Diwali desserts to try at home
Give your celebrations a sweet twist with these Indian traditional treats
As a child growing up in Chandigarh, India, Chef Cheetie Kumar knew that Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, was approaching by the aromas emanating from the kitchen. She remembers catching the scent of whole milk simmered with freshly cracked cardamom and carrots in the air as she ran outside to play.
“I cannot tell you what I was playing or whom I was playing with,” Kumar said. “But those smells are with me to this day.”
At Garland, the restaurant in downtown Raleigh she opened with her husband, Paul Siler, in 2013, Kumar makes Indian and pan-Asian food with a vibrant North Carolina slant. A self-taught cook, she thrives by uniting global flavours and erasing the geographic boundaries of ingredients and techniques. Her food is nuanced and edgy.
Diwali, which will be celebrated tomorrow and commemorates the triumph of light over darkness, is both a sacred ritual observed at home and an animated celebration with neighbours and friends. There is plenty of food, especially sweets.
Gajak, a sesame seed-and-peanut brittle, and gajar halwa, the pudding infused with carrot and cardamom that she recalled from her childhood, are Kumar’s favourites. There is a mystery in the making of gajak that still has her rapt, decades later: The flavours don’t truly shine until the brittle has been allowed to set for about 20 or 30 minutes.
“There’s something magical that occurs that accounts for the transformation,” she said. And the bright carrots of the gajar halwa “scream celebration,” she said; the dessert gets more lush as it slowly simmers in the spice-infused milk. Kumar harnesses these nostalgic Indian dishes and reimagines them to fit her locale.