Til Bugga

This month has been entirely dedicated to healthy and balanced eating. But in between all the healthy meals, who doesn’t like to cheat a little! And festivals are the perfect time for that too. As we celebrate different harvest festivals in India in mid January, I wanted to share the recipe of a traditional sweet made during the festival of Lohri in Punjab.

Makar Sankranti, Lohri, Bhogali Bihu – all these are harvest festivals which fall around mid Jan and celebrated in different parts of the country by different communities. Sweets are an integral part of any festival. There are some recipes which are made and enjoyed in the traditional way even today and then there are some which are modified as per the availability of resources.

This recipe of Til Bugga has been shared by my friend Pooja, and this has been handed down to her by her mother-in-law. Til or Sesame seeds are considered to be good for consumption during the winter months. And since Lohri falls in January which is a peak winter time in the north of India, having sweets made of sesame seeds just seem right..:)

Til Bugga

Course: SweetsDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Total time

25

minutes

A delicious festival sweet using sesame seeds…

Ingredients

• Mawa / Khoya – 1 cup

• Sesame Seeds – 1 cup

• Powdered Sugar – 1 cup

• Chopped Cashews – ½ cup

Directions

• Dry roast the sesame seeds till it slightly changes color. Remove it from heat and keep it aside to cool.
• Once it cools down, coarsely grind it. Take care not to powder it. Will need to pulse it just two to three times quickly.
• In the same pan that you roasted the sesame seeds, add the mawa and keep stirring it for a couple of minutes till it slightly changes the consistency and just starts to change the color.
• Turn off the heat and add the coarsely ground sesame seeds, powdered sugar and chopped cashews.
• Mix it well and make small balls out of it while it is still hot. It may be difficult to make it into balls if it cools down.

Recipe Video

Notes

• Roasting of sesame seeds: Be careful not to burn the sesame seeds while roasting. They just need to slightly change color and be aromatic.
• Roasting of khoya/mawa: Roasting of mawa takes just a few minutes. It starts changing its consistency and becomes liquidy.