Khurma: A Traditional Nepali Diwali Snack
Khurma: A Traditional Nepali Diwali Snack
A dear friend returned from Nepal after spending Diwali with his family. When he arrived, he brought with him a small tin of homemade Khurma — golden, crisp, and delicately sweet. What touched me most wasn’t just the taste, but the gesture. Even with so little, they shared what they had, embodying the true spirit of Diwali — giving from the heart.
Khurma is a traditional Nepali festive snack, made with simple ingredients to form a dough which is fried till perfectly crisp. What was even more fascinating was the wafer-like shape.
Ingredients
½ cup rice flour
½ cup cake wheat flour
½ cup semolina (sooji)
1½ Tbsp ghee
2 Tbsp jaggery powder (or sweetener of choice)
Just under ½ cup room-temperature water
Ghee or oil for frying
Cardamom-sugar or ground rock sugar, for coating
Method
In a mixing bowl, combine the flours and ghee. Rub together with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Stir in the jaggery powder or sweetener.
Gradually add water and knead into a soft, pliable dough.
Divide the dough into 32 equal pieces and roll each into a small ball.
Flatten each ball into a thin circle using your palms.
Gently press each circle onto a ridged surface (like a clean piece of corrugated cardboard) to imprint a pattern.
Starting from one edge, roll the circle into a tight wafer-like coil.
Deep fry in medium-hot coconut oil or ghee until crisp and golden.
Drain on a paper towel and let cool slightly.
Toss in cardamom-sugar or dust with finely ground rock sugar.
Serving suggestion: as a wafer with ice-cream or shrikhand.
