Makar Sankranti: Memories and recipes from the Sindhi kitchen

The lyrical phrase tirr-moori translates to sesame-radish in Sindhi. These ingredients are synonymous to the festival of Makar Sankranti. “It is mandatory to eat as well as donate them along with rice and oil or ghee. Since it celebrates a good harvest, it is recommended to share the abundance with the less privileged,” shares Alka Keswani, one of the most well-renowned advocates of Sindhi cuisine, who documents the food on her long-running blog, Sindhi Rasoi.

The festive special in Keswani’s kitchen is pulao paired with sai bhaji, a nourishing combination of winter greens, like spinach and fenugreek leaves, cooked with taro root and Bengal gram. “The idea is to make something that fortifies the body and builds immunity as Makar Sankranti marks a seasonal transition believed to cause allergies and colds,” she points out.

Recipes evolve and adapt. Chef Deepa Chauhan, a MasterChef India contestant, who rose to fame for her Sindhi cooking, speaks of the Sindhi-style of sesame laddoo or tirran ja borinda (sesame ball) with pistachios and rose essence. The use of these ingredients, she shares, underscores the Persian influence owing to the Persian rule in erstwhile Sindh for about 400 years. The sweetness in these laddoos come from honey and sugar syrup and the texture is slightly chewy. But, she prefers jaggery as a sweetener shaped by her family’s recipe. “During Partition, when we moved to India, we rebuilt our lives in cities. In our adoptive homes, the cuisine was inevitably influenced by what the locals ate. For instance, the use of jaggery as a sweetener for sesame laddoos. My mother learnt the recipe from her boss' wife who was Maharashtrian, and a new recipe entered my family kitchen.”

Tirran ja Borinda (Sesame laddoos)
Recipe by Alka Keswani

Makes 20

Ingredients
1 cup sesame seeds
Half cup sugar
One-fourth cup water
Half cup honey
A pinch of salt (less than one-fourth teaspoon)
A few unsalted pistachio or any dry fruit of choice

Method
In a small pan, pour water, add sugar and heat on medium flame to make a syrup. When the syrup forms one-strand consistency, turn off the flame and mix in honey. Let this rest.

Lightly roast the dry fruits separately and keep aside.

In a thick-bottomed and preferably wide pan, toast or dry roast the sesame seeds on low flame, tossing frequently with a spatula to avoid them from getting burnt. The seeds will turn crisp. To check if they have toasted well, crush them between your fingers and they will turn into powder.

Add the warm syrup and salt into the roasted sesame seeds and gently stir to mix. Let this mixture cook on low flame until the syrup changes colour to a few shades darker, and is almost absorbed. At this point, do not stir or else the mixture might lose the sheen. Top up with the lightly toasted dry fruits, but don’t mix them.

Turn off the flame, and place this hot mixture either on a greased plate or parchment paper placed on a plate.

Let it rest. When it is lukewarm, roll a spoonful into a small borinda (ball). Avoid touching when it’s hot to prevent scalding. If it turns completely cold, it will harden, and can be cut into squares like chikki or brittle.

To store the borindas, let them cool completely and pack in airtight containers.