Malai gola dessert in Bhavnagar

Bhavnagar Food Notes: Malai Gola Dessert Memory

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On a visit to Bhavnagar, we tried the local dish-style ice gola, topped with syrup, malai, nuts, tutti frutti and cherries. It is a simple street dessert memory, but the making process was fun to capture.

Quick summary

  • Good for: Bhavnagar food memory and Gujarat dessert notes.
  • Food note: shaved ice, flavoured syrup, malai, dry fruits and cherries.
  • Vegetarian note: this is a vegetarian dessert, but not vegan because of malai and dairy toppings.

How the malai gola is made

The process starts with a block of ice being shaved into fine flakes. Instead of being served only on a stick, this version is set into a small bowl as the base.

Ice block being shaved for Bhavnagar malai gola
Ice being shaved for the gola base.
Shaved ice flakes for gola
Shaved ice flakes before the toppings are added.

Flavoured syrups are then poured over the ice, followed by a generous layer of full cream malai.

Syrup added to shaved ice for malai gola
Syrup added to the shaved ice.
Malai topping added to Bhavnagar gola
The malai topping gives this gola its rich dessert feel.

Toppings and final finish

The final layers are what make it more like a dessert bowl: cashews, nuts, tutti frutti, raisins, cherries and more syrup.

Dry fruit toppings for malai gola
Dry fruits and colourful toppings being added.
Finished Bhavnagar malai gola with toppings
The gola after more nuts and toppings.
Bhavnagar malai gola with syrup and toppings
A colourful Bhavnagar malai gola dessert memory.

Vegetarian and vegan notes

This is vegetarian, but not vegan because of the malai and dairy-rich toppings. A vegan version would need to skip dairy cream and use only syrup, fruit and nuts.

For newer vegetarian recipes, I now keep the full recipe-style posts on SecondRecipe.

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