Garhwali Arsa

Fried rice and jaggery sweet — a thick paste of soaked and coarsely ground rice mixed with melted jaggery, shaped into flat rounds, and deep-fried in oil until golden and puffed, the exterior crispy and the interior dense and chewy. The jaggery caramelises during frying, giving the arsa a dark, almost burnt-sugar bitterness that contrasts with the sweet interior. Made for Makar Sankranti, Diwali, and the Harela harvest festival — a central Indian mountain sweet found in variations from Garhwal to Chhattisgarh.