The tale of a candy that crossed the border in the wake of the Partition in 1947 is contained within a humble confectionery shop in Fazilka. The owner of ‘Toshevala’, Lala Munshi Ram and his family, along with five sons, shifted from Pakpattan in Pakistan to Fazilka and opened up the confectionery shop by renaming it to ‘Tosha’.
The old store of the family continues to have the name 'Toshewala.' Next to this name is the name “Pakpattnian Di Hatti,” which translates into English as “the store of people of Pakpattan.” This recipe has been mostly the same. The dessert is prepared using khoya, flour, and paneer and is deep-fried before being soaked in sugar syrup. It has a crunchy exterior with a syrupy interior. The consistency has also been compared to that of a crispy gulab jamun.
According to the family, Lala Munshi Ram would get up early in the morning and make each of these sweets by hand. His philosophy of purity, family, and workmanship still impacts the business today. In the third generation, the business was revived with three stores called 'Pakpattaniyan di Hatti'.
The fourth generation is carrying forward the tradition. Working along with Mandeep of United Foods, the family has come up with new flavours, enhanced the packaging, and increased the shelf-life of the product to two months. Generations of customers associate the taste of the sweet with 'mitti di khushboo' of Punjab. It symbolizes the feelings of love and unity as well.
Tosha in North Kashmir has a distinctive and ancient culture. It is a gold-colored sweet fried in ghee with the use of dry fruits and poppy seeds. It is particularly linked to society and religion in the month of Ramadan.
The Kashmiri dish also has strong associations with Sufi culture. It is considered a holy dish with lots of ghee and is served as an act of devotion and community spirit. The confection is also supposed to possess certain healing properties. In cases when disease or trouble strikes the community, it is often distributed to sick members as a token of support.
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