Mawa kachori and the other nut-heavy sweets of Jaipur, and how to fill them at home

We sell the nuts, not the sweets. But in Jaipur a good share of the kaju, badam and pista people buy ends up inside a sweet, so here is what goes where.

Where mawa kachori comes from

Mawa kachori is usually credited to Jodhpur, and Jodhpur still makes a claim to the best of it. It travelled across Rajasthan long ago, and Jaipur’s sweet shops have made it their own. In Jaipur it is sold alongside the pyaaz kachori the city is known for, one savoury and one sweet.

The sweet version is heavy by design. The pastry is short with ghee, the filling is mawa roasted until it smells nutty, and the syrup soaks into the crust. The dry fruits are there for bite, because without them the filling is one soft texture from edge to edge.

The dry fruits in Jaipur’s best-known sweets

Ghevar is the one Jaipur is proudest of in the monsoon, around Teej. Moong dal halwa belongs to winter and to weddings. Churma comes with dal baati on any day of the year.

Which grade of nut to buy for a sweet

Most of these recipes chop the nuts, so there is no reason to pay for large whole kernels.

• Kaju: Kaju Tukda is the same cashew as the whole grades, already in pieces, and costs less. Our guide to kaju grades explains why.
• Badam: Regular Badam for chopping into the filling. For a garnish that has to look neat, Badam Katran is already sliced thin.
• Pista: Pista Katran is cut into fine slivers, and that is the green you see on top of a kachori or ghevar. Slicing whole pista at home that thin takes a long time.
• Kishmish: Kishmish (Lambi Dakh), the long green raisin, holds its shape in a hot filling better than a soft one.

Charoli (chironji) is a good addition to a kachori filling if you have it. It is small, needs no chopping, and gives a soft nutty crunch.

A home mawa kachori, with the amounts

This makes about twelve medium kachoris. Mawa, maida, ghee and sugar are not things we stock; buy them fresh from your dairy and grocer.

For the filling

• 250 g mawa (khoya), crumbled
• 100 g powdered sugar or bura
• 25 g kaju, chopped
• 25 g badam, chopped
• 15 g pista, chopped
• 25 g kishmish
• 1 teaspoon green elaichi powder

For the pastry and syrup

• 250 g maida with 60 g ghee rubbed in, and cold water to bind
• 250 g sugar with 125 ml water, boiled to one-string syrup
• Ghee or oil for frying

1. Roast the mawa in a dry pan on low heat until it turns a shade darker and smells nutty. Let it cool fully before adding sugar, or the sugar melts and the filling runs.
2. Stir in the nuts, kishmish and elaichi. Roll into twelve balls.
3. Rub the ghee into the maida until it holds together when pressed. Bind to a firm dough and rest for twenty minutes.
4. Flatten a portion of dough, place a filling ball in it, seal and press gently into a round.
5. Fry on low heat, slowly, until golden. A high flame browns the outside and leaves the inside raw, and the pastry will not flake.
6. Dip in warm syrup, lift out, and finish with pista slivers.

Buying for a Jaipur kitchen

Because most of these sweets are made in winter and for festivals, the nuts often sit in a cupboard for months first. Buy close to when you cook. Chopped and slivered nuts go stale faster than whole ones, because more of the surface is exposed.

Our nuts shelf has every grade side by side, and today’s dry fruit prices in Jaipur are on the city page. Orders to Jaipur usually arrive in one to three days. Delivery is free on every order, and orders start at ₹1,000.

Questions people ask