Ganesh Chaturthi sweets are often besan- or rava-heavy, so how about trying this banana laddoo as part of the Ganapati prasad spread? This laddoo recipe features bananas that are too ripe and spotty to eat as fruit, and matta (red) rice roasted and ground into its own flour rather than using store-bought rice powder. It's as much a way to use up overripe bananas before they go to waste as it is a festival sweet, which is part of why it's stayed a practical, low-fuss recipe for a Ganesh Chaturthi spread that already has a lot going on in the kitchen. For this Ganesh Chaturthi sweet, the rice is washed and drained, then dry-roasted over a medium-high flame, stirring continuously until its colour visibly changes. The mixture is finished with a brief roast alongside cardamom and cumin seeds for the last 30 seconds. This is just enough time for the spices to release their aroma without scorching. Once completely cooled, this roasted rice is ground into a fine powder, which serves as both the binding agent in the laddoo dough and the coating dusted over the finished laddoos. For the banana side, ripe bananas are chopped and cooked down in ghee until they soften, then thickened again for about 7-8 minutes. This thickening stage is important, since adding jaggery and rice powder to a still-wet banana mixture would leave the dough too soft to roll. Grated jaggery, a couple of pinches of salt, and a small amount of dry ginger powder go in once the banana has reduced, and the roasted rice powder is folded in gradually and cooked until the mixture is non-sticky enough to hold its shape between your palms.

Aval recipes are something that has a spike in searches en masse during Janmashtami. Dahi poha or Gopalkala is one such recipe, which is a simple, no-cook dish, featuring aval or poha, curd, and cucumber mixed and finished with a quick ghee-jeera tempering, and that's essentially it. The mix of aval, which is flattened rice and curd is the traditional Maharashtrian way of turning the two into something offered to Krishna as prasad rather than eaten as a simple meal, and the name is drawn from Krishna's cowherd (Gopal) associations. One of the easiest aval recipes you can fix, this Janmashtami, all you need to do is wash the poha, drain the water, then mix it with curd. Add the chopped cucumber, salt, and a pinch of sugar, and mix them in too. You just need to heat a pan for the tempering with a bit of ghee, in which cumin seeds, green chilli, and finely chopped ginger are fried. Then this is added to the aval mix along with grated coconut and mixed. Most aval recipes for Janmashtami feature the thicker poha variety, not thin, so the texture of the flattened rice is retained and it doesn't turn into mush. You can also adjust the curd quantity based on how thick or thin you want the Gopalkala to be. This quick recipe is perfect for a weeknight after work, when one wishes to prepare something for that evening's Janmashtami offering, but is short on time and energy.

The stories of Lord Krishna symbolise his eternal love for butter, dairy, and yoghurt. This fondness earned him the title Makhan Chor, which reflects the pivotal role dairy-based recipes play in Janmashtami celebrations. One such recipe, without which the auspicious day feels incomplete, is Makhan Mishri, a simple no-cook preparation of freshly churned white butter and sugar crystals. Cardamom powder is added to this mixture for a floral flavour, while tulsi is placed on top before offering. This classic preparation is part of the Chappan Bhog offered to Lord Krishna.