The good ol’ mithai that our nanis and dadis rolled, makes it to the healthy bandwagon, nostalgia intact
A team member at Pune’s Khauwala & Co prepares the laddoos, which are categorised in three ranges: classic, health and sugar-free
A stack of boxes from Khauwala & Co, an online laddoo store, sit on our kitchen platform. A glitzy textured box, the print on it is an old school celebratory illustration that reminds us of childhood, and in turn our nani, who rolled out the best besan laddoos. We dig in for a few bites and are treated to a peanut and khajur ball that has no sugar; the ragi is rolled in jaggery, and the besan laddoo opens a memory box on the palate. The seven-grain laddoo packs in the powerhouse energy of wheat, maize, rice, barley, oats, rye and sorghum.
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Devangi Patankar started Khauwala & Co with her mother Soniya last year to cater to a new-age audience between 35 and 50 years of age that wants to savour Indian mithai, but doesn’t want the baggage of excess sugar. “The laddoo market has seen a sea change. The old school Indian mithai has a new life,” says Patankar, whose mother has curated all the recipes.
The product stays as is in the packet for five months. It has a three-layer packaging with nitro flush technique
Khauwala & Co is an extension arm of Khauwale, a 70-year-old shop on Baji Rao Road, Pune. “It opened as a retail shop in 1950s, right after India’s Independence. Originally called Patankar and Mandali, it sold many items like masalas, pickles and was known for halwyache dagine [sugar jewellery made with sesame seeds and sabudana consumed during Sankranti]. It was the customers who nicknamed the shop Khauwale because my grandfather Vasant Patankar was always indulging them—not letting anyone leave the shop, until they had tried something. ‘Mooh meetha karke jao’, he would tell them.”
In 2014, they also took their business online. The idea for expanding it further, came to Patankar during the lockdown. “My mother had curated over 100 recipes over the years, and the lockdown gave us time to experiment. We thought it would be a good idea to start another brand that would manufacture laddoos in-house, using shudh desi ghee,” she adds. The mithai market is very season specific. “We don’t eat kaju katli every day. It is usually ordered during festivals and special occasions and one cannot consume all of it, due to its short shelf life. All these things were contributing to a growing need for sweets that stay,” says Patankar.
The laddoos are categorised in three ranges: classic, health and sugar-free. “We have customers who are marathon runners. They follow a very strict diet and our products easily fit their specifications,” says Devangi, adding that the laddoos are made on machine belts; this includes grinding, heating, mixing and rolling. The product stays as is in the packet for five months. It has a three-layer packaging with nitro flush technique, which removes oxygen and prevents it from going rancid. “Our laddoos have a feel-good factor without the guilt,” says Patankar.”
Available on: www.khauwala.com, Flipkart, Amazon
Cheat guide
In January 2022, Bombay Sweet Shop launched a line of sweets, calling them Cheat Sweets as they were made using only natural sugars like dates, jaggery and coconut sugar. A cheeky loophole for all your sugar-related New Year resolutions, they said. It hit the nail on the mark, retaining the decadence, but ensuring that we still eat healthy. The box came with nine different sweets, including coffee milk cake with jaggery and coconut sugar, power barfi, and the chocolate khubani peda.
We loved the milk cake that has a contemporary spike of coffee; the power barfi was a high-protein bliss ball of date and nuts sweetened by coconut sugar and figs. That the line played with textures and presentation was an added bonus—puffed amaranth, sesame, poppy and melon seeds were used for garnish. The chocolate khubani peda stood out for us; it is topped with edible gold, and has a layer of chopped apricots between the chocolate peda.
PRICE: Rs 525 onwards
TO ORDER: www.bombaysweetshop.com, Swiggy, Zomato
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