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Diwali, frequently referred to as the festival of lights, is a celebration of good over evil. This is the most broadly observed festival in India and feels a bit like the Western Christmas season. Diwali is characterized by fireworks, brilliant shades, endless parties and dining surfaces groaning under the sheer weight of food and desserts. No Diwali is whole without boxes of sweets and dried fruit passed around friends and family. In the UK, we keep those traditions alive, wearing traditional clothes, attending religious sites, reading Indian mythology to the children and, above all, assembling with pals from every background and religion. In my view, the festival centers on unity and offering dishes that feels special, but doesn’t require you in the cooking area for extended periods. The bread pudding is my interpretation of the decadent shahi tukda, while the ladoos are perfect to gift or to enjoy with a cup of chai after the meal.

Easy Ladoos (Pictured Top)

Ladoos are one of the most famous Indian confections, alongside gulab jamuns and jalebis. Picture an Indian halwai’s shop filled with sweets of every shape, colour and size, all expertly crafted and abundantly coated with clarified butter. Ladoos commonly hold a prominent position, establishing them as a top selection of gift during auspicious occasions or for presenting to divine figures at places of worship. This particular recipe is one of the simplest, needing only a few components, and is ready quickly.

Prep a brief 10 minutes
Cook 50 minutes plus chilling
Makes 15 to 20

110 grams of ghee
9 ounces of chickpea flour
a quarter teaspoon of cardamom powder
1 pinch saffron (as an option)
2 ounces of assorted nuts, heated and broken into pieces
180 to 200 grams of granulated sugar, as per liking

Liquefy the clarified butter in a Teflon-coated pan on a medium heat. Turn down the heat, mix in the chickpea flour and heat, while stirring continuously to combine it with the melted ghee and to prevent it from sticking or burning. Persist with cooking and blending for 30-35 minutes. Initially, the mix will resemble moist granules, but with further heating and mixing, it will transform into a peanut butter-like texture and smell wonderfully nutty. Avoid hurrying the process, or neglect the mixture, because it can burn very easily, and the gentle heating is critical for the characteristic, nutty flavour of the sweet balls.

Turn off the heat and take the pan, blend the cardamom and saffron, if added, then set aside to cool until moderately warm on contact.

Add the nuts and sugar to the room temperature ladoo mix, mix thoroughly, then pull apart little portions and roll between your palms into 15 to 20 balls of 4cm. Place these on a dish separated a bit and leave to cool to ambient temperature.

You can now serve the sweets promptly, or store them in an airtight container and maintain at room temperature for about seven days.

Indian Bread Pudding

This draws inspiration from Hyderabad’s shahi tukda, a recipe that is usually prepared by frying bread in ghee, then soaking it in a thick, rich rabdi, which is made by boiling rich milk for an extended period until it condenses to a reduced quantity from the start. This adaptation is a better-for-you, straightforward and speedy version that needs much less attention and enables the oven to take over the task.

Prep a quick 10 minutes
Cook 1 hour or more
Serves 4 to 6

12 slices stale white bread, crusts removed
100g ghee, or heated butter
1 liter of whole milk
A 397-gram tin condensed milk
5 ounces of sugar, or as preferred
1 pinch saffron, steeped in 30ml of milk
a quarter teaspoon of cardamom powder, or the seeds from 2 pods, crushed
a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg powder (optional)
40g almonds, broken into pieces
40g raisins

Trim the bread into triangular shapes, spread all but a teaspoon of the ghee on both faces of each piece, then arrange the triangles as they sit in a buttered, about 8x12 inches, rectangular baking dish.

In a large bowl, beat the milk, sweetened milk and sugar until the sugar melts, then stir in the saffron and the liquid it steeped in, the spices including cardamom and nutmeg, if included. Transfer the milk blend consistently across the bread in the dish, so it all gets soaked, then leave to steep for 10 to 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6.

Heat the pudding for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a pick stuck into the center comes out clean.

At the same time, heat the leftover ghee in a small skillet on moderate flame, then fry the almonds until lightly browned. Turn off the heat, add the raisins and leave them to cook in the residual heat, stirring constantly, for 60 seconds. Sprinkle the nut and raisin mix over the pudding and offer heated or cooled, plain as it is or with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.