Lohri

Lohri, a winter festival that is usually celebrated on the 13th of January every year. The history behind the celebration of Lohri is, different for different people. Some people celebrate the passing of winter and welcome the Spring. The farmers thank the Sun God “Surya” for the blessing of heat and warmth that enabled the wonderful harvest and regarded their long months of hard work and some celebrate it as the first harvest of the Rabi crops in the Rabi Season.

The festival is all about lighting bonfires, people gathering to socialize and dancing and singing their hearts out along with some delicious festive food. The significance of the bonfire is to reignite the return of longer days. This is why Lohri is also said to be the longest night of the year. The festive foods are usually prepared from the ingredients of the crops being harvested during this (RABI SEASON) such as corn, sugar cane, nuts, radish, mustard greens, peanuts etc. As a gesture to the fire god, people dance around the bonfire and also toss, sesame seeds, revdi (sugar candy), Puffed rice, etc.

This festival is called Lohri in the Norther states like – Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu Kashmir. In other states of India, the same festival is celled by different names but celebrated for the same reason, like - Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Makar Sankranti in Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, etc.

There are several dishes and desserts specially made during Lohri and there are some specific ones made and preferred like, Chikki, Gajak, Revdi, Til ki Barfi, Gur ki rooti, Murmura Ladoo, Dry fruit Chikki, Gur ka Halwa, etc. Here is to one of the most commonly prepared and preferred dessert of the festival Lohri - REVDI

Servings: 100 gms

Time to Prep: 5 mins

Time to Cook: 25 mins

Ingredients

1/4 cup Sesame Seeds

1/4 cup Jaggery

1 tsp Ghee/ Oil

Let's get cooking!

• Dry roast Sesame seeds for 10 mins on low flame. Keep it aside.

• In a pan add Ghee in a pan and add chopped Jaggery. Allow it to cook on low flame till it melts. Continue to cook on low flame.

• Ina bowl of water add a drop of jaggery to see if it solidifies or it is brittle.

• Now add sesame seeds and mix well. Turn off the flame.

• In a bowl of hot water, place the metal pan with the Revdi mixture and simultaneously start making small rolls of it.

• Flatten the Revdi rolls using a cup.

• Store in dry jar.

Note

• For Vegan option use Oil instead of Ghee.

• Place hot water bowl under the pan to avoid solidification of the sesame jaggery mixture as it is not easy or sometimes impossible to reheat and bring it back to the same consistency.

• Flatten the Revdi rolls on a butter paper to avoid stickiness on surfaces like glass, steel, plastic, etc.