ਰੇਵੜੀ

Rewri (ਰੇਵੜੀ) is a small, flat and crunchy Punjabi sweet made from toasted sesame seeds set in jaggery. Eaten all winter and shared around the Lohri bonfire in January, it is one of the simplest sweets on the Punjabi table: two ingredients, a hard snap, and the warm taste of til and gur together.

What does rewri mean in Punjabi?

Rewri means this sesame and jaggery sweet itself. The word names the finished disc, not a flavour or a dish served at a meal. A handful of rewri is a snack, a sweet offered to guests, and a gift passed between houses in the Lohri season, when sweet shops pile it high beside its close cousin gajak.

To make it, sesame seeds are roasted lightly, jaggery is melted until it reaches a hard setting stage, and the two are mixed with a little ghee. The mixture is then shaped or cut into small flat discs while still warm, as Lohri food guides describe the method. Once cooled, each disc keeps its snap for weeks, which is why rewri travels so well from a village kitchen to a family home in Canada.

How is rewri different from gajak?

Gajak starts from the same two ingredients, sesame and jaggery, but it is spread thin and cut into bars or rectangles, and it often carries peanuts or other nuts. Rewri is shaped instead into small round discs and is usually just til and gur. Think of gajak as the slab, and rewri as the small coin sized piece you pick up one at a time.

When is rewri eaten?

Rewri belongs to winter, above all to Lohri, the January harvest festival held around a bonfire. Writers on Lohri food describe rewri shared as a gesture of goodwill, offered with sesame and jaggery around the fire and then eaten as a treat. Its ingredients explain the season: sesame and jaggery are both treated in Punjabi homes as warming foods, made for the cold months.