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50 recipes
Pandadi are delicate layered pastries: thin rounds of butter dough stacked with custard powder, rolled, sliced and fried so the layers puff and flake. Once drained they're dusted with icing sugar, ground nuts, cardamom and saffron and scattered with rose petals. Makes about 40–45; a special-occasion sweet that keeps well in a tin.
Siro (sheera) is the Gujarati version of sooji halwa: semolina roasted in ghee until light brown, then cooked with hot saffron milk and sugar until the ghee separates. It's soft, rich and fragrant with cardamom and nuts. Serve it hot, as a festive sweet, for prasad, or as a comforting treat.
Soft, milky pendas made from mawa (khoya) and crumbled paneer cooked down in sweetened milk, flavoured with saffron, cardamom and a little nutmeg. The mixture is pressed into small moulds to give pretty shapes. Makes 15; serve as a festive sweet or offering.
Dhosa ladoo is a traditional Gujarati ladoo: a thick wheat and gram flour dough is baked twice until dry, ground to a coarse crumb, then bound with melted jaggery and warm ghee and pressed into balls. They're crumbly, rich and warm with nutmeg, with poppy seeds on top. Makes about 35, and they keep well for festivals.
Barfi churmoo is a rich Gujarati sweet: a firm dough of coarse wheat flour and gram flour is fried in ghee, ground to an even crumb, then bound with roasted mawa (khoya), hot ghee and saffron syrup and set in a tray. It's crumbly, fragrant with cardamom and nutmeg and topped with nuts. Makes about 40 pieces, perfect for Diwali boxes and weddings.
Adadiya pak is a classic Gujarati winter sweet: coarse black gram (urad) flour is rubbed with milk, roasted slowly in ghee until brown and sweet-smelling, then mixed with popped edible gum, almonds, pistachios, sugar and plenty of ginger, mace and cardamom. It's rich, crumbly and warming, eaten a piece a day through the cold months. Makes about 30 squares.
These gulab jambu are made with milk powder, grated carrot and a creamy semolina mixture, fried slowly until golden and soaked overnight in syrup so they're soft and juicy all the way through. The carrot gives them a lovely colour and gentle sweetness. Serve them halved, decorated with nuts and rose petals, with fresh cream.
Kesaria ghari are pretty fluted sweets: a soft coating of paneer and mawa (khoya) cooked with sugar and milk wraps a golden filling of coconut and milk powder in saffron syrup. They're milky, delicate and fragrant with cardamom. Press them in a patterned mould and decorate with flaked nuts; the recipe makes 14.
Malai sandwich is a Bengali-style sweet of soft paneer squares poached in rose syrup, soaked overnight, then split and filled with warm, sweetened mawa (khoya). They're spongy, juicy and creamy. Serve them chilled in small paper cases; the recipe makes 20.
Nutty halwa is a jewel-bright, chewy halwa in the Bombay (Karachi) halwa style: starch washed out of a wheat dough is cooked with syrup for well over an hour, with ghee added spoon by spoon until it shines, then studded with almonds, pistachios and cashews. It's glossy, chewy and fragrant with cardamom and saffron. Makes about 42 pieces; serve it warm.
A soft, fudgy halwa of fresh coconut and cashews cooked in sweetened milk with cardamom and a little ghee, rolled out thin and topped with almond and pistachio flakes. It's creamy, nutty and melt-in-the-mouth. Makes about 30 squares for festivals or a gift box.
A crunchy no-bake chocolate slice: crushed rich tea biscuits, cornflakes, rice krispies and shredded wheat, nuts and coconut are bound with cocoa, margarine and golden syrup, then covered with melted chocolate. It's sweet, crisp and chocolatey, like a homemade cereal bar. Makes about 50 fingers, ideal for parties and lunch boxes.
