Classic comfort, clever swaps and a fresh take on celebration desserts.

Across South Indian homes, celebrations often announce themselves from the kitchen first. Cardamom is crushed, nuts are roasted, coconut meets jaggery over a low flame, and something fragrant simmers while the rest of the house gets ready. Food becomes part ritual, part memory and part occasion.

That relationship between celebration and the kitchen has always evolved with place. Rice and coconut shaped coastal sweets, jaggery lent depth, milk brought richness, and leaves became wrappers, steamers and carriers of aroma. Family recipes travelled through generations by instinct, adjusted by hand, season and memory.

For plant-based chef and MasterChef India contestant Priya Vijan, adaptation is already part of her own food story. A commerce graduate who went on to run a cloud kitchen for nearly a decade, Priya later moved towards a fully plant-based way of eating for personal health reasons.

“I’ve had my own journey from being a non-vegetarian to a vegetarian and then a vegan,” she says. Today, much of her work revolves around teaching plant-based cooking, creating content and developing recipes around that way of eating.

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RETHINKING THE CLASSICS

That shift encouraged Priya to revisit desserts she already knew rather than abandon them.

“One of my strongest childhood memories is of halwa made with ghee,” she recalls. “I used to love atte ka halwa, and the second was kheer.”

Those were regular fixtures during festive occasions, and she remembers another small detail: “I’m not someone who likes dried fruits in halwa or kheer, so my mother would always keep mine separate.”

Today, almond butter can bring richness to halwa, while almond or coconut milk lends creaminess to kheer. The flavours remain familiar, but the ingredients shift with the way Priya eats now.

For something quick and celebration-ready, she turns to date-and-dry-fruit ladoos. “Take soft dates and dry-roasted nuts and seeds of your choice. Blend them together until the mixture reaches a dough-like consistency, then shape into ladoos. It is simple and quick.”

Priya’s preferred naturally sweet ingredients are dates, raisins, prunes and figs.

“Most of the time, a combination of dates and raisins works really well,” she says, especially in dry Indian sweets, kheer and ladoos. Figs, meanwhile, bring “a slight tartness” that works particularly well in barfis and ladoos.

But she is careful about the language around healthier desserts.

“Just because something contains jaggery or an alternative sugar does not mean you can overdo it and call it healthy,” she says. For Priya, portion size matters just as much as the sweetener itself.

A FESTIVE BOWL, REIMAGINED

Coconut & Date Gajar Halwa

Ingredients

• Grated red carrots
• Coconut milk
• A little coconut oil
• Date paste or date-and-raisin paste
• Nuts and seeds

Method

1. Sauté the carrots in a little coconut oil until softened.
2. Add coconut milk and cook slowly over low heat.
3. Once the carrots are cooked, stir in the fruit paste.
4. Finish with nuts and seeds.

Priya’s tip: “Do not cook it for too long after adding the sweetener.” Add the fruit paste towards the end and cook briefly until the right consistency is reached.

Priya’s approach places technique at the centre. She prefers recipes that are uncomplicated, with slow cooking and careful finishing doing most of the work.

“I have always been someone who doesn’t like lengthy recipes or recipes with too many ingredients,” she says.

Her easiest festive finish is equally simple: “Keep the food simple and finish it with kesar, pista and dried rose petals. Sometimes that is all you need to make a homemade dessert look festive and beautiful.”

KNOW YOUR SWEETENER

• Dates: Add richness and help ladoos hold their shape.
• Raisins: Blend easily with dates into dessert pastes.
• Prunes: One of Priya’s preferred naturally sweet fruit options.
• Figs: Bring a slight tartness and work especially well in barfis and ladoos.
• Priya’s rule: “The amount you consume matters just as much as the kind of sugar you choose.”

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COMFORT, WRAPPED

Priya is especially drawn to steamed desserts.

“What I really love is the idea of steaming desserts,” she says.

One favourite is Patholi, found across the coastal regions of Karnataka and neighbouring parts of India’s western coast. A rice-based mixture, sometimes with jackfruit, is paired with jaggery and coconut before being wrapped in fragrant leaves and steamed.

“It tastes phenomenal to me,” Priya says. “It is warm, comforting and almost feels like a hug.”

That preference says something about the way she approaches festive food more broadly. She is not particularly interested in transforming every classic into something trend-driven.

“I’m not a very big fan of making fusion desserts,” she says. “Personally, I don’t love using too many new ingredients in traditional recipes,” though subtle additions such as lemon zest or pandan can still bring something fresh while staying close to familiar flavours.

There are lesser-known sweets she would like to see receive more attention too. Parwal ki mithai, made by peeling and steaming parwal before filling it, was one such discovery.

“It was something completely new to me when I discovered it,” Priya says, adding that it remains one of those sweets many people may still know very little about.

For festive gifting, meanwhile, practicality matters.

“When it comes to mithai, ladoos are something that can stay well for quite some time,” she says, particularly when they do not contain too much dairy. Stored in an airtight container, they can remain fresh for longer, making them a natural gifting option.

Priya also gravitates towards barfis such as kaju katli and badam katli, which can naturally work within a plant-based spread.

Her quickest dessert advice is refreshingly uncomplicated.

“Add a little salt. It balances and enhances the sweetness.”

“Don’t overdo the ingredients. Keep things simple and minimal.”

And above all, take your time. “Cook on low heat in a heavy-bottomed kadai. It allows every ingredient to cook through properly and brings out the sweetness.”

The final tip has less to do with technique than mood: “Enjoy what you’re cooking. Only then are you really going to be satisfied with what you have made.”

Perhaps that is where tradition feels most alive: familiar flavours moving with the times while keeping their warmth, fragrance and sense of togetherness.

A few thoughtful shifts can give an old favourite a fresh place at the table while preserving the feeling that made it special.

As Priya puts it: “Enjoy the festivities, but don’t overdo the sweets.”