For generations Badam ki Jali was made at home only for weddings and festivals, and served as the sweet after the meal. It still marks the same days — the Sanchak tray before a wedding, the wedding dinner, Eid and Diwali gifts, a child’s naming ceremony — and we still make trays and decorations to order for them.
Badam ki Jali — ‘net of almonds’, badam being almond and jali the net or lattice pressed into every piece — has a particular place in Hyderabadi weddings, above all in the Sanchak, the pre-wedding ceremony at which, traditionally, the groom’s family arrives at the bride’s house bearing clothes, jewellery, gifts and sweets. A decorated tray of jali is traditionally among them.
The association is an old one. Writing in 2014, Outlook Traveller recalled the nawabi brides who were given painstakingly made jali in their trousseaus, and the recipe itself is said to have travelled into Hyderabad through marriages, carried by brides along with their closely guarded family recipes. At the wedding proper the sweet was, and is, served after dinner — the New Indian Express noted in 2017 that it found its particular popularity at wedding dinners.
Two things are made for the day. Ashrafi — saffron-yellow almond coins engraved on both faces after the gold coins of the old State of Hyderabad — symbolise prosperity and are handed to guests as favours. And the trays: almond cookie and coin, Ashrafi and paan, strawberry-paan-and-jali, almond flowers, and an almond tablet lettered with the couple’s names or a date, arranged for the Sanchak or the wedding table.
Wedding sets are built around the guest count and the ritual, and everything is shaped and baked by hand. Four conversations, in this order:
The date, roughly how many guests, and which moment the sweet is for — the Sanchak tray, favours for the guests, or dessert after the wedding dinner.
Large warqi showpieces for the tray; medium jali, stars, paan and almond strawberries for serving; and Ashrafi coins to hand to guests.
An almond tablet lettered with a message, the couple’s names or the wedding date, almond flowers and decorations. Custom lettering and pieces need the most time, so settle them first.
Decorated trays for the ceremony, packs for guests to carry home. Every piece is made fresh after the order is received, so allow a few weeks in the wedding season; the sweet keeps about a week wrapped and airtight, so it is finished close to the day.
Between weddings, the ovens keep to the calendar of the city’s festivals — and to its family occasions.
EidThrough Ramzan and for Eid, packs of jali are bought for the house and sent to family and neighbours, and the almond stars-and-crescent tray comes into its own. Sheer khurma is the dish of Eid morning; Badam ki Jali is the box that goes out with the greetings.
Stars & crescents Photo (sheer khurma): Miansari66, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
DiwaliDiwali and the holiday season are gifting seasons, and Badam ki Jali has long been part of them — in Hyderabad one newspaper once ordered a thousand kilos of it for Diwali gifts. Our packs of jali, Ashrafi, paan and almond diamonds ship free anywhere in the USA.
Packs in the store Photo (assorted Diwali sweets): robertsharp (Flickr), CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Family daysNaming ceremonies, baby showers and birthdays have their own trays and plates, with designs made to order — ladybugs and little almond samosas for the children, almond flowers, and an almond tablet lettered with a name or a date for the naming day.
Decorations & tablets Photo: badamkijali.com — Kishwar’s Jali From Aziz BaghBadam ki Jali is a baked, dry sweet made without oil or ghee, and once each piece is individually wrapped and packed in layers it travels well — which is why our store packs can ship anywhere in the USA by UPS Ground, free of charge, and why the sweet has long been carried across oceans to family abroad.
For gifting, packs of jali, Ashrafi, paan or almond diamonds; for a table, a tray of assorted shapes; for companies and festive seasons, quantities by arrangement — please call or email.
Badam ki Jali seldom arrives alone. On Hyderabad’s wedding and festive tables it sits among the sweets the city is known for — double ka meetha, khubani ka meetha, sheer khurma at Eid, dum ka roat — and beside kaju katli, the sweet its taste is usually likened to. From its own Nawaiti tradition come the Ashrafi coins, hab and badam ke lauz (almond diamonds), anday ki peosi, badam ka halwa, pooran puri and gil-e-firdous.
Three lines from the coverage — the sweet’s standing, its wedding past, and its present rarity.
The name Badam Ki Jali means ‘net of almonds,’ a nod to its intricate, netted designs.
— The Siasat Daily, 2025
nawabi brides were gifted painstakingly made badam-ki-jaali in their trousseaus
— Outlook Traveller, 2014
Jouzi Halwa and Badam ki Jali were royal desserts and were preferred by only around 10 per cent of customers.
— Mujju Khan, Rose Bakery, Deccan Chronicle, 2026
Tell us the date and the guest count, and we will suggest a mix of trays, motifs and Ashrafi.
