Hi!

I grew up in a English working class city, one where English culture (chip shops, carpeted pubs, newspaper agents with pick ‘n mix sweets lining the walls) overlapped with an array of immigrant cultures from all over the globe. South Asian immigrants made up a large part of the population in Leicester, and still do, and the curry shops, Indian takeaways, and Pakistani ingredient shops are as much part of my memory of Leicester as anything else.

I tell you this because when I was growing up, my defining food memories and the things I crave out of nostalgia from Leicester are first Cadbury chocolate, then South Asian cuisine. Pakoras and samosas and curries and chutney and biryani and gulab jamun and paratha. My mom in particular — and her best friends who we grew up going out to eat with — found great pleasure and excitement in eating anything but pub food. Somewhere along the way, I inherited this imperative need to eat literally anything but pub food.

As a vegetarian, South Asian cuisine is some of the most accessible and delicious food on earth to me. And as a girl with a devastatingly powerful sweet tooth, South Asian sweets — commonly known as mithai — are my kryptonite. I love the syrups and milkiness and the richness and the fudge-y textures and the colors and delicate decoration. I’m a sucker for a South Asian mithai/mishti shop and the bright colors of all the confections laid out in neat, ordered cases.

It’s no surprise that getting to make katli and burfi, two of the heavy hitters of the Indian mithai category, was an especially thrilling experience for me. I had long believed that I didn’t quite have the tools or the knowledge to pull off such complicated candy making — but with the help of my friend, writer and cookbook author, Khushbu Shah, making these sweets turned out to be a dream.

Khushbu and I have known each other for many years and her cookbook Amrikan is a perfect marriage of Indian/South Asian flavors and techniques with an Indian-American diasporic perspective. Shah encourages you to employ the tools at your disposal to access Indian cuisine, which is why this katli is made with almond flour and the burfi is made with Nutella. Genius!

For Saturday’s penultimate Pastry Passport entry, we’ll be selling two-packs of mithai for $6. One slice of Nutella burfi and one slice of cardamom-scented almond katli. Best enjoyed with a cup of milky chai.

I had the pleasure of talking to Khushbu about what defines Indian and South Asian sweets. Read more below and come in from 9am to get yours!

Downtime Bakery: Tell me a bit about yourself and background.

Khushbu Shah: I am a child of the Food Network generation, which is how I first got interested in cooking. I am the former restaurant editor at Food & Wine, and the author of AMRIKAN: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora. I currently write freelance for a number of publications and run my newsletter, Tap Is Fine!, which is all about food culture. And [I’m] plotting a million more things!

DTB: What is your relationship to katli and burfi? Do you have a favorite confectioner in America that sells them? 

KS: There are many styles of katli and burfi all around South Asia! They've always been one of my favorite sweets. I remember when my uncle from India would bring us boxes from the best sweets shop in my parents' hometown. I love Surti Farsan in Artesia for sweets and Rajbhog in Jersey City! 

DTB: What makes katli and burfi so special? How should it taste? What is the perfect version of both of these sweets? 

They're the perfect intro South Asian sweets! They should have a smooth fudge-y texture, with a gentle fatty mouthfeel thanks to the ghee. They also tend to take on the flavor of the dominant ingredient (like Nutella or cashew) with a slight caramelized edge. 

DTB: Tell us what you wish people understood about baking and cooking from South Asia. What makes it special?

Most of Asia tends to value the concept of "not too sweet." South Asians are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Our desserts pack a sweet punch but are also compact in size and tend to be more dense in texture. We love deeply sweet things! Just in smaller shapes and sizes.

Also, South Asian desserts are most frequently made from nuts, sugar, and ghee, and often some type of flour (but not always all-purpose flour.) Eggs and leavening agents like baking soda and baking powder are not that common, so you won't find a lot of fluffy or cake-y desserts. Chocolate is also a rare ingredient. We also don't use ovens for most sweets and they are either cooked on the stovetop or fried. But there's such an incredible variety of flavors and textures! South Asian sweets are often very beautiful. too, with decorations like edible silver foil. 

DTB: Anything in particular that you want to plug or shoutout?

KS: Follow me on instagram for more antics: instagram.com/khushandoj