10 Special and Traditional Holi Food

This has to be the first name on our list because it is a classic Holi festival food. A crunchy shell with sweet stuffing, take a bit and your taste buds will be very happy. You can obviously buy gujiyas from sweet shops but if you want homemade gujiyas, you can easily make them. First, knead a dough with flour and water. Then, make a stuffing with coconut, sugar or jaggery, dry fruits and a touch of cardamom. Once the stuffing is done, roll out the dough in small circles, fill them with the stuffing and shape them. Now, just deep fry them or to keep the health-conscious in you happy, bake them. Delicious gujiyas are ready!

When we say barfi, we mean you can play with so many different ingredients and make so many different variations! You can make barfi with dry fruits and condensed milk. If you are not a fan of dry fruits, don’t worry. Coconut barfi or besan barfi can come to your rescue. Actually, you can combine any ingredient you want like carrot or chocolate with condensed milk and make barfi. But for this Holi, here goes our suggestion. Kaju barfi! Make a paste of kaju. Roast the paste on low heat with sugar and then cut the paste in the shape of barfis.

Another classic Holi special dish. This is one of the dishes that almost every household makes on Holi. A batter is made with flour, milk, sugar, fennel seeds and then deep-fried. Eat as it is or let the fried malpuas soak in sugar syrup for a while and then serve with rabri. Delectable is the word you will search for after a bit of malpua!

Are you even celebrating Holi if you are not drinking thandai! Trust us, this delicious drink is a must. Milk, some selected spices, plenty of dry fruits and a touch of saffron. All these are mixed together and the end result is simply mind-blowing. Serve this at your Holi celebrations and see how fast it becomes a crowd favourite. A piece of advice here. Make this in a large batch because no one is going to stop with one glass!

Bhalle soaked in dahi with a sprinkle of roasted spices and a generous splash of sweet, sour and spicy chutney. Oh, the taste is heavenly! These pieces of heaven can surely be on your Holi menu this year. Here’s how you can make dahi bhalle. Soak urad dal (black gram) overnight, then make a paste with some salt and then deep fry. The actual magic happens during the plating. Take a serving plate, place a few pieces of the bhalla, put dahi, spices and your preferred chutney. And enjoy!

We have a strong relationship with ladoo, be it motichoor ke ladoo, besan ke ladoo or any other kind. Chocolate ladoos are also in trend nowadays. Needless to say, we often see plates of ladoos during different festivals. Let’s not make Holi any exception. Make your favourite ladoos or order them online, your choice.

A commonly served dish in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. It is basically an Indian bread filled with delicious stuffing and is generally pan-fried. Knead a basic flour dough for the bread. And then make the stuffing. Here’s what you will need. Soaked chana dal, sugar or jaggery! Make a paste of the ingredients and slightly roast it. Now stuff small flour doughs with the mix, roll them out and cook them with a little oil or ghee. Puran poli is ready to be served!

These little pieces of rasgulla soaked in a milk-based liquid can take your tastebuds on a flavoursome journey! The recipe is as simple as it sounds. Milk with sugar, saffron and cardamom is boiled. Then, tiny rasgullas are placed in the milk. A spoon with a piece or two of the rasgullas and some milk, a complete bite! Make rasmalai at home or buy them from sweet shops and serve them in mud bowls for that festive vibe!

Shakar para is a crunchy snack and it will be perfect for the evening tea on Holi. How can you make them? It is easy! Make sugar syrup and cool it down. Then, knead a flour dough with the sugar syrup. Once the dough is ready, make square or barfi like shapes and deep-fry them. Enjoy as it is or with a hot cup of tea!

They say that it is always nice to end things on a sweet note. But, we are not going to do that here. We have already listed all mouthwatering sweet dishes and we need something savoury. And that is why we are concluding this list of traditional Holi food with a savoury snack, murukku. Murukku is a Tamil word that translates to twisted. The name of this snack comes from its twisted shape. Making it is no rocket science. You just need to make a dough with urad dal, chilli powder, carom seeds, asafetida and salt. Coming to shaping the dough, murukku makers are easily available in the market. You can buy a murukku maker or just use a piping bag. Put the dough you made in the murukku maker or piping bag and pipe them in oil in round shapes, like jalebis and fry them to crisp. Let the murukku cool down for a while and then eat as many as you want!

This year, on the list of March festivals in India, Holi is the most-awaited one. And we hope you get to make the most of this festival with all your favourite colours and these amazing dishes we talked about. On that note, here’s wishing you a happy and safe Holi!