Spring is almost here and it is time to experience pleasant weather and colourful nature with flowers blooming everywhere. And to mark the onset of the Spring season, we celebrate Basant Panchami across India. This year, the festival falls on February 5, 2022. Basant Panchami is a harvest festival that also marks the official end of the winters. The festival sees different rituals and customs across the country.
While the Eastern states refer to it as Saraswati Puja, in the Southern part of India, it is called Sri Panchami. People in Uttar Pradesh worship Radha-Krishna on this day and in parts of Punjab, people fly colourful kites to mark Basant Panchami. But what remains common everywhere is the colour yellow. You heard us. The colour yellow plays a significant role in the Basant Panchami celebration.
It is because the colour yellow signifies the arrival of the Spring season and is often associated with feelings of positivity, life and nature. For the unversed, a darker hue of yellow is also known as the Basanti colour in Hindi. This is why we see people wearing yellow-coloured clothes and eating yellow-coloured foods on this day.
As Basant Panchami is just around the corner, we bring some of our favourite yellow-coloured sweets that are sure to make the celebration an indulgent affair for you. The best part is, you can easily make these sweets at home. Let's take a look.
Boondi Ki Ladoo
It is perhaps one of the most popular sweets during any festival - and Basant Panchami is no exception. Made with besan pearls (boondi), ghee, sugar and dry fruits, this sweet delight is soft, greasy and melts in the mouth in just no time.
Shrikhand
A popular Maharashtrian dessert, shrikhand defines everything as creamy and flavourful. It is a mix of dahi, saffron, sugar and dry fruits and needs less than 30 minutes for preparation. So, if you don't have much time to prepare some elaborated dish, shrikhand is just the option for you.
Kesari Bhaat
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Much like meetha chawal, it is a rice recipe that is sweet and includes ingredients like ghee, dry fruits, saffron, sugar et al. It is also easy to prepare and make a perfect dish for the festive fare.
Rajbhog
A traditional Bengali sweet, rajbhog is made of chenna, with almonds and pistachios stuffed within. It looks much like rasgulla but is yellow in colour and bigger in size.
Kesar Halwa
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Halwa or Rava Kesari is a dish similar to Kesari Bhaat. Except, it includes semolina and large amounts of ghee. Start with heating the pan with a tablespoon of ghee and roast the Rava in it. After it is golden brown, add jaggery water and soaked saffron strands to the rava. Add cardamom powder and boil the mixture. Cook till the Rava has soaked most of the water, and garnish with chopped nuts, raisins and hot ghee.
