Preeti Mistry, a chef who ran the Juhu Beach Club in Oakland, Calif., and Navi Kitchen in Emeryville, Calif. (both now closed), said she appreciated this approach. “She is highlighting specifically Indian techniques and bringing them forward, as opposed to just doing cardamom-infused polenta cake,” Ms. Mistry said.

Back in her parents’ kitchen in Bloomfield, Ms. Vasavada toasted milk powder for the penda mixture to give it a nutty flavor. Milk powder is a common element in burfi, but she learned the toasting technique from Christina Tosi, a judge on “MasterChef,” who often uses the ingredient in her nostalgia-inspired cakes and cookies at her Milk Bar bakeries.

On a stovetop, Ms. Vasavada combined the milk powder and dulce de leche. (She first tried dulce de leche when her parents opened a convenience store in 2008 in Cliffside Park, N.J., which has a large Latino population.) She tossed the mixture with a wooden spoon until it resembled peanut butter. Then she added ghee, milk, salt and cinnamon.

Ms. Vasavada’s mother, Champa Sheladia, 58, walked in and shook her head disapprovingly at the addition of salt. “In my mind, salt doesn’t go in burfi,” she said.

Ms. Vasavada greased her hands with ghee from a large stainless-steel container. She rolled the penda mixture out into small balls, flattened them a little, drizzled milk chocolate in the center and crowned the top with (to her mother’s dismay) even more salt.