like popcorn and turns faintly golden; any darker and the kali tastes bitter.

50 min

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Vishu kanjiRice and green gram porridge

In Kerala, Vishu starts before sunrise with the kani, when each member of the family is led with closed eyes to see a tray of rice, gold-yellow konna flowers, fruit, a mirror and a lamp, so the year begins with something lucky. Breakfast afterwards, in many central Kerala homes, is this kanji: rice and lightly roasted whole green gram cooked soft and finished with coconut milk, eaten with a dry chakka or pumpkin side and pappadam. It is mild, creamy and nourishing, nothing like a plain rice gruel. The common mistake is boiling the thick coconut milk, which splits it and turns the kanji grainy; it goes in at the end, off the boil. It is ready when the gram has burst and the rice falls apart when stirred. Chef's tip: a few crushed cumin seeds and a shallot fried in coconut oil spooned over each bowl make it taste festive.

45 min

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KaradantuEdible gum and jaggery slab

Karadantu is the famous sweet of Gokak in Belagavi district, sold in sweet shops near the Gokak falls and carried home as a gift, and also made in north Karnataka homes for new mothers and in winter. Edible gum is fried in ghee until it puffs like popcorn, then bound with jaggery syrup, dry coconut, poppy seeds and plenty of dry fruit and pressed into slabs. It's dense, chewy-crisp and deeply caramel-tasting. A common mistake is frying the gum on high heat; it browns outside and stays hard and glassy inside. Chef's tip: fry the gum a few pieces at a time in warm ghee and wait for each to swell to three times its size before lifting.

60 min

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Kacha kela na vadaRaw banana fritters

In Jain homes in Ahmedabad, Palanpur and Mumbai's Gujarati neighbourhoods, raw green banana takes the place of potato, so these vada are the Jain answer to batata vada, made for paryushan-season tea and for guests. The bananas are boiled, mashed and spiced with dry ginger, green chilli, lemon and a little sugar, rolled into balls, dipped in gram flour batter and fried. They taste much like batata vada but are slightly firmer, sweeter and fruity. There is no onion, garlic, potato or fresh ginger in this version. The common mistake is overboiling the bananas until they are waterlogged; the filling then goes sticky and the vada split in the oil, so cook them only until a knife slides in. Chef's tip: mash the bananas while warm with a potato masher, not a blender, so the filling stays light.

45 min

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PaapeTwice-baked tea rusks

No Punjabi kitchen is without a tin of paape. They are dunked in the first cup of tea at dawn and again at four o'clock, carried to the fields, and offered to every guest who drops in. Bakeries across Punjab bake a sweet, light loaf, slice it and dry it slowly until it snaps, and this home version does exactly the same. The common mistake is slicing the loaf while it is still warm: it squashes, and the rusks dry out dense and gummy. Let it cool completely, ideally overnight. Chef's tip: dry the slices at a low temperature until the centre snaps cleanly; any softness in the middle and they go stale within days.

90 min

Indian Baking

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Thunka puriGiant puffed puris

Every Kartik Purnima, Cuttack holds Bali Jatra on the banks of the Mahanadi, a huge open-air fair that remembers the Odia sailors who once set off for Bali and Java; families float little paper and banana-bark boats at dawn and spend the day eating at the stalls. Thunka puri is the fair's famous snack: puris rolled as big as a plate, which balloon into hollow golden domes in the oil and are torn open over a bowl of hot ghugni (yellow pea curry), onion and tamarind chutney. Common mistake: oil that is not hot enough or dough that is too soft; the puri then drinks oil and stays flat. Get the oil to about 190 °C, so a pinch of dough rises at once, and it is done when it is puffed and pale gold on both sides. Chef's tip: slide the puri in, then gently press the centre with a slotted spoon and splash hot oil over the top; it will puff fully within seconds.

45 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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Doodh pauvaChilled saffron milk with flattened rice

Sharad Poonam, the brightest full moon of the year, ends the Navratri season in Gujarat; families sing garba late into the night and leave a bowl of doodh pauva out under the moon, believing its rays make it healing, before eating it cold together. It is thin poha soaked in reduced, sweetened milk with cardamom, saffron and nuts, cooling, soft and lightly creamy, the Gujarati cousin of Maharashtra's Kojagiri masala doodh. Common mistake: adding poha to hot milk or too early, so it turns to porridge; chill the milk first and stir the poha in only 10–15 minutes before eating, when the flakes are soft but still separate. Chef's tip: simmer the milk down by a quarter before chilling; a little reduction gives body without needing cream.

25 min

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Sattu ke ladduRoasted gram laddus

Kajli Teej in Bundi, Rajasthan, falls in the dark fortnight of Bhadrapad, when women fast for their husbands and break the fast in the evening by moonrise with sattu: roasted gram flour mixed with ghee, sugar and nuts and pressed into laddus or one large decorated cake called a sattu pinda. The laddus are nutty, soft, powdery and very filling. Common mistake: using plain besan instead of sattu, or under-roasting the sattu, which tastes raw; roast gently in ghee until it smells biscuity and the ghee starts to separate at the edges. Chef's tip: shape while the mix is warm but cool enough to hold, and press each laddu firmly in your palm so it does not crumble.

25 min

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Set dosaThick spongy dosas

Set dosa is a Bengaluru darshini breakfast, ordered as a 'set' of three small, thick, pancake-soft dosas served with vegetable sagu and coconut chutney, often before the office rush or at a lazy Sunday table. Poha and a high share of rice make the batter rise into a holey, spongy dosa that's cooked on one side only. A common mistake is spreading it thin like a crisp dosa; pour it and just nudge it into a thick round so it stays soft. Chef's tip: cover the dosa for a minute while it cooks so the steam sets the top and the holes stay open.

45 min

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Methi laddooFenugreek and jaggery laddoos

Every Punjabi winter, mothers and grandmothers roast a big batch of methi laddoos and hand out one a day with morning tea or warm milk, for strength and to keep the cold out of the joints. Fenugreek gives a gentle bitterness that the jaggery, ghee and roasted wheat balance into something nutty and warming, with crunch from puffed gond and almonds. The mistake people make is roasting the atta on high heat: it browns outside, stays raw inside and the laddoos taste floury. Keep it low and patient until it smells of biscuits. Chef's tip: soak the fenugreek powder in milk overnight; it softens the bitterness so even children will eat them.

60 min

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Pappada vadaFried pappadam fritters

Pappada vada is a Kerala tea-shop snack from the stretch between Thrissur and Palakkad, where a jar of them sits on the counter beside the banana fritters for the four o'clock chai break. Plain urad pappadams are dunked in a thin, chilli-red rice-flour batter with sesame and hing, then fried until the coating turns into a glassy, bubbly crust around the crisp pappadam inside. They are salty, peppery and loud to eat, and they keep in a tin for a week. The usual mistake is a thick batter: it fries into a hard, oily shell, so it should coat the back of a spoon thinly, like single cream. Chef's tip: use the small Kerala pappadams, not the big spiced Punjabi ones, and fry two at a time so the oil stays hot.

25 min

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Maa ladduRoasted gram flour laddus

Maa laddu (maladu) is the simplest of the Tamil Deepavali sweets, made in a quarter of an hour from pottukadalai, the roasted split gram sold in every Tamil grocery. Ground with sugar and bound with hot ghee, it melts on the tongue, nutty and cardamom-scented, and it's the laddu grandmothers teach children to roll. The mistake is pouring cold or too little ghee: the powder won't bind and the balls crumble, so add it smoking hot and in stages. Chef's tip: warm the pottukadalai in a dry pan for two minutes before grinding; it brings out the toasty flavour and grinds finer.

23 min

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Pattani sundalSpiced white pea salad

Walk along Marina Beach in Chennai at sunset and boys with brass pots sell pattani sundal in paper cones, warm, tangy with raw mango and bright with grated carrot. At home it is also made for Navaratri, when a different sundal is offered and shared each evening. The mistake is overcooking the peas to mush: they should be tender but keep their shape, so pressure-cook for only two to three whistles. Chef's tip: add the coconut, mango and carrot off the heat, so they stay fresh and crunchy against the warm peas.

40 min

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ThenkuzhalRice and urad flour spirals

Thenkuzhal is the plain, pale murukku of Tamil Nadu, especially in Chettinad and Thanjavur kitchens, pressed through a single-hole plate into neat spirals for Deepavali and Krishna Jayanthi. Unlike butter murukku, it relies on roasted urad flour and a spoon of hot oil for its crunch, with cumin and a little sesame for flavour, and it should be cream-coloured, smooth and light. It is eaten with coffee and kept in tins for weeks. The common mistake is a dough that is too stiff, which breaks while pressing and gives a rough, cracked surface; it should be soft enough to pipe smoothly. Chef's tip: press the spirals onto the back of an oiled slotted spoon or a square of parchment and slide them into the oil, so they keep their shape.

60 min

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Aval vilayichathuFlattened rice with jaggery and coconut

Aval vilayichathu is the quickest sweet in a Kerala kitchen, made in Palakkad and Thrissur homes for evening tea, for children back from school, or as an offering for Krishna on Janmashtami. Thick beaten rice is stirred into hot jaggery syrup with coconut, then finished with toasted sesame, roasted chana and coconut slivers so it turns chewy, dry and fragrant. A common mistake is adding the aval while the syrup is too thin; the flakes go mushy instead of glazing, so cook the jaggery and coconut until thick first. Chef's tip: use thick red aval if you can find it; it keeps a bite and has a gentle nutty taste.

25 min

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Alwar milk cakeGrainy reduced-milk sweet

Sweet boxes swapped on Raksha Bandhan in Rajasthan very often hold Alwar milk cake: a dense slab of full-fat milk reduced for hours with sugar, then left to set slowly in its own heat so the middle caramelises dark brown while the edges stay pale and grainy. Unlike kalakand, it uses no chhena at all; the grain comes from souring the milk just a little as it reduces, and the colour from long, patient cooking. It is fudgy, milky and toffee-like. Common mistake: hurrying the last stage on a high flame, which scorches the base instead of browning it; the mass is ready when it leaves the sides of the pan as one sticky lump and the ghee starts to show at the edges. Chef's tip: wrap the filled tin in a thick towel and leave it overnight; that slow cooling is what browns the centre.

155 min

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ManoharamRice flour sticks in jaggery syrup

Manoharam is a Chettinad sweet made for weddings and the sweet trays of Deepavali, often shaped into a tall cone for the bridal seer. Short, crisp sticks of rice and moong flour are pressed and fried, then tossed in a jaggery syrup cooked to the hard-ball stage, so the syrup sets around them into a crunchy, molasses-sweet cluster. It is eaten in small pieces with coffee and keeps for weeks. The usual mistake is undercooked syrup, which never sets and leaves the sticks soggy; test it in cold water until it snaps. Chef's tip: have the fried sticks warm and ready in a wide greased bowl before the syrup reaches the right stage, as it starts setting within a minute.

75 min

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Kholasapori pithaRice pancakes with coconut and jaggery

Kholasapori means 'pressed in the khola', the shallow clay pan that every Assamese kitchen brings out for Magh Bihu, when guests are offered a plate of pitha before anything else. These are thicker and softer than the crisp til pitha: a loose batter of sticky rice flour is spread on the hot pan, filled with coconut and jaggery and folded over, so the outside is lightly speckled and the inside chewy and sweet. A heavy cast-iron pan stands in well for the khola. Common mistake: a pan that is too hot; the batter should set slowly with no browning in the first minute, and it is ready to fold when the edges lift and the top no longer looks wet. Chef's tip: wipe the pan with a cloth dipped in oil between each pitha rather than pouring oil in, so they stay pale and even.

50 min

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ChooriCrumbled roti with ghee and sugar

In Punjabi villages choori is what a grandmother makes when a child comes home hungry before dinner: a warm roti or leftover paratha crumbled by hand into ghee and shakkar until it turns into soft, sweet, buttery crumbs. It is eaten with a glass of tea or milk in the late afternoon, and in many homes a bowl is set aside as an offering on Sankranti and at the gurdwara. The common mistake is using cold, leathery rotis straight from the box: the ghee won't soak in and the sugar stays gritty. Warm them on the tawa first until they are soft and just crisp at the edges. Chef's tip: a pinch of crushed fennel and some chopped almonds turn it into a little treat for guests.

15 min

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Bonda soupUrad dal fritters in moong soup

Bonda soup is a Bengaluru original, served in the old vegetarian hotels of Basavanagudi and Malleshwaram as a mid-morning or rainy-evening snack. Fluffy urad dal bondas are fried and dropped into a bowl of thin, tempered moong dal soup with pepper and lemon, so they soak up some of it and stay crisp in places. It's comforting, peppery and filling. A common mistake is a runny batter; it should hold a peak, or the bondas soak oil and fall apart in the soup. Chef's tip: pour the soup only when serving, not before, so the bondas still crunch at the first spoonful.

60 min

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Ezhu kari kootuSeven vegetable and dal curry

The partner to kali on Arudra Darshan morning is a kootu of seven (ezhu) vegetables, an old Tamil Brahmin custom that uses whatever native winter produce is at the market: pumpkin, ash gourd, raw plantain, sweet potato, broad beans, colocasia and chow-chow are a typical set, and no onion, garlic, tomato or 'English' vegetables go in. They simmer in tamarind water with soft toor dal and a paste of roasted coriander, chana dal, red chillies and coconut, giving a thick, tangy, gently hot stew that cuts the sweetness of the kali. Common mistake: adding tamarind before the vegetables are cooked, which keeps them hard; cook them first in plain water until a knife goes in easily, then add the tamarind and boil until its raw smell has gone. Chef's tip: roast the paste spices until the chana dal turns golden-red, which gives the kootu its depth.

60 min

Indian Curries

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Kurkuri bhindiCrispy fried okra strips

Kurkuri bhindi is the dhaba and wedding-buffet side that disappears first: thin, slivered okra tossed in a dry coat of besan, chilli and amchur and fried until it shatters. In Punjabi and Delhi homes it is served as a tea-time snack, scattered over dal-chawal or eaten by the handful while the rest of dinner cooks. The mistake almost everyone makes once is washing the okra and slicing it while still damp: the coating turns into gluey lumps and the strips go limp. Wash it an hour ahead and dry it completely. Chef's tip: toss the slivers with the spices first and add the flours only just before frying, so the okra cannot release liquid into the coating.

27 min

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ChuruttuRice wafer cones with coconut filling

Churuttu, 'the roll', is a wedding sweet of the Syrian Christian families of central Kerala, around Kottayam, Pala and Changanassery, where aunts sit together for a day before the wedding shaping hundreds of these cones for the guests to take home. Paper-thin rice wafers are rolled into cones, filled with a sweet crumble of roasted rice flour, coconut and cardamom, sealed and dried until crisp. They shatter at the first bite and melt to a sweet, toasty dust. The mistake is a wet filling; damp coconut softens the cones within a day, so the filling must be roasted dry. Chef's tip: work with one wafer at a time and keep the rest under a damp cloth; they crack if they dry before rolling.

110 min

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ChhatuaRoasted gram flour with curd

Pana Sankranti, in mid-April, is Odisha's new year and its own version of Baisakhi, and the day is kept with two cooling things: a jug of pana, the sweet bel-fruit drink, and a bowl of chhatua. The chhatua is a mix of roasted flours, usually chana, barley and rice, stirred with curd, ripe banana, jaggery and fresh coconut into a soft, sustaining mash that needs no cooking on a hot day. It is mild, sweet and nutty, and many families offer it first at the household shrine. Common mistake: making it watery; add the curd a little at a time and stop when it is like thick porridge that just holds a spoon. Chef's tip: roast your own flours in a dry pan until they smell of toast; ready-made sattu works, but freshly roasted flour has a far deeper flavour.

15 min

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Avalose podiRoasted rice flour and coconut powder

Avalose podi is a keeping snack from central Kerala, especially Syrian Christian homes around Kottayam and Thrissur, made in big batches before Christmas or long journeys. Coconut is rubbed into rice flour and roasted for close to an hour until the mix turns sandy, golden and smells like toasted biscuits. It is eaten by the spoonful with a little sugar and a ripe banana, or with black coffee, and can be bound with jaggery into avalose unda. The mistake is high heat; the coconut browns before the flour is cooked through and the podi tastes raw and bitter. Chef's tip: keep stirring over low heat until a pinch, cooled, falls apart like sand between your fingers.

65 min

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Lauki ki kheerBottle gourd milk pudding

Lauki ki kheer is the light pudding many North Indian families make on Mahashivratri, Navratri and Ekadashi, when rice is off the menu: grated bottle gourd stands in for the grain, softens in ghee and then simmers in milk until it turns pale, creamy and almost translucent. It tastes delicate and milky, with cardamom and a crunch of nuts, and is eaten warm after the evening puja or chilled the next day. Taste a sliver of the raw gourd first; a bitter one can make you ill and must be thrown away. Common mistake: adding the sugar too early, which stops the gourd softening and can make the milk split; add it only once the milk has reduced by about a third and the lauki is tender. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated lauki lightly before cooking, but keep the juice and add it to the milk, so none of the flavour is lost.

45 min

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KanikaSweet ghee rice

Kanika is one of the dishes of the Jagannath temple's mahaprasad in Puri, cooked in clay pots over wood fires and sold at the Ananda Bazaar to pilgrims, and Odia homes make it for Rath Yatra, when the deities ride their chariots through the town. It is a fragrant, glossy rice sweetened with sugar and perfumed with cinnamon, bay leaf and cloves in plenty of ghee, studded with fried cashews and raisins. It sits halfway between a pulao and a dessert and is eaten with dalma or a temple-style mahura. Common mistake: adding the sugar at the start, which hardens the grains; cook the rice almost through first, then add the sugar, and it is done when the syrup is absorbed and the ghee shines on the surface. Chef's tip: use a short-grain aromatic rice such as gobindobhog or the Odia arua rice for the true temple texture; basmati works but gives separate, longer grains.

45 min