diwali recipes

[aneja_r]

hi friends, what do you usually cook on Diwali day? Any special traditional dishes?

[Milagai]

i'm going to have to learn to make "deepavali marundhu"

i.e. deepavali medicine: home remedy for over-indulged

stomachs

milagai

[Kapuliperson]

I never really cooked for diwali, but I've received lots of food during diwali.. I don't know.. but what my Indian friends usually send me are:

jammus, stuffed eggplant, sandesh, some other indian sweets, and chick pea dahl with chapatis.

[Episure]

i'm going to have to learn to make "deepavali marundhu"

i.e. deepavali medicine:  home remedy for over-indulged

stomachs 

milagai

←

Milagai,

Is this a metaphor or such a thing actually exists?

[worm@work]

*Sigh* Episure, it is very real back where I come from and the best part is that diwali marundhu (aka leghiyam) is just as tasty (imo) as most diwali sweets, made with ginger and jaggery and god knows what else!!! Will have to ask my grandmom for a recipe!!

-w@w

Milagai,

Is this a metaphor or such a thing actually exists?

←

[Episure]

Milagai and worm@work,

I'm waiting for more details, availabilty and recipes of this Panacea.

At home we make a killer Besan Mithai (slightly more roasted than any other mithaiwallh)and this may be the right antidote for my once a year binge. Binge = 1 kg in 3 days, then I feel sick and wait till next Diwali. Like all all good things in life and relationships- never get too familiar!

[Milagai]

hi episure:

i hope worm@work 's grandmother's recipe will

be forthcoming.

my gps have long since departed, taking their

recipes with them.

i was planning to ask other real and classificatory family elders

so hopefully w@w can get it faster...

milagai

[helenjp]

I remember that looooong ago, the greengrocer whose shop was two along from my parents' pharmacy taught me how to make a semolina-based sweet that I remember as "soji julwa", though I don't know the correct spelling. The greengrocer and his daughter said they made it for Diwali, by frying the semolina in butter with almonds and big raisins, and adding water and spices. A type of halwa??

[foodietraveler]

This weekend I hope and make matharee from Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran of egullet website.

The recipe seems like what we make at home. I never made before. It seems easy. Will also make some pickle. I think orange and green chilie pickle. Not sure, maybe eggplant instead of green chilies.

My home they prepare gujia that is made with khoya. I tried making khoya earlier but had failed attempt. Powder khoya is not same as fresh. So maybe I will make some other sweet.

[foodietraveler]

I remember that looooong ago, the greengrocer whose shop was two along from my parents' pharmacy taught me how to make a semolina-based sweet that I remember as "soji julwa", though I don't know the correct spelling. The greengrocer and his daughter said they made it for Diwali, by frying the semolina in butter with almonds and big raisins, and adding water and spices. A type of halwa??

←

You remember rightly. Sooji Halwa. It is famous dessert and made for most prayer ceremony in at least North Indian home. Trick they say is in using good ghee and frying the sooji (cream of wheat/fareena) on low flame and for long time, till nice and dark but not burned. Then adding the chaashnee (sugar syrup). Nuts and raisin you can add just before adding syrup. Nuts burn very quickly and get bitter. You can add cardamom seed, whole seed, just opened, into syrup. this flavor syrup nicely. And then you can add ground cardamom seed once you finish preparing halwa. very tasty. if you want message me and I can get you portions from my mother.

[worm@work]

Episure/Milagai,

I went ahead and asked my mom as well my grandmom :) both of whom responded rather enthusiastically (I think they were squealing in delight at the thought that the child who went away all the way to the US is plannin on making enough diwali sweets to warrant diwali marindhu :P).

My grandmom sent me this recipe

DEEPAVALI MARUNDHU

Ingredients:

Pepper corns two teaspoons

Jeera 2 and half teaspoons

Dhania 2 and half teaspoons

Omam one tablespoon (note: I dont know what this is called in hindi/english :(. Will try and find out)

Kanda thippili 10 to 12 pieces. This will be black in colour

Dry ginger one piece about one inch long.

Cardamom

Ghee one tablespoon

Gur/Jaggery- same quantity as the ground paste

Procedure

Gently dry grind the spices like rava

Soak the same in small quantity of water for slightly less than an hour.

After soaking using the same water grind the spices to a paste consistency.

Add more water to the consistency of sambar and keep it in gas and keep stirring till the matter thickens. To this add jaggery already dry crushed. Add ghee and cook in slow fire.Stop when it comes to lehiyam ( Chyavanaprash ) consistency.

This will give you lehiyam to the size of half an Indian coconut (trust my grandmom to describe quantity of food in terms of other food *lol* ).

Now, here is a version from my mom. She says this is a simpler diwali marindhu

Ginger - 100gm

Jaggery - 150gm

Ghee - 50gm

Jeera - 25gm

Coriander seeds - 25gm

Method:

Wash, clean and peel the ginger which is fresh without fibre and cut

into small pieces.

Soak the coriander seeds and jeera in water for about half an hour.

Grind the ginger and soaked coriander seeds to a fine paste.

Now add the powdered jaggery.

In a kadai, put the ground mixture and cook by mixing continuously.

When the mixture becomes thicker add ghee and cook it.

When the ghee starts coming out you can stop cooking.

You can preserve it for one week in a dry container.

Will try this out over the weekend and let you all know how this turns out :). I spose my mom's version is simpler in the sense that the ingredient list is a lot shorter and consists of stuff I already have at home :).

-w@w

hi episure:

i hope worm@work 's grandmother's recipe will

be forthcoming. 

my gps have long since departed, taking their

recipes with them.

i was planning to ask other real and classificatory family elders

so hopefully w@w can get it faster...

milagai

←

[gingerly]

worm@work-omum is ajwain/carom-anyone remember it from 'gripe water' ? http://www.indiandelite.com/spices/ajwan.html

i guess 'kanda thippli' is long pepper?

sounds utterly delicious.is there penance to be done for making and eating these things out of context?

[foodietraveler]

Milagai and worm@work,

I'm waiting for more details, availabilty and recipes of this Panacea.

At home we make a killer Besan Mithai (slightly more roasted than any other mithaiwallh)and this may be the right antidote for my once a year binge. Binge = 1 kg in 3 days, then I feel sick and wait till next Diwali. Like all all good things in life and relationships- never get too familiar!

←

Episure, can you please comment on this Besan Mitthai. It sounds very nice. I love anything sweet made with besan. Do you make ladoo? Burfee? Fudge? i am so very curious. Maybe if you share recipe, we can make same mithai in US. thanks to you.

[Geetha]

There are somany recipes with besan or chick pea flour ( Ithink)

1. Poli ( sweet paratha) stuffed with semi cooked chick peas mashed to perfection on low heat with ghee lots, with cardomom grind with sugar, and jaggery syrup.

2. Mysoorpa is something like besan mithai, I think, It is made with ghee besan flour and sugar, will need a lot of roasing like a halwa on low flame though.

These are two of my favoutite .... sweets. So much that I wouldn't want to call them sweets but include them to my savoury favourite list.

[Milagai]

[thannks SO MUCH WW

omam = ajwain in hindi.

omam in tamil.

ayamodakam in malayalam

[rajsuman]

As I've said elsewhere, I want to make Gulab Jamuns for this Diwali. Most Diwalis I make things that we don't usually get here like samosas, kachoris and chilli potato wafers. Sweets vary - last year I made kalakand and karanjis. This year, GJs and maybe kaju katli.

Suman

[aneja_r]

As per tradition mithai is a must. For pooja, jalebi, mithi seviya (without milk) and one more mithai (which could be anything) are essential. For dinner, chana dal pulao is a regular feature every year.