Ever since we introduced our Mumbaikar neighbours, colleagues and friends to kheer kadam, a Bengali mithai or mishti, every trip back home has meant ferrying back boxes of the sweet treat for these sweet-toothed souls. Simple and unassuming from the outside, like a khoya ball, the real genius of the kheer kadam — which bears resemblance to kadam phul or burflower — lies in the soft, juicy rasgulla that’s packed inside. And today, Girish Nayak, Chief Mithaiwala, Bombay Sweet Shop, is set to unpack the secret behind nailing a nolen gur kheer kadam, which marries the much-loved mithai with Bengal’s winter delicacy, date palm jaggery.

“I first tasted nolen gur [Bengali for new jaggery] when someone got it for me from Kolkata. It tasted like maple syrup, but so much better. It has a unique earthiness to it,” recollects Nayak. The chef’s first encounter with kheer kadam occurred about a few years ago, when he spent some time at Kolkata to research on mithais before opening Bombay Sweet Shop. “I worked with the Gupta Sweet Shop in Gariahat for about two weeks. I saw them making these mini rasgullas, and covering them with malai pedas. So, I learnt the art of making them from the mithaiwalas there,” he reminisces. Considering kheer kadam is a quintessential Bengali sweet, and nolen gur is a winter hit, he decided to use the latter in coating the rasgulla that is hidden inside and add a touch of coconut shavings, to devise his own creation.