Winter in the Desert

Carrot Halwa....Seriously Good Winter Treat

Jelabi with Warm Milk/Lassi

Grinding sesame Seeds for Tilkuta

Weighing our Tilkuta

Gazak Shop Owner and his Goods

Sporting Ikat-patterned Sari
with Auntie-Cardigan

While I’ve been busy at work conducting an intensive week of training, winter has come to the desert…and, I hope, gone away.  The first week I was living in Jaipur I got a great laugh out of someone’s comment that some students quit coming to college lectures in January because it was too cold.  You have to remember that it was 100 degrees at the time he said that, and I couldn’t imagine it ever being cold at all.  Well, I was wrong!  At the beginning of this week we saw near freezing temperatures, and while that’s a spring day in Iowa, when there is no central heating, it’s a damn cold night in Jaipur.  It means spending the evening hours close to or under thick quilts and perhaps a space heater.  It also means sporting a cardigan with your sari, which really brings out the "Auntie" look in me, sad to say.  Luckily, after 4-5 days, we saw very pleasant temperatures yesterday and today, so I’m going to assume the cold weather is gone until I’m notified otherwise.   

There are some concessions to be had in winter, however.  Many of the trees, shrubs, and flowers only bloom during the winter months here, so there’s that beauty.  There are several types of lovely woolen shawls you can wrap yourself in, and that’s fun, for a while, until it’s just cold again. There is some great produce in season now, like huge pomegranates, oranges, and red carrots.  Finally, I’m pleased to say there are several yummy dishes that are made only in winter, to warm you up, I guess.  My favorite is Gajar Halwa, carrot Halwa, which is a sweet concoction of carrots, cardamom, sugar, and ghee, which makes everything just a little more delicious and a lot more fattening.  It’s a labor-intensive recipe that requires cooking it over the heat for some hours, but it’s worth the effort.  Check out the photo, and imagine it melting on your tongue.  It’s got my vote for best dessert in India, so far anyway.  There is also the excellent jelabi, which is like a small funnel cake that is fried in oil then dipped in a simple sugar syrup.  It’s served with warm milk [no thanks!], again to combat the cold. 

Today I had some incredibly delicious snack called tilkuta, which is made by grinding sesame seeds, then adding dried fruit, honey, coconut, and cardamom. [See picture of guy grinding up the goodness.] Its cousin, the drier gazak, [rather like sesame seed and honey peanut brittle, but lots better]is also featured this time of the year. Specifically it’s a treat on the Kite Festival, which will be next Monday.  We stopped on the way home from work at a special gazak shop, and Abhas sampled and purchased several varieties.  Tomorrow we are off to the kite shop to get our kites so we can join the thousands of others flying kites on Monday.  It’s a holiday from work so I’m all about the kites!  Stay tuned for pics and a report on the winner of the family’s kite flying contest.