7 Holi Recipes to Celebrate the Coming of Spring
For a lot of food people, spring means the emergence of green garlic, ramps, or curlicued fiddlehead ferns at the farmers’ market. For me it doesn’t feel like spring until it’s Holi.
Known as the celebration of colors, spring, and love, Holi has long been a favorite holiday, a time to welcome in a new season and spread some joy. Traditions vary across the Hindu diaspora, but a centerpiece of Holi, which falls on March 28 and 29 this year, is the game of colors. When there isn’t a global pandemic, people gather in the streets, parks, and other outdoor spaces to play, smearing colored powder or water on each other. It’s a symbolic act of repairing broken relationships (and creating new ones) or marking the victory of good over evil. And it’s pure, messy fun.
As a kid I was terrified of Holi games (I was shy!), but as an adult I’ve considered it an occasion to get to know my wider community. I’ve helped organize Holi dance shows, food drives, and children’s events, ordering boatloads of chaat, making blenders full of lassi, and filling hundreds of balloons with colored water. I love playing a role in something that brings people together, which is why, for years, I dreamed of going to one Holi event in particular: chef Preeti Mistry’s blowout bash in Oakland, California. Their Holi celebration commemorated the anniversary of their acclaimed restaurant Juhu Beach Club with stuffed puris, fun drinks, and an all-out game of colors. Mistry’s Holi party was beloved by the community. “As a queer-owned business, we basically co-opted the word love,” jokes Mistry. “Love wins. Love is love. It’s ours. So we get the festival of love.”
When Mistry closed the restaurant in 2018, I thought I lost my chance to try the menu specials they rolled out each year for the holiday. Then the idea for this story came about. With so many people stuck at home this year, we asked Mistry to create a vibrant, springy, veg-forward Holi menu that feels festive and can be flexible to feed however many people you’re able to celebrate with. “Holi is not conducive to a sit-down, coursed meal or a buffet—it’s more like finger food. And when you’re doing finger foods, you want intense flavors that are spicy, salty, and rich,” Mistry says. “Those are indicative of a really fun party.”
Photograph by Heami Lee, food styling by Frances Boswell, prop styling by Sophie Strangio1/8Burnt Masala Wings
Photograph by Heami Lee, food styling by Frances Boswell, prop styling by Sophie Strangio2/8Spring Vegetable Bhajia
Photograph by Heami Lee, food styling by Frances Boswell, prop styling by Sophie Strangio3/8Bombay Sandwich
Photograph by Heami Lee, food styling by Frances Boswell, prop styling by Sophie Strangio4/8Dahi Puri
“These are the perfect party snacks. They’re light, look really nice with sev [crunchy chickpea noodles] and chutneys on top, plus you can set it up as a DIY serving style—with a little bowl of potatoes, a little bowl of chickpeas—so people can assemble it themselves,” they say. “If you want to do the distanced thing, you can make individual plates for people.”
Photograph by Heami Lee, food styling by Frances Boswell, prop styling by Sophie Strangio5/8Sweet & Salty Mango Lassi
Mistry prefers their lassis not too sweet—and sometimes salty-savory like Gujarati chaas made with buttermilk. This recipe walks the perfect balance, mixing cumin and black salt with mint, mango, and lime. It’s a refreshing drink, and Mistry suggests “adding a little white rum if that’s your thing.”
Photograph by Heami Lee, food styling by Frances Boswell, prop styling by Sophie Strangio6/8Mint, Scallion, and Cilantro Chutney
“In the past, I liked to focus chutneys on singular flavors. I’d make a cilantro chutney and a mint chutney—but for this menu, I thought, Let’s just pack a lot of exciting flavor in there. Let’s deluxe it,” Mistry says. Make a batch and spread it on the Bombay sandwiches, drizzle over the dahi puri, and eat with bhajia as a dip.
Photograph by Heami Lee, food styling by Frances Boswell, prop styling by Sophie Strangio7/8Beet Halwa
Illustration by Amrita Marino8/8Celebrate Holi at Home
1. Prepare your color palette.
We love Jai Jai Hooray Holi Powder, which is non-toxic and washable. You can pour the colored powder on thalis or small trays, like Mistry did at Juhu Beach Club, or mix with water to fill up water balloons or small spray bottles to play the game of colors.2. Wear white.
The bright colors pop on white, but anything goes—Mistry remembers there was “at least one goth-punk sous chef who insisted on wearing all black” at their Holi parties.3. Set the mood.
Find a parking lot, a large backyard, a rooftop, or an open field, because things can get messy. Search for a Holi playlist on whatever music streaming platform you use—if you’re having trouble choosing, you can’t go wrong with anything labelled “Bollywood hits.”4. Snack accordingly.
You can either serve food before or after the game of colors. We prefer eating first, but if you’re feasting after the game, prep everything ahead and have your feast outside or lay down some newspapers inside to reduce the chances of powder getting everywhere.5. Improvise if you need to!
- Can’t get outside? Consider buying colorful streamers or ribbons and have an indoor dance party.
- Need something more social-distance friendly? Have every household buy their own tie-dye kits to create colorful new shirts or socks.
- Worried about mess? Buy fun chalk and draw colorful designs on driveways or sidewalks instead.
