A hard, crunchy Newari sweet of wheat flour, sugar and ghee from the Kathmandu Valley, rolled into a stiff low-water dough, cut into diamonds, rings or other shapes (often embossed) and deep-fried until golden and rigid. A ceremonial sweet central to Newari weddings.
A traditional Newari sweet from the Kathmandu Valley, lakhamari is, above all, a betrothal and wedding gift: the groom's family sends freshly made lakhamari, along with other sweets, fruit and flowers, to the bride's family with the wedding invitation, marking their approval and blessing of the match, and only to close relatives. Larger pieces go to the closest kin as a mark of respect, the size signalling the nearness of the relationship. It is also made for festivals and offered to guests.
Dense and emphatically hard, snapping with a crisp crack into shards that slowly dissolve into a buttery, mildly sweet richness. Not cloying but deeply satisfying, the kind of sweet made to keep for weeks of celebration.
A low-water, ghee-rich stiff dough fries into a hard, shatteringly crisp structure rather than a fluffy one. Slow frying at moderate heat dries the dough through, locking in a long-keeping crunch.
Variations
Coiled lakhamari, ring lakhamari, diamond-cut lakhamari, sugar-glazed and sesame-studded festive shapes
On the Palate
Where Lakhamari sits in the Nepali flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
8 steps · 40 min
- 16 min
Rub ghee into wheat flour until the mixture resembles crumbs.
- 24 min
Dissolve sugar in warm water to make a sweet syrup.
- 310 min
Knead the flour with the syrup into a stiff, firm dough.
Watch outKnead to a stiff, firm dough that barely gives — too soft and it fries up puffy instead of shatter-crisp.
- 460 min
Rest the dough, covered, for about an hour.
- 58 min
Pull off pieces and roll into long ropes by hand.
- 610 min
Coil and twist the ropes into rings, lattices or wreath shapes.
- 712 min
Deep-fry slowly in moderate oil until deep golden and hard.
Watch outFry low and slow until deep golden and rock-hard all the way through; if it's still bendy, it hasn't dried out inside.
- 830 min
Drain and cool completely so they turn crisp and crunchy.
Watch outIt only turns truly crunchy once fully cooled — don't judge the crisp while it's still warm.
