Diwali snacks and sweets - in pictures

Barfi: a generic term for square or rectangular fudge-like sweets with a fairly firm texture. It comes in dozens of flavours, and is made from any combination of thickened condensed milk, nuts, cardamom, rose water, kewra water, chocolate, and silver or gold leaf Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Balushahi: plain white flour doughnuts with a flaky texture. They’re deep fried in ghee then dipped in sugar syrup Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Photograph: David Levene/Guardian Sheera: the quintessential Indian sweet without which no special occasion is complete. Normally eaten warm, it’s made from semolina (or sometimes coarse wheat flour) sautéed in ghee, with cashew nuts, raisins, saffron and cardamom. Occasionally bananas, mangoes or other fruits are added, or served on the side Photograph: ephotocorp/Alamy Chakri: Literally meaning 'spirals', this savoury snack is shaped with a special hand-held nozzle. Made from rice and chickpea flours, cumin, sesame and ajwain seeds, red chilli powder and turmeric. The south Indian version, known as 'murukku' comes in different shapes such as ribbons and twists, and is made from urad lentil and rice flours Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Photograph: David Levene/Guardian Motichur laddoos (laddu): literally 'pearled laddoos' but also known as 'boondi', they are made by binding together nuggets of chickpea flour. 'Laddoo' is a generic term for spherical sweets and they come in dozens of flavours. They can be made from any combination of chickpea flour, semolina, wholewheat flour, coconut, sesame seeds, white poppy seeds, jaggery, nuts, raisins, cardamom and saffron Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Photograph: David Levene/Guardian Farsi puri: crisp white plain flour puri spiced with cracked black pepper and cumin seeds Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Photograph: David Levene/Guardian Mawa kachori: crisp, round pastry shells stuffed with thickened (or dried, crumbled) condensed milk, almonds, pistachios and cardamom Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Photograph: David Levene/Guardian Puran poli: a 'poli' is a flatbread with a sweet stuffing and 'puran poli' is the most popular variety. The stuffing is made from mashed split pigeon peas or chickpeas, cardamom, saffron and nutmeg. They are served warm, lavishly buttered with ghee or with a separate bowl of melted ghee for dipping Photograph: Bon Appetit/Alamy Puris: round plain white flour bread, traditionally deep fried in ghee (but nowadays more likely to be fried in oil). Other than the plain version which is eaten as part of the main meal on special occasions, there are dozens of sweet and savoury snack versions. Puris may be puffed or flat, smooth or dented, soft or crispy, and made from any combination of plain white flour, chickpea flour, semolina, dried grated coconut (called 'copra'), various spices and fresh fenugreek leaves. The picture is of puri for pani puri – small puris used as a container for a street food snack Photograph: Tom Allwood/Alamy Sev: crisp, deep-fried chickpea flour noodles, spiced with turmeric, red chilli powder, cracked black pepper or ajwain seeds. A special hand press is used to make sev at home, which is crumbled in small pieces by hand. There are different varieties used for different purposes, ranging from fine and delicate, to plump and chunky Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Photograph: David Levene/Guardian Shakkarpara: literally ‘sugar pieces’. Normally diamond-shaped (which is its distinctive feature) and in some Indian regions ball-shaped, they can be sweet or savoury. The sweet version is made from a dough of plain white flour and sugar syrup; the savoury from wholemeal or millet flour, turmeric, red chilli powder, ajwain seeds, sesame seeds and sometimes fresh fenugreek leaves Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Photograph: David Levene/Guardian Shrikhand: a chilled pudding of homemade yoghurt cheese with saffron, cardamom and nuts. It comes in several fruit versions, and is usually eaten with puris Photograph: PIFood/Alamy Ukkarai: a south Indian speciality. Split chickpeas and moong beans are roasted, ground into a batter, steamed, crumbled, sautéed with cashew nuts, raisins and freshly grated coconut, drenched in warm homemade jaggery syrup, and flavoured with cardamom Photograph: PIFood/Alamy Kheer: a thick milky pudding made from either rice, ground rice, beaten rice flakes (a speciality ingredient known as ‘poha’), tapioca or vermicelli, to which nuts, raisins, cardamom and saffron are often added. Usually served chilled. This picture is of rice kheer with pistachios Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Sohan papdi: square-shaped sweets with a distinctive flaky texture and appearance, made from chickpea flour, plain flour, milk and cardamom Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Marshi halwa: ‘halwa’ is a generic term for a fudgy sweet with soft or slightly runny texture. It’s often (but not always) cut into squares, rectangles or diamond shapes, and sometimes served warm. It’s made from any combination of plain white, chickpea or rice flours, carrots, squashes, thickened condensed milk, nuts, cardamom, saffron, rose water, kewra water, and silver or gold leaf. The ‘marshi halwa’ pictured is a dark, chewy, sticky, dense-textured and full-flavoured sweet made from thickened condensed milk, sprouted wheat, nuts, cardamom and saffron Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Chivda: also spelled ‘chevda’ or ‘chidva’ and commonly known as ‘Bombay mix’ in the UK. A crisp, savoury mixture of any combination of sev, beaten rice flakes, potato straws, split chickpeas, assorted nuts, fennel seeds, curry leaves and other spices. There are dozens of varieties (sometimes made with popular branded breakfast cereals), and many cities in India are renowned for their own unique version Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Carrot halwa: A popular halwa of grated carrots cooked with milk, saffron, cardamom and pistachios. It can be cut into pieces, or served as it is. When freshly made, it’s best eaten warm. Ice cream optional Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Pakoras: light, fluffy ball-shaped fritters made from potatoes, onions, fenugreek leaves and whole mild chillies dipped in spiced chickpea flour batter and deep fried Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian