🔗 Share this article

Diwali, widely known as the festival of lights, is a celebration of positivity over negativity. It stands as the most widely marked festival in India and feels a bit like holiday festivities abroad. It’s synonymous with fireworks, bright colours, endless parties and countertops straining under the sheer weight of dishes and sweet treats. No Diwali is complete without packages of confections and dehydrated fruits passed around kin and companions. Across the United Kingdom, we keep those traditions alive, dressing up, going to places of worship, sharing tales from Indian lore to the little ones and, most importantly, gathering with friends from diverse cultures and beliefs. For me, Diwali represents unity and distributing meals that appears unique, but doesn’t require you in the culinary space for long durations. The bread pudding is my take on the rich shahi tukda, while these ladoos are perfect to gift or to savor alongside some chai after the meal.

Effortless Ladoos (Shown Above)

Ladoos are one of the most recognizable Indian desserts, alongside gulab jamuns and jalebis. Picture an Indian halwai’s shop overflowing with sweets of every shape, hue and dimension, all skillfully made and abundantly coated with ghee. Ladoos often take centre stage, making them a popular choice of offering for propitious moments or for offering to Hindu deities at religious sites. This adaptation is one of the most straightforward, calling for a small set of items, and is ready quickly.

Prep 10 min
Cook 50 minutes along with cooling
Makes 15-20

110 grams of ghee
250 grams of gram flour
1/4 teaspoon of ground green cardamom
1 pinch saffron (as an option)
50g mixed almonds and pistachios, heated and broken into pieces
180 to 200 grams of granulated sugar, as per liking

Heat the ghee in a nonstick pan on a medium heat. Reduce the temperature, incorporate the gram flour and cook, stirring constantly to blend it with the liquid ghee and to make sure it doesn’t catch and burn. Keep cooking and stirring for 30-35 minutes. Initially, the mix will resemble damp sand, but as you keep cooking and blending, it will transform into a peanut butter-like texture and give off a rich nutty scent. Do not attempt to speed it up, or leave the mix unattended, because it can burn very easily, and the gentle heating is critical for the characteristic, nutty flavour of the sweet balls.

Take the pan off the heat, blend the cardamom and saffron, if included, then leave to cool until just warm to the touch.

Add the nuts and sugar to the cooled ladoo mixture, combine well, then break off small pieces and shape with your hands into 15-20 spherical shapes of 4cm. Put these on a plate separated a bit and let them cool to normal temperature.

These are ready to be enjoyed the ladoos right away, or store them in an airtight container and keep at room temperature for as long as one week.

Classic Indian Bread Pudding

This takes inspiration from Hyderabad’s shahi tukda, a recipe that is usually prepared by frying bread in ghee, then soaking it in a thick, rich rabdi, which is created by simmering whole milk for a long time until it thickens to a reduced quantity from the start. The recipe here is a healthier, easier and quicker alternative that needs much less attention and enables the oven to take over the task.

Prep a quick 10 minutes
Cook 60 minutes plus
Serves 4-6

Twelve slices stale white bread, crusts cut off
100g ghee, or melted butter
1 litre whole milk
1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk
150g sugar, or to taste
a small pinch of saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp milk
1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom, or the contents of 2 pods, ground
¼ tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
40 grams of almonds, broken into pieces
1.5 ounces of raisins

Trim the bread into triangular shapes, coat nearly all but a spoonful of the ghee over both sides of each portion, then place the triangles as they sit in a buttered, roughly 20cm x 30cm, rectangular baking dish.

In a large bowl, whisk the milk, thick milk and sweetener until the sugar melts, then stir in the saffron and the milk it was soaked in, the spices including cardamom and nutmeg, if included. Transfer the milk blend consistently across the bread in the container, so everything is immersed, then allow to soak for 10 to 15 minutes. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6.

Cook the pudding for 30 to 35 minutes, until the surface is golden brown and a skewer placed in the middle exits without residue.

In the meantime, melt the remaining ghee in a small pan on a medium heat, then fry the almonds until golden. Extinguish the flame, incorporate the raisins and leave them to cook in the residual heat, stirring constantly, for a minute. Scatter the nut and raisin combination over the sweet dish and serve warm or chilled, simply on its own or with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.