How it started
One of my favourite festivals growing up in Guyana was Phagwa (or Holi as the rest of the world has come to know it). Some of my fondest memories of my childhood were memories of playing Holi with my friends and family. The thrill of catching someone and smearing coloured powder on them or dunking a bucket of water over their head was exhilarating, better than all the candies in the world! Equally thrilling, was evading someone bent on catching you! And the food! Goja, mithai, sugar cakes. I loved them all.
I really missed the spectacle of it all when we moved to Canada twenty odd years ago (Gods, I feel old just typing that!). But over the years, I’ve noticed that here in Canada, Holi has moved from being something that only a few people quietly knew about to becoming part of the public consciousness of the population and I am totally here for it! I like that more people are aware of it, sharing in it and curious about it. Even our Prime Minister has played Holi! I’m glad to have friends and family here that I can play Holi with even if it wasn’t something that they grew up with. And I am profoundly grateful to have people in my life who are open to trying these things with me.
Also I really couldn’t wait to introduce Dave to Holi! 😈 Muhahaha! ❤️🧡💛💚💜💙🖤
What is Holi
Okay, time for a disclaimer here. I grew up in Guyana. Our rituals are probably very different from those in other parts of the world. Having said that, the general principles around Holi are pretty universal. Holi, also known as the “Festival of colours” is the celebration of the triumph of good over evil and the beginning of spring. All good things to celebrate, eh? You can learn more about Holi here.
There are many ways to celebrate Holi but the main one that you’ve probably seen is the free-for-all colour war. Everyone tries to cover each other with coloured powders and splash colours on each other using water balloons or water guns. Did I mention it’s a riot?
How we did it
First, you’ll need some old or cheap clothes because you won’t want to mess up any of your fancy threads. As this was his first Holi, I ordered plain white Kurta tops for Dave and myself.
As for the coloured powders, you can find the coloured powders in your local neighbourhood stores or you can order some from Amazon or Etsy like we did.
Then, just have some fun with it! Get the whole family involved and see who can stay the cleanest amongst you!
If the weather is warm where you are, you may want to take the celebrations outside - less clean-up and more room for fun. 😉
If, however, it’s just barely warming up to above zero degrees where you are, you might want to stay indoors - all those layers of coat, hat and scarf that you will need to stay warm will hamper celebrations plus they’ll all need a good wash when it’s over. Since I wasn’t inclined to have to wash my coat, I bought some plastic tablecloths and covered the floor and the furniture with them. Clean-up afterwards was just a matter of carefully rolling up the plastic and throwing them out.
As for the coloured powders, you can find the coloured powders in your local neighbourhood stores or you can order some from Amazon or Etsy like we did.
Then, just have some fun with it! Get the whole family involved and see who can stay the cleanest amongst you!
If the weather is warm where you are, you may want to take the celebrations outside - less clean-up and more room for fun. 😉
If, however, it’s just barely warming up to above zero degrees where you are, you might want to stay indoors - all those layers of coat, hat and scarf that you will need to stay warm will hamper celebrations plus they’ll all need a good wash when it’s over. Since I wasn’t inclined to have to wash my coat, I bought some plastic tablecloths and covered the floor and the furniture with them. Clean-up afterwards was just a matter of carefully rolling up the plastic and throwing them out.
What we drank and ate
Thandai Drink
I’m aware that some traditional versions of this drink might be too adult for the kids so here’s our kid-friendly version. You’ll need:
- 12 blanched almonds
- 12 raw cashews
- 10 raw shelled pistachios
- ¼ tsp white poppy seeds
- 10-12 raisins
- ¾ tsp pink peppercorn
- 10 pods of cardamom
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Rose petals (did you know you can buy dried rose petals on Amazon?! 🤯)
- 500ml Whole milk - or any kind of milk that suits you. You can also use any non-dairy milk as well.
- ¼ cup sugar
- Pinch of saffron
- ½ tsp rosewater
- 12 blanched almonds
- 12 raw cashews
- 10 raw shelled pistachios
- ¼ tsp white poppy seeds
- 10-12 raisins
- ¾ tsp pink peppercorn
- 10 pods of cardamom
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Rose petals (did you know you can buy dried rose petals on Amazon?! 🤯)
- 500ml Whole milk - or any kind of milk that suits you. You can also use any non-dairy milk as well.
- ¼ cup sugar
- Pinch of saffron
- ½ tsp rosewater
1. Soak the cashews, pistachios, almonds and poppy seeds in a little bit of water overnight.
2. Grind the nuts, poppy seeds, peppercorn, cardamom, cinnamon, raisins and rose petals with a little bit of water into a smooth paste. You can use a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder.
3. Stir the saffron into a couple tablespoons of warm milk and set aside.
4. Warm the rest of the milk on medium heat until it comes to a slight boil. This should take about 10 minutes.
5. Lower the heat and add the spice paste.
6. Whisk together. You could also try using a hand blender to blend everything together.
7. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
8. Remove from heat and add the saffron milk. Set aside for 30-60 minutes.
9. Stir in the rosewater and chill for a couple of hours or overnight.
10. Strain the mixture, pour into glasses, garnish with rose petals and enjoy!
This was SO good. It's like dessert in a glass. It's the only way I'll drink milk from now on!
Coconut Gujiya
Back home in Guyana, this sweet treat is made with shredded coconut, ginger, sugar and cardamom wrapped in dough and deep fried. And we called it “goja”. This year, I wanted to try making this myself. We didn’t have the benefit of having my mom come over to show us how to make it so I looked up some recipes online.
Turns out there are a lot of varying recipe versions out there! The recipe we ended up going with was this one with a few modifications. We really didn’t know what we were doing at all - it could so easily have been a disaster! 😆
The ingredients are:
- For the dough
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 2 cups of flour
- For the filing
- ¾ cups of shredded coconut
- ½ cup of chopped almonds
- ½ cup of chopped raisins
- ½ cup of water
- ¼ tsp of cinnamon
- few pods of cardamom
- 1” of fresh ginger cut into small thin pieces
- For the syrup
- ½ cup of sugar
- 4 tbsp of water
- a few pods of cardamom
- 1” of fresh ginger cut into small thin pieces
1. First we melted the butter and mixed it into the flour.
2. Then we added water a little at a time, while kneading, until we got a firm dough.
3. We covered the dough with a damp paper towel and set it aside for about 20 minutes.
4. Next we toasted the coconut and almonds over low heat until they started to turn a pale reddish colour. This we set aside to cool.
5.In the same pot (because who wants to do more dishes?) we heated, on low heat, the sugar and water. We added some ginger pieces and cardamom pods and let the mixture thicken slightly.
6. Then we added the coconut, almonds, cinnamon, and raisins. After mixing thoroughly, we set it aside.
7. To begin to assemble the gujiya, I took little golf-ball sizes of dough and rolled them out into about 6 inch circles.
8. I put between 1 teaspoon and ½ tablespoon of the filling onto each circle. I wet the edges of the circle with a little water then folded the circles into half-moons, sealing the edges. The one consistent instruction in all the recipes was to make sure that the gujiyas were completely sealed because if you don’t, when you fry them the filling will spill out into the oil. You can lightly press the tines of a fork into the edges for a little fancier touch. Not all of ours were so pretty but hey, we cut ourselves some slack with this being our first ever attempt.
9. The recipes called for deep frying the gujiyas but instead we opted to shallow fry them in about 2 inches of oil until golden brown all around.
10. You can enjoy the gujiyas just as is at this point but we took it another step further. We made a syrup and coated the gujiyas.
11. All the syrup ingredients were heated, on low heat, until thickened.
12. When the syrup is cooled, you can check that it’s the right consistency by dipping your forefinger into the syrup, pressing your forefinger to your thumb then separating. When you separate them, there should be a thin string of sugar connecting your fingers.
13. Coat the gujiyas in the syrup and enjoy. We found these were best eaten warm.
Turns out there are a lot of varying recipe versions out there! The recipe we ended up going with was this one with a few modifications. We really didn’t know what we were doing at all - it could so easily have been a disaster! 😆
The ingredients are:
- For the dough
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 2 cups of flour
- For the filing
- ¾ cups of shredded coconut
- ½ cup of chopped almonds
- ½ cup of chopped raisins
- ½ cup of water
- ¼ tsp of cinnamon
- few pods of cardamom
- 1” of fresh ginger cut into small thin pieces
- For the syrup
- ½ cup of sugar
- 4 tbsp of water
- a few pods of cardamom
- 1” of fresh ginger cut into small thin pieces
1. First we melted the butter and mixed it into the flour.
2. Then we added water a little at a time, while kneading, until we got a firm dough.
3. We covered the dough with a damp paper towel and set it aside for about 20 minutes.
4. Next we toasted the coconut and almonds over low heat until they started to turn a pale reddish colour. This we set aside to cool.
5.In the same pot (because who wants to do more dishes?) we heated, on low heat, the sugar and water. We added some ginger pieces and cardamom pods and let the mixture thicken slightly.
6. Then we added the coconut, almonds, cinnamon, and raisins. After mixing thoroughly, we set it aside.
7. To begin to assemble the gujiya, I took little golf-ball sizes of dough and rolled them out into about 6 inch circles.
8. I put between 1 teaspoon and ½ tablespoon of the filling onto each circle. I wet the edges of the circle with a little water then folded the circles into half-moons, sealing the edges. The one consistent instruction in all the recipes was to make sure that the gujiyas were completely sealed because if you don’t, when you fry them the filling will spill out into the oil. You can lightly press the tines of a fork into the edges for a little fancier touch. Not all of ours were so pretty but hey, we cut ourselves some slack with this being our first ever attempt.
9. The recipes called for deep frying the gujiyas but instead we opted to shallow fry them in about 2 inches of oil until golden brown all around.
10. You can enjoy the gujiyas just as is at this point but we took it another step further. We made a syrup and coated the gujiyas.
11. All the syrup ingredients were heated, on low heat, until thickened.
12. When the syrup is cooled, you can check that it’s the right consistency by dipping your forefinger into the syrup, pressing your forefinger to your thumb then separating. When you separate them, there should be a thin string of sugar connecting your fingers.
13. Coat the gujiyas in the syrup and enjoy. We found these were best eaten warm.
Gathered ingredients for dough
Firm dough ball
Shredded coconut
Chopped almonds
Toasted coconut and almonds
Shallow frying the gujiyas
Golden brown gujiyas
Syrup with ginger and coriander
Gulab Jamun and Milk Cakes
I’m well aware that not everyone has the luxury of time or even the patience to always make everything from scratch. And sometimes, it’s just easier and stress free to buy some delicious sweets from a local bakery/restaurant. In Brampton, we like Asian Food Centre.
How it turned out
Dave loved his first experience with Holi! He was a good sport for putting up with all our shenanigans. And I loved sharing with Dave something from my childhood, my culture.
I am a firm believer that sharing our cultures, and being open to each other’s, makes us better human beings. It not only expands our own experiences, it builds in us a sense of togetherness. Coming together to celebrate in these various little ways is how we grow and live a life of joy and adventure. Happy Holi to everyone who’s celebrating!
