If there were ever a dish that brought back young childhood memories of growing up in a Hindu home, it would have to be parsad. We had so many jhandis and poojas in my house that making parsad in the kitchen became a norm. This bread pudding-like dessert is something that is only available at these types of Hindu religious functions; it cannot be found at a local roti shop. Makes it all the more desirable. I remember attending countless numbers of jhandis as a young girl and usually by the end; I was so hungry that I couldn't wait for the brown paper bags to be distributed, because I knew parsad would be inside. I know I can't possibly be the only one who has felt this way, right?
Many of you who have never attended a jhandi might be wondering what the heck I am talking about. Well, in short, jhandis are Hindu religious ceremonies, where devotees pay adoration to Hindu deities by offering mantras (often facilitated by a priest or swami), flowers, fruits, and homemade sweets. These ceremonies usually last anywhere from 2-4 hours and are attended by family and friends of the person hosting the jhandi. Once the ceremony is over, guests are offered a vegetarian meal and a variety of sweets usually packaged in brown paper bags. One of the main sweets in the bag is this glorious parsad I speak of.
The highlight of the "after-jhandi" for me was the paper-bagged sweets. There were usually two zip-loc bags inside; the ugly stepchild, which was the bag that was filled with small pieces of cut up fruit that people usually never ate, and the other bag contained the good stuff. The good stuff is what I like to call, "jhandi sweets trio"; peera, parsad, mithai. These were the sweets that were all made by hand and required a labor of love; it was the bag that most people looked forward for after these religious functions were over. The best part was eating the piece of the parsad that was sitting right under the peera, because it had an extra sweetness to it - does anyone else know what I am talking about here? It wasn't uncommon either for people to ask to take home a paper bag or two for their cousin's aunty's neighbor. Yea, we know who that second and third paper bag was really for.

These two recipes belong to my mom. I always loved the brown color and taste her parsad had. She always made both versions, the cream of wheat one and the original flour-based one. Since this pudding is highly customizable, feel free to add anything you like, such as golden raisins, cherries, peanuts, pistachios and even cream soda.



Parsad Two Ways
Ingredients
FLOUR PARSAD
- 16oz evaporated milk
- ¾ cup white granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom/elaichi
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- 6-8 maraschino cherries, chopped
- 4oz ghee
- 4oz salted or unsalted butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
CREAM OF WHEAT PARSAD
- 16oz evaporated milk
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom/elaichi
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2-3 tbsp raisins
- 6oz ghee or unsalted butter
- ¾ cup cream of wheat
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
*FLOUR PARSAD*:
- Measure 16oz evaporated milk into a small pot, add sugar and spices, stir to combine. Warm milk on stove to dissolve sugar, do not boil. Keep milk warm until ready to use.
- Heat a large pot or caharee on medium, melt ghee and butter, add flour and stir quickly to dissolve, begin parching by stirring continuously.
- Turn heat to medium-low and continue to parch flour/ghee/butter mixture until golden brown. This should take about 15-20 minutes. Do not walk away from stove, the bottom of this mixture will catch quickly to the pot and will burn.
- Once flour/ghee/butter mixture is golden brown, pour in warm milk. Stir quickly and vigorously as mixture comes together, add cherries and continue to stir.
- Parsad is done when it begins to pull away from the sides.
*CREAM OF WHEAT PARSAD*
- Measure 16oz evaporated milk into a small pot, add sugar and spices, stir to combine. Warm milk on stove to dissolve sugar, do not boil. Keep milk warm until ready to use.
- Heat a large pot or caharee on medium heat, melt ghee and butter, add flour and stir quickly to dissolve, add cream of wheat and begin parching.
- This should take about 10-12 minutes, cream of wheat kernels will begin to look brown. Do not walk away from stove, the bottom of this mixture can catch quickly to the pot and will burn.
- Add warm milk mixture and raisins, continue to stir until parsad comes together and leaves the sides of the pot.
Notes
This pudding can made in many different ways, many include peanuts, 7up soda, cream soda, orange soda, and even with eggs (commonly called sirnee). Add whatever you prefer.
Although I didn't use one here, a cast iron or caharee is commonly used to make this as it can help with achieving the brown color faster.
When adding warm milk, be sure to add slowly because it can pitch out of the pot and burn you.

Cynthia
Okay, there are several things to respond to here:
1. No, you are not the only person that felt that way (waiting for the goodie at the end of a jhandi (lol)
2. The second bag trio for me was parsad, roat and mitai
3. OMG - what was it with the cut up fruit, you are right, no one ate that. Okay, sometimes I might eat the banana but nothing else 🙂
4. I've never had the cream of wheat parsad
5. I applaud and appreciate the time and effort you put into to shooting step-by-step photographs.
You rock!
Del
Ditto, ditto ladies!
Tina Beni
If you add orange soda when do you add it and how much?
sunita
I greatly appreciate the time and effort you spend on sharing your recipes and photos with all of us. Question: How do I adjust the recipe for 2 lbs of Flour Parsad?
Alica
Hi Sunita,
How many people will it be serving? For 2lbs, I would probably triple this recipe.
Alica
Hi Tina,
I haven't made it with orange soda, but I know my uncle usually does half soda, half milk, try that and see how it comes out. Hope this helps and sorry for the late reply!
sunita
Hi Alicia, sorry for the delay in my response. Thanks for getting back to me. It will be serving 50 people.
Alica
Hi Sunita,
You are making the flour parsad right? For, 50 people I would multiply this recipe by 4 or 5. However, I would only add about 2 cups of sugar for the flour parsad. Good luck!
sunita
Ok great, thanks for the heads up about the sugar. Was going to multiply the ingredients by 5, now I know what to do with the sugar. Will let you know how it turns out!
sunita
So here's my update: I used 2 sticks of butter and 1 1/2 cups of ghee. I actually made one pound of parsad instead of two. Everyone loved it, but the perfectionist in me, thinks it would've been better without any butter and perhaps 21/2 cups of ghee. Thanks again!
Alica
Hi Sunita,
Glad to hear it turned out well. Like yourself, my mom also prefers it with just ghee, she uses only ghee especially when making it for prayers. The ghee flavor is a little strong for me, but you have to make it the way you like it :). Thanks for the update!
SSAM
Can I just say that is my go to recipe for pujas. It is a huge hit, even my toughest critics (the in-laws) are forced to pass me a compliment when they taste it. Pure perfection. Thanks so much for sharing it. I actually do the maida version but add a hint of cream of wheat for some richness. Yummy!
Sao
With all the wonderful reviews, i'm not pretesting - going to definitely try this Diwali 2014 [10/22] 😉 Thank you!!!
Unknown
no sugar ..???
Alica
The amount of sugar is listed for each version on the ingredients list.
Unknown
I made this tonight and it was amazing! Thanks for the recipe!
Unknown
I just made this and added some mixed nuts that I crushed a bit, came out yummy. Thank you, Diane
Christine Persad
Alicia, thank you for posting this! I added sunkist and a few sliced almonds and it's amazing. We left our families in NY a year ago and are celebrating Diwali for the first time alone with our kids. You made this so easy for me 🙂 Thank you for sharing!!
Alica
Hi Christine, So happy to have helped! The orange soda takes it to another level!
Amanda
Did you use ground black cardamom or ground green cardamom?
Alica
I believe it was the black cardamom, but either will work fine.
Janet Singh
Hi your recipes are amazing. I made the “goja” and the “ flour parsad”. Both came out delicious.
Alica
Hi Janet,
That's so wonderful to hear! Thanks for trying them. Hope you had a wonderful Holi!