The many lives of sesame in India’s harvest festivals

To understand how this humble ingredient travels across cultures, we turn to chefs and culinary experts from different regions across the country who explain how sesame feeds are tied to cuisine and culture.

In Karnataka, Sankranti is incomplete without Ellu Unde (sesame and jaggery laddoos made at home), a tradition that also finds resonance in Tamil Nadu during Pongal. In some households, coconut, peanuts, or puffed rice are added, depending on the coastal pantry and its abundance. Sesame is also offered during daan and ancestral rituals, symbolising continuity and gratitude.

Assam

“In Assam, black sesame comes into use during Magh Bihu,” says North east food consultant Gitika Saikia, for whom til is inseparable from the festival’s pitha culture. She adds,“We do eat sesame with pork and chicken throughout the year, but during Magh Bihu, til is mostly used in pitha form.” The most famous is til pitha — sticky rice flour spread on a hot tawa, filled with black sesame and jaggery, then rolled into cigar-like shapes. “We use black sesame primarily, not white,” she continues, noting its deeper flavour and warming quality.

Another beloved preparation is Hutuli pitha, named after a traditional musical instrument. “It’s stuffed with black sesame and then crispy-fried,” she explains. Sesame also finds its way into tekeli pitha, steamed in layers inside a bell-metal pot. “It’s eaten with black tea during jolpan, our morning meal,” Saikia says.

Sesame’s use is seasonal and tied to culture. “This is winter, fresh rice and fresh black sesame are harvested now, and sesame keeps the body warm,” she shares. During the Meji bonfire ritual, black sesame is offered to the fire in gratitude for the harvest.

Punjab

In Punjab, sesame is inseparable from Lohri, the winter festival that marks the end of the coldest days and celebrates the rabi harvest. Food during this time is made to generate warmth and sustain the body, and sesame is the perfect friend.

“The most popular item is til-gur rewri and gajak, which are sweets made by binding roasted sesame seeds with jaggery,” shares Chef Guntas Sethi. These are not elaborate dishes but have a huge role in the communal culture as they are exchanged among people, distributed, and tossed into the lohri bonfire.

“On Lohri night, offerings of sesame, popcorn, peanuts, and sugarcane are thrown into the fire as thanks for a good harvest. In a way, its crunch echoes the crackle of the Lohri fire,” says Guntas, adding, “In Punjabi households, sesame is deeply associated with warmth, nourishment, and seasonal wisdom. Another staple in Punjab is til laddoo, often prepared in rural households as portable nourishment during long, cold workdays.”

Jharkhand

For Chef Nishant Choubey, Makar Sankranti, known as Tusu Parab in Jharkhand, is less about festive spectacles and more about alignment with the solar calendar through food that mirrors land, forest, and labour. Among the most popular dishes is til-mahua Paste, traditionally prepared by the Munda and Asur communities. Sesame seeds are roasted using stone-pounding techniques, then mixed with sun-dried mahua flowers and finished with forest honey. He explains how culture precedes appetite: “The paste is first offered to the sacred grove, the Sarna, to seek blessings.”

Sesame, he notes, symbolises “continuity and the oiliness of life,” while mahua represents forest abundance. Together this reflects the balance between farming and forest livelihoods central to Jharkhand’s tribal cultures. The paste is often served with black til and rice beer. Another Sankranti staple is til-stuffed chhilka roti, prepared with a savoury filling of sesame paste, salt, green chilli and wild garlic.