This Janmashtami, give regional sweets a try

From dairy delights to seasonal fruity snacks, here’s how to celebrate this festival with treats from all over the country

Butter galore
Known for his love for butter, Krishna is traditionally offered makhan misri — a simple mix of butter and sugar crystals. “This prasad reflects the deity’s love for butter. This shows how even the simplest ingredients can create something divine,” says pastry chef Sneha Singhi Upadhaya. This sweet treat is indulgent but also easy to prepare.

Pallav Chakraborty, a member of an NGO, explains, “Krishna loves milk-based food, especially noni ghee, made from buffalo milk. But it’s quite tricky to make the ghee correctly. So instead, kheer is a popular offering”

Treats from Bengal
In West Bengal, taal (palm fruit) is an important offering to the deity. Culinary historian Pritha Sen explains that taal is abundantly available during this season making bora, kheer and patishapta made with taal star dishes of the festival. Food historian Ranjini Guha adds, “There’s a saying in Bengali, ‘Taler bora kheye Nondo nachite lagilo!’, meaning Lord Krishna starts dancing after eating taal fritters, so it’s a must-have.”

Dairy delights
Mathura, Krishna’s birthplace, is known for its peda, which is also a popular Janmashtami treat. Originally a temple offering, peda is made with slow-boiled thickened milk and ghee. Other rich milky treats like rabri, shrikhand and kheer are also popular.\

The Odisha connect
In the house of Jagannath, a special offering, called Jeuta bhog is prepared on the evening of Saptami. Along with dishes like Jhili, Arisa, Khiri, Oria, Pakhala and Kadali Taliya, a sour curry is made by adding jeuta or monkey jack fruit. This dish is made in the Puri Jagannath temple and is a symbolic offering to the pregnant Devaki and is offered to Jagannath. The first offering to Krishna is butter, cream and puffed rice along with 108 pills made from spices like long pepper, black pepper, and dry ginger.

- Inputs by Sweta Biswal

"Panjiri is a popular sweet offered to the deity. It’s made by dry roasting atta to which ghee and dry fruits are added. It’s known to be energy-dense and healthy too" – Chef Sneha Singhi Upadhaya