Silao Khaja

Silao Khaja is a fried sweet made of thin stacked layers, produced in Silao, in the state of Bihar in eastern India. The pale yellow pieces are roughly square, with air gaps between the stacked layers. Syrup made from sugar or jaggery is added to the lightness of biting through the many layers of dough.

Sweets called khaja are found in other places too, but Silao Khaja is the one that bears the name of this locality. Silao lies near Nalanda and Rajgir, two ancient Buddhist sites, and the sweet has long been enjoyed by visitors to the town as well.

12 to 16 thin sheets of dough

The ingredients include wheat flour, water, ghee and sugar. In the method described in India’s Geographical Indications Journal, a wheat called muraliya is milled and sifted, and water is added to make a dough. The dough is divided into small portions and rolled thin with a wooden rolling pin; using ghee, about 12 to 16 sheets are stacked, rolled up together and then cut into pieces.

The order of building the layers before frying is essential to this sweet. Because the thin sheets are stacked first, each layer and the gaps between them remain in the fried pieces. Ghee is a fat obtained from milk by removing water and milk solids, and it is used both in handling the dough and in frying.

The cut pieces are fried in hot ghee until lightly colored and crisp. Next, they are combined with syrup. When jaggery is used, the sugar is boiled with water to dissolve it, and the foam and impurities that rise to the surface are removed before use. In the Journal’s method, the syrup is sprinkled over the fried khaja. Khaja from other places may instead be soaked in syrup, so the way sugar is added also differs by region.

Stacked Silao Khaja. The thin layers of fried dough are visible. Photo: Odantapuribs, 2020-12-28, location unknown. Original image / CC BY-SA 4.0. Downscaled version from the source; no additional processing.

Light layers change even the way it is packed

Packing the sweet so that its thin layers and light puffiness can be carried home from the shop without breaking is also part of finishing Silao Khaja. The Journal describes stacking the pieces in small baskets or boxes, not packing them tightly into large boxes, and handling them in small containers. This is to avoid putting too much weight from the sweets stacked above onto the light, fragile layers.

Humidity also changes the texture. The handling and keeping quality of the freshly fried sweet differ between winter or the dry season and the rainy season, and in the rainy season it tends to soften. The work of stacking thin dough and preserving the lightness of the freshly fried pieces extends beyond shaping and frying to how they are cooled, the size of the boxes and protection from humidity.

Local water and climate are described as characteristics of this sweet. In production, selecting and milling the wheat, rolling the dough thin, using ghee, and keeping the cutting and frying consistent all come together in a single product.

The legend of the Buddha, and a 19th-century record of a visit to the town of sweets

Silao has a legend that the Buddha stopped there on his way from Rajgir to Nalanda and that the people offered him sweets. The story goes on to say that the name came from the words “kha ja,” with which the Buddha urged his disciples to eat. It is a naming story that links the sweet to the locality’s Buddhist memory.

The 19th-century archaeological surveyor J. D. Beglar traveled through the area in 1872–73 and wrote that Silao was famous for its sweetmeats and parched rice, and that, having tasted them himself, he could vouch for that reputation. His travel report, published in 1878, preserves this brief testimony about how the sweets of the town actually tasted.

According to a local legend included in the same report, King Vikramaditya settled skilled confectioners here, and their descendants continue the trade. Beglar discusses this story in connection with the origin of the town’s name as well. The methods of the king’s time are not known, but in the 19th century there was a story linking the reputation of the sweets to the work of generations of confectioners.

Silao Khaja received a geographical indication (GI) registration certificate dated December 11, 2018. The production area indicated in the registration is Silao, in Nalanda district, Bihar. It is positioned not as a name covering khaja from all regions, but as the product of a locality that has long valued thin layers and lightness.

Glossary