The Parsi who loves Makar Sankranti til ladus

Added: On reading this, many told me black sesame is better than white on health and taste aspects.

It was after 19 years of being married that I realised last year that K loves the til laddus (til gud) had on Makar Sankranti in Maharashtra. The signs were almost there. Her mama would often get her bags of til ladus but I had never connected the dots.

I decided to score brownie points this year by ordering some for her, but none of the Maharashtrian restaurants I saw on Swiggy seemed to be offering these. 

I then got in touch with @motheromalvan on Insta DM who said that they had til ladus. I ordered for two packs on phone, paid through Gpay and they sent it through wefast and I paid the rider.

When I gave them to K she said, ‘oh, these are black. These are not til guds. I am sorry you ordered it. I will have a couple.’

I was about to take my afternoon nap and again scrolled through Swiggy but to no avail.

When I woke up, K told me with a smile, ‘these are really good quality. Nice, fresh and tasty.’ She had them through the evening. I ran out and took a pic of the ladus in the #cafemaharani once they were approved by K.

I heaved a sigh of relief. When I checked the menu later, I saw that they had specified ‘black sesame.’ Plus peanuts and sesame. 

@motheromalvan is an initiative of Surekha Walke who had earlier brought her Chaitanya Restaurant to Mumbai which has become a crowd favourite for Malvani food here since. Through @motheromalvan she offers snacks, sweets and spices made in Malvan by her family in Mumbai and originally started by her mother! I’ve tried their range of ladus before and they are amazing. Neatly packed in packs with zip locks. These were 100 Rs per 100g pack. She retails them at their restaurant or you could try calling and ordering them in.

I’d interviewed Surekha ji for #foodocracyforher and you should listen to her amazing story: https://youtu.be/e20hLDuGPNo