Lapsi is broken wheat cooked with jaggery and ghee, and its significance is entirely in when it is made: for mourning (distributed to neighbours when someone dies), for recovery from illness (given to someone regaining their appetite), and for auspicious beginnings (made on a child’s first day of school). It is not a celebratory sweet in any commercial sense — there is no occasion for which you would order it — and yet it marks some of the most significant moments in a Sindhi life. The broken wheat cooks down into a thick, warm, barely sweet mass, the jaggery providing a gentle depth rather than sweetness, the ghee making it nourishing rather than merely flavoured. It is food as care.
Zone: Indus Plains
SOURCE: Sindhi family, Tharparkar district, mourning and occasion recipe, oral tradition, 2021
LOCAL NAME: لپسی
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups broken wheat (daliya or medium-fine cracked wheat)
- 4 tbsp ghee
- 1 litre water
- 100 g grated jaggery (gur, or to taste)
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- 2 tbsp slivered almonds or cashews (fried in ghee)
METHOD
- Heat 2 tbsp of the ghee in a heavy pot. Add the broken wheat and roast over medium heat, stirring, until it turns a shade darker and smells nutty, about 5 minutes.
- Add the water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Cook, stirring regularly, for 20–25 minutes until the wheat is completely soft and the mixture has thickened to a porridge-like consistency.
- Add the remaining 2 tbsp ghee, the grated jaggery and the cardamom. Stir well. Cook on the lowest heat, stirring constantly, for 8–10 minutes more until the jaggery is fully dissolved and the lapsi is thick, glossy and holds its shape when spooned.
- Taste and add more jaggery if you want a sweeter result — lapsi is typically just gently sweet.
- Scatter with the fried nuts. Serve warm, in the portion size of care rather than appetite.
NOTES
UK adaptation: Broken wheat (daliya or bulgur) from any supermarket or South Asian grocer. Jaggery from any South Asian grocer. Ghee from any supermarket. Everything else widely available.
US adaptation: Cracked wheat or bulgur from any grocery store or Middle Eastern market. Jaggery from Patel Brothers. Ghee from any grocery store. Everything else widely available.
Cook’s note: Stir continuously once the jaggery is added — broken wheat catches and burns very easily at the base once the sugars are concentrated. Keep the heat low and your attention constant.
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