Karanji

Karanji is the sweet that means guests are coming. A thin pastry folded over a filling of roasted dry coconut and rawa, its edge pinched into a rope by hand, then fried till it blisters pale gold.

Break one open and the smell of coconut does the rest. It is the first thing hands reach for on the Diwali plate, and the shape every Maharashtrian child can draw from memory.