Traditional Holi Recipes – Home-made and delicious

Introduction

Holi, the festival of colors, water balloons, rain dances and cooking delicious and mouth-watering Indian lunch recipes is nearby.

With friends, family and loved ones coming together, having delicious foods are a must-have as no festival is complete without nibbling on delicacies.

Delicious and mouth-watering Holi recipes

Bhang Thandai recipe

The Holi festival cannot be fully celebrated without the special desi cocktail, the Bhang Thandai recipe.

The ingredients:

Milk – 1 liter

Sugar – ½ cup

Almonds – 1 tablespoon

Saffron – ¼ teaspoon

Bhang powder – ½ tablespoon

Rose petals – ¼ cup

Water – 2 cups

Aniseed – ½ tablespoon

Peppercorns – 11

Green cardamom – 2

Melon seeds – 1 tablespoon

The making:

• Soak the aniseeds, watermelon seeds, bhang and rose petals in water and grind to make a paste. To make it creamier, make a separate paste with almonds and add it afterward.
• Boil the milk and add it to the paste. To add more cream, you can add fresh malai to it.
• For the final step, garnish it with almonds, pistachios and rose petals and serve it chilled to enjoy the heavenly taste.

Sheer Khurma

Another sweet delicacy to prepare this Holi is the Sheer Khurma recipe.

Ingredients:

Creamy milk – ½ liter

Vermicelli – 50 grams

Sugar – ¼ cup

Chopped dates – 2 tablespoons

Raisins, almonds (pieces) and pistachios – ¼ cup

Ghee – ¼ cup

Saffron – ½ teaspoon

Cardamom powder – ½ teaspoon

The making

• Heat the ghee in a pan.
• Sauté the almonds, raisins, and pistachios.
• In a separate hot pan, roast the vermicelli with ghee.
• In another pan, simmer milk and sugar.
• Add the vermicelli, dry fruits, dates and saffron to the milk.
• Mix and simmer and serve chilled.

Dahi Bhalla

A renowned North Indian snack, the Dahi Bhalla recipe is another delicacy enjoy on Holi.

Ingredients:

 The Mains

Urad dal – 125 grams

Moong dal – 4 tablespoons

Water – 4 tablespoons

Cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon

Asafoetida – 1 pinch

Table salt

Oil

The Others

Curd – 2 cups

Pomegranate – 1/3 cup

Green chutney – 1/3 cup

Papdis

Cooked chana – ½ cup

Chopped potato – 1

Jeera powder (as required)

Red chili powder

Water – 2.5 cups for soaking vadas

The Making

• Beat two cups of curd in a bowl.
• Place the vadas in the curd and gently mix them.
• Assemble the other ingredients, such as potatoes, chickpeas, chutney, pomegranate and spices powders and mix in a separate bowl.
• Sprinkle the red chili and cumin powders, chaat masala and salt as per preference.
• Garnish the dahi bhalla with coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Rajbhog Recipe

A popular Bengali delicacy, the Rajbhog recipe is similar to Rasgulla and is enjoyed on Holi too.

Ingredients:

Paneer – 100 grams

Almonds – 1 tablespoon

Saffron – ¼ teaspoon

Edible food color – ¼ teaspoon

Sugar – 1 cup

Cashews – 1 tablespoon

Pistachios – ¾ tablespoon

Powdered Green Cardamom – 1 teaspoon

Water – 2 cups

The making

• Grind cashew nuts, pistachios and almonds to a fine powder and mix well with cardamom powder. Mix the powder with milk and create a thin paste and make into small balls.
• Knead the paneer and segregate into two parts – mix one part with saffron strands and yellow food color and let the other remain white. Make small balls out of both the parts.
• Heat some water in a pan, add sugar and stir well.
• Add the paneer balls to the boiling water and simmer for 15 minutes at medium heat.
• Remove the balls and let them cool, and then serve.