Every Diwali, or Indian festival of lights, is one religious celebration in which sweets play a major role for Hindus around the world. Likened to our Christmas and New Year, Hindus traditionally begin their five-day Diwali celebrations with a bang: firecrackers and a dizzying array of sugary treats. It is customary to offer family and friends gifts of confections during the festival - a rich and sweet diet symbolizing happiness and prosperity for the coming year.
So what does milk, sugar, clarified butter (or ghee), and flour made from pulses (chickpea or lentils), rice or wheat combine to make? Only some of the most brilliantly beautiful and delicate treats this side of the Indian Ocean.
If you're a fudge fan, then burfi might be a tempting choice, and Toronto's Surati Sweet Mart's is one of the finest.
These confections are made by slowly cooking milk and adding saffron, rosewater or nuts such as almonds or pistachios in the mix. Delicately scented and rich, this dessert is typically shared and cut up into small pieces.
There's also jalebi - neon orange, deep-fried whirls of sweet crispness usually made from a flour and yoghurt batter. The coils are syrup soaked and often offered to family and friends when a baby girl is born.
The Indian gift of sweets is proffered to celebrate births, marriages or other significant benchmarks in life. It's now also been given to us here in Toronto- here's to sweetness and prosperity in your life.
Surati Sweet Mart Head Office, 26 Carnforth Road, Scarborough, ON. For more information, go to: www.suratisweetmart.com
