These irritatingly addictive little balls are the backdrop to every cultural or religious calendar event in India. They can be made in minutes and stored for weeks, and are delightful to eat as a snack, on picnics, or even to give to others. A food processor will make...

There is a secret to this one, my grandma said: you know it’s done when the spoon stands up by itself in the mixture. And with this piece of advice, I have always had perfect fudge. This is one of the most highly prized of all Indian sweets, the mastering of which...

This recipe marks a milestone in my relationship with my mother. When I gave her some of the halwa with a cup of tea, she burst into tears. I was horrified something was wrong. “No,” she said, “but I think it’s better than mine!” If eating carrots as a dessert strikes...

My Aunt Dina always has a batch of these tucked away in a stainless-steel tin in the kitchen. There’s a considerable amount of tense anticipation around the table at teatime until she opens it and hands them out, and then it feels as though the world is put to rights...

This recipe is based on my mum’s go-to dinner party classic, which she’s been serving in the same crystal bowl for decades. It’s never once let her down. It’s made by poaching roasted wheat vermicelli in milk and cardamom, which creates something as comforting but not...

Mum talks fondly about a cake that was made by an Ismaili Gujarati friend of hers back in Uganda. Neither her friends nor she had ovens, so they used to take the mixture down to a baker in the East Nile District and go for a swim or play with baby crocodiles while it...