With January chill, Lohri and Makar Sankranti offer drool-worthy goodies

Bhogali bihu (means abundance) celebrates abundance of farm produce in Assam and Magh Bihu term comes from the month Magh During winter time.

Then there are fried gila pithas and delicious sweetball laurs. Also the fatty ducks are enjoyed in abundance.


The festival of Lohri marks the winter harvest. It is one of the few festivals that does not follow the lunar calendar and is celebrated on January 13 every year. A festival dedicated to fire and the Sun God.

Rauh de chawal: Cooked on Lohri it is rice cooked in sugarcane juice. On Lohri, traditionally Rauh de chawal, saag, makki roti, til bugga are cooked.

Bonfires are lit outside most homes and an offering of fresh harvest produce made– Gajak, Revri, (sweets made of seasame, cane sugar and butter) peanuts, and popcorn –are made to the fire.

As the first week of January ends, children move door to door, singing the Dulla Bhatti folk-song earning a bounty of homemade sweets

In Maharashtra you find puran poli and tilgul laddu. Tamil word Pongal means “to boil”. The boiled dish that is prepared with gur rice and dal marks colourful Pongal festival in Tamilnadu and Andhra. But for more watch this space.