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Diwali, widely known as the celebration of illumination, is a celebration of light over darkness. It’s the most extensively celebrated Indian festival and feels a bit like Christmas in the west. It’s synonymous with pyrotechnic displays, brilliant shades, non-stop gatherings and dining surfaces groaning under the immense load of dishes and sweet treats. Not a single Diwali is finished without boxes of sweets and dehydrated fruits passed around friends and family. Across the United Kingdom, we keep those traditions alive, dressing up, attending religious sites, narrating ancient Indian stories to the kids and, above all, assembling with pals from all walks of life and faiths. For me, Diwali is about unity and distributing meals that feels special, but doesn’t keep you in the kitchen for hours. The bread pudding is my take on the rich shahi tukda, while the ladoos are ideal for presenting or to enjoy with a cup of chai after the meal.

Simple Ladoos (Featured at the Top)

Ladoos are one of the most recognizable Indian desserts, comparable to gulab jamuns and jalebis. Envision a classic Indian halwai’s shop bursting with confectioneries of all forms, colour and size, all expertly crafted and abundantly coated with clarified butter. Ladoos commonly hold the spotlight, rendering them a favored option of present for festive events or for presenting to divine figures at places of worship. This adaptation is one of the simplest, calling for a small set of items, and can be prepared in minutes.

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

4 ounces of clarified butter
250 grams of gram flour
¼ tsp ground green cardamom
1 pinch saffron (as an option)
2 ounces of assorted nuts, heated and broken into pieces
180-200g granulated sugar, according to preference

Liquefy the clarified butter in a nonstick pan on a moderate heat. Turn down the heat, incorporate the gram flour and simmer, with constant mixing to blend it with the melted ghee and to ensure it doesn’t stick or scorch. Persist with cooking and blending for half an hour to 35 minutes. At the start, the combination will appear as moist granules, but as you keep cooking and stirring, it will become similar to peanut butter and emit a delightful nutty aroma. Don’t try to rush things, or walk away from the blend, because it might burn rapidly, and the slow roast is critical for the typical, roasted flavor of the confectioneries.

Turn off the heat and take the pan, stir in the cardamom and saffron, if added, then set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

Mix in the nuts and sweetener to the room temperature ladoo mix, stir completely, then tear off small chunks and form using your palms into 15-20 spherical shapes of 4cm. Place these on a dish separated a bit and let them cool to ambient temperature.

You can now serve the ladoos immediately, or keep them in a sealed container and keep at room temperature for about seven days.

Traditional Indian Bread Pudding

This is inspired by Hyderabadi shahi tukda, a recipe that is usually prepared by frying bread in ghee, then immersing it in a dense, creamy rabdi, which is produced by heating whole milk for hours until it reduces to a small portion of its initial amount. This adaptation is a better-for-you, straightforward and speedy version that demands minimal supervision and enables the oven to take over the task.

Prep 10 min
Cook 60 minutes plus
Serves about 4-6 people

12 slices stale white bread, edges trimmed
3.5 ounces of clarified butter, or liquid butter
4 cups of full-fat milk
A 397-gram tin condensed milk
150 grams of sugar, or as preferred
a pinch of saffron, steeped in 30ml of milk
a quarter teaspoon of cardamom powder, or the seeds from 2 pods, crushed
¼ tsp ground nutmeg (if desired)
40 grams of almonds, coarsely chopped
40g raisins

Slice the bread into triangles, apply almost all except a teaspoon of the ghee over both sides of every slice, then arrange the triangles as they sit in a buttered, roughly 20cm x 30cm, rectangular baking dish.

Within a sizable container, beat the milk, thick milk and sweetener until the sugar dissolves, then blend the saffron and its soaking milk, the cardamom and nutmeg, if included. Empty the milk combination uniformly onto the bread in the pan, so everything is immersed, then leave to steep for 10 to 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan)/390°F/gas mark 6.

Bake the pudding for half an hour or so, until the upper layer is browned and a skewer placed in the middle comes out clean.

In the meantime, heat the leftover ghee in a small skillet on moderate flame, then cook the almonds until lightly browned. Extinguish the flame, add the raisins and allow them to heat in the residual heat, mixing continuously, for 60 seconds. Sprinkle the nut and raisin mix over the pudding and present hot or cold, simply on its own or accompanied by vanilla ice-cream.