Hmm I am a bit late to this one. This year Holi was on March 18, and I am writing this on March 31. I decided to cover this topic after realizing Holi had past and hearing from my friends back home who went to the festivals. There was fun to be had and lots of food. Similar to my Diwali blog, to understand the sweets had during Holi, one must learn about the holiday itself.
Holi has been celebrated in the Indian subcontinent for centuries, with poems documenting celebrations dating back to the 4th century CE. It marks the beginning of spring after a long winter, symbolic of the triumph of good over evil. It is celebrated in March, corresponding to the Hindu calendar month of Phalguna. There are varying accounts of Holi’s origin mentioned in several works of ancient Indian literature. According to one popular version of the story, an evil king became so powerful that he forced his subjects to worship him as their god. But to the king’s ire, his son Prahlada continued to be an ardent devotee of the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu. The angry king plotted with his sister, Holika, to kill his son. Holika, who was immune to fire, tricked Prahlada to sit in a pyre with her. When the pyre was lit, the boy’s devotion to Lord Vishnu helped him walk away unscathed while Holika, from whom the festival derives its name, was burned to death despite her immunity. To learn more about Holi, check here.
Gujiya, Puran Poli, Malpua, Thandai are some traditional Holi delicacies that are prepared during the festival in almost every home. I have done a blog post for gujiya, which can be found here.
Puran Poli is made by stuffing soft whole wheat dough with soft-cooked yellow lentils, jaggery/brown sugar, cardamom, nutmeg, and saffron. It is then rolled thin and cooked on a pan with lots of ghee to make it into a crisp golden brown, flavorful, and aromatic flatbread.
Malpua is a sweet dish that is basically a sugar syrup soaked pancake prepared from a batter of flour, milk and cardamom. These pancakes are usually fried in ghee till crisp along the edges, soaked in sugar syrup, garnished with pistachios and served warm with a topping of rabri aka rich thickened milk.
Thandai is an Indian cold drink prepared with a mixture of almonds, fennel seeds, watermelon kernels, rose petals, pepper, poppy seeds, cardamom, saffron, milk and sugar.
The names of all three of the sweets are hyperlinks to recipes of all of the sweets respectively. Holi is a time for fun and great sweets. I would highly recommend going to a Holi festival if you have never been and ever get the opportunity. Not just for the food but all great activities there.