Rasawal: A Dessert that's Meant to be Shared

Sugarcane and rice is slow-cooked for hours over a wood fire to create a little-known, soulful dessert called rasawal. As these unique recipes slowly disappear from her North Indian Muslim Syed family, Laraib Fatima Warsi embarks on a journey to preserve, document and revive them. Find her other recipes, here, and here.

Chilly winter mornings in my ancestral home often have my mother and Razia Baji, our family helper, stirring sugarcane juice and rice in a large pot. I was given the onerous responsibility of chopping cashews, pistachios, almonds and raisins to be added to the dessert.  

Made with sugarcane, rice, dry fruits and khoya, rasawal is not a very well-known dessert. Making it is laborious — it cooks slowly over a firewood for upto 6 hours. I remember waiting for it impatiently as it was ladled out to us in large bowls, after being left to cook all night. For me, rasawal is something that strengthens a feeling of community. Whenever it was cooked at home, it was always shared with friends and neighbours. 

Even today, my mother cooks rasawal at least once every winter. It is basically a sweet and soulful kheer made with sugarcane juice and rice. She says she makes that rather long-winded dessert only to keep its recipe alive. For me, rasawal cooking slowly in a clay pot is an enduring legacy. It is eaten as an indulgent end to a hearty winter meal and can be stored for many days to be savoured slowly. 

My father says, “Mashkaliya and rasawal are like memories from a bygone era; a reminder of how food connects us to our heritage, the seasons, and the stories of those who came before us.” 

Each dish carries with it a story, a memory, and a piece of the past. My grandmother used to say — the act of cooking becomes a ritual. For me, these dishes are no longer just winter delicacies but have become a symbol of my family’s shared history and the stories that I hope will live on through my hands. 

Rasawal is slow cooked for hours over a wood fire.

The final dessert is a sweet and soulful kheer.

Recipe for Rasawal 

Ingredients
2 tsp phitkari (also known as alum, or potassium alum, a mineral salt)
1 kg khoya
1 kg rice (thin or small-grained rice is preferable)
Dry fruits (cashews, pistachios, almonds and raisins – as per choice)
10-15 litres sugarcane juice

Method
In a pan, add the sugarcane juice on the firewood stove on high flame, so that the foam created by the sugarcane juice collects on the upper surface. Now add in the alum and keep stirring it so that the foam changes its colour from black to light brown. 
Meanwhile, pre-soak the rice in water for an hour.
Once the juice turns brown, add in the rice and keep stirring for 10-15 minutes to allow the rice to cook.
Now when the rice and sugarcane are fully cooked and tender, add the khoya, and finally the dry fruits to garnish.
Serve it in a clay bowl.

Laraib Fatima Warsi is an independent journalist who is fascinated by people, facts and events. She hopes to change the world, one word at a time. 

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