Diwali: Tasty treats to prepare for the festival of lights

Diwali is the festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, commemorating Lord Rama’s return to Ayodhya after years of exile.

These Diwali treats are not only easy to make at home, but they will be the stars of the show for your guests.

Don’t forget to make a lot more treats so you can box them and gift them to your friends and family.

Butter murukku

Ingredients

• 2 cups of rice flour
• 2 tablespoons of fried gram flour or pottukadalai
• 3 tablespoons of besan or gram flour
• 1½ tablespoons of soft butter at room temperature
• Salt as needed
• Water at room temperature as needed
• 1 pinch of hing or asafoetida
• ¾ teaspoon of cumin or sesame seeds or both
• Oil for frying

Instructions

1. Measure and keep all the ingredients ready. Powder 2 to 3 tablespoons of fried gram in a mixer jar.
2. Measure 2 tablespoons of flour and set aside.
3. Grease the murukku maker and put on the star plate.
4. Optional – You can sieve together rice flour, gram flour and besan if the flour is not fine. 
5. Mix together rice flour, fried gram flour, besan, salt, hing , cumin and soft butter. Make sure the butter incorporates well and evenly with the flour. Set this aside.
6. Heat oil on a medium flame for deep frying. While the oil heats up knead the dough.
7. Making dough for butter murukku
8. Pour water little by little as needed and mix together to form a smooth crack free dough.
9. Divide the dough to 3 parts.
10. Fill the mold with one of the part.  Keep the rest of the dough covered with a moist cloth.
11. Check if the oil is hot by testing. To test add a small flat piece of dough to the hot oil. If the dough raises the oil is hot enough to fry.
12. Making butter murukku
13. Press murukku maker over the hot oil gently to release the dough. You can also make them to spirals on a moist cloth. Gently lift them and drop in the hot oil.
14. Do not crowd the pan as the murukku needs enough space to fry crisp. Also do not disturb them for a minute otherwise they will break as the dough is light.
15. After a minute stir them often to fry evenly. When they turn golden, drain them on a kitchen tissue. Repeat to make more until the entire dough finishes.
16. Cool butter murukku and store in a airtight jar.

This recipe was found on indianhealthrecipes.com

Thattai

Ingredients

• 1½ tablespoon of peanuts
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1 tablespoon of butter (unsalted)
• 2 tablespoon of fried gram or roasted gram or pottukadalai
• 1 tablespoon of chana dal or bengal gram (soaked for 1 hour)
• 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds (crushed, optional, use fresh)
• ½ teaspoon of red chilli powder (use 1 tsp for spicy)
• ¼ teaspoon of asafoetida or hing
• salt as needed
• 1 sprig curry leaf chopped finely
• Water as needed
• Oil for deep frying as needed

Instructions

1. Wash and soak chana dal for 1 hour. Drain and set aside.
2. Dry roast urad dal or peanuts until lightly golden and cool them. If using peanuts, remove the skin.
3. Add urad dal to a blender jar along with fried gram. Make a fine powder. If using peanuts, then powder fried gram very fine, then add skinned peanuts and make a coarse powder. You can also powder sesame seeds.
4. Making thattai dough
5. To a mixing bowl, add rice flour, urad dal & fried gram powder, red chili powder, hing, salt, sesame seeds & chopped curry leaves.
6. Drain the soaked chana dal and add it to the bowl.
7. Also add soft butter & mix all of them well to incorporate the butter.
8. Pour little water and begin to mix everything to make thattai dough.
9. Add more water as needed and make the dough.
10. Dough has to be non sticky, stiff and smooth.
11. Too moist dough will make your thattai greasy as the excess moisture will soak up oil.
12. Next too little moisture in the dough will make the thattai crack a lot while spreading the dough and make them hard.
13. Taste the dough and add more salt if required.
14. Divide the dough to 14 to 16 balls. Keep it covered.
15. How to make thattai
16. Heat oil on a medium flame in a wide kadai.
17. Spread a dry cloth, grease your fingers.
18. Place a ball on the cloth or greased sheet.
19. Begin to spread them moderately thin.
20. Very thin thattai will break when you remove from the cloth. Very thick ones will not turn crisp.
21. If the edges begin to crack then join them together.
22. Make as many thattai as possible till the oil heats up.
23. Check if the oil is hot by dropping a tiny flat piece of dough. It should rise and not sink.
24. Transfer one thattai at one time to the hot oil.
25. You can fry more than one thattai at one time if there is space in your kadai. But do not crowd them as they will not fry properly.
26. Make sure the flame is set to medium high. Low flame will make them oily and high flame will brown them.
27. Flip them when fried on one side. Flip as needed to both the sides and fry until evenly golden & crisp.
28. When they are fried fully, bubbles will begin to reduce in the oil.
29. Drain them on a kitchen tissue.
30. Repeat frying them in batches.
31. When they cool down, transfer them immediately to a tight air tight container.
32. Serve thattai as a snack. They keep good for about 2 weeks if fried in fresh oil.

This recipe was found on indianhealthrecipes.com

Sev

Ingredients

• 2 cups of besan (fine gram flour)
• ½ cup of rice flour (fine flour, 2 tbsp extra for extra crisp)
• 1 tablespoon of oil (hot)
• ¼ teaspoon of turmeric (optional)
• ¾ teaspoon of salt (adjust to taste)
• ¾ teaspoon of red chili powder (skip for plain sev)
• ¾ tablespoon of ajwain
• ⅛ teaspoon of hing (asafoetida)
• 2 cups of oil (for frying)

Instructions

1. If making plain sev, skip this step. For flavoring, add ajwain powder to half cup boiling hot water. Cover and keep aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Filter the water and use for kneading the dough. If you like green chili or garlic flavour, blend 3 garlic cloves or 3 green chilies and add to cold water. Strain and use only as needed.
2. To a large bowl, add gram flour, rice flour, salt, chili powder, turmeric and hing. Mix well.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a kadai until hot. Pour this to the flour.
4. Using a spoon mix it well. Then use your hand to incorporate the oil well to the flour. Rub the flour with your palms for a while to incorporate the oil evenly. Break up any lumps of flour and oil.
5. Add water only as required and make a non sticky dough. You can use plain water if you don’t prefer the spiced water.
6. How to make sev or omapodi
7. Heat oil in a deep frying pan on a medium flame.
8. Meanwhile grease the sev maker/ mould with little oil using a brush. Fill the dough in the mould. Fit the plate with the smallest holes to your sev maker.
9. Fill ⅓ of the prepared dough or as much to fill your sev maker.
10. Check if the oil is hot enough by dropping a small portion of dough. The oil is ready when the dough rises without browning.
11. Regulate the flame to medium. Press the mould gently over the hot oil in circular motion to release the dough in circular discs.
12. If you are a beginner, then grease a perforated ladle with little oil. Squeeze the dough on to the ladle and keep the ladle in the oil. Within a few minutes the sev will release on its own to to hot oil.
13. Fry the omapodi until crisp and golden. Remove them to a colander or kitchen tissue.
14. To make the next batch of sev, ensure the oil is medium hot and not too hot. If the oil is too hot they will burn. If the oil is not hot enough they will soak up the oil.
15. Cool all of the sev and transfer to air tight jars. I usually break them and store in separate containers so they remain crisp and fresh for longer.
16. Serve sev as a tea time snack or garnish your chaat snacks with it.

This recipe was found on indianhealthrecipes.com

Poha chivda

Ingredients

• ¾ cup rolled oats
• 1 cup poha or beaten rice/ attukulu or puffed rice or cornflakes
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 3 tablespoons of peanuts or cashews
• ½ teaspoon of mustard
• ½ teaspoon of cumin or jeera
• 1 red chili broken
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1 to 2 green chilies
• 3 to 4 garlic, crushed
• 2 to 3 tablespoon of fried garm or roasted gram or putani
• 2 tablespoon of dried coconut (copra) thinly sliced & chopped
• salt as needed
• ½ red chili powder as needed
• turmeric as needed
• 1 pinch of asafoetida or hing

ALSO READ: Diwali 2021: Here’s what you need to know about the festival of lights

Instructions

1. Dry roast oats until slightly golden. They will not turn golden. Set them aside to a plate.
2. Next roast poha in the same pan. Keep stirring and fry until crisp and light. Set them aside.
3. Heat oil and crackle mustard, cumin and red chili. Roast peanuts until golden.
4. Add garlic, green chili and curry leaves.
5. When the garlic begins to smell good. add coconut and fried gram.
6. Fry until the coconut smells good.
7. Add turmeric, chili powder and salt. Switch off the stove.
8. Transfer poha and oats. Mix everything well.
9. When the mixture cools down, add more salt if needed and pour little coconut or olive oil. Toss them.
10. Store oats chivda in a air tight jar and use within 2 weeks.

This recipe was found on indianhealthrecipes.com

Vegetable samosas

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 potato, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 100g of frozen peas
• 2 teaspoon of curry powder or your own spices according to taste
• 100ml of vegetable stock
• 225g of plain flour
• 2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 2l of vegetable oil to deep fry

Instructions

1. To make the filling, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic, mix in the spices and fry for 10 mins until soft. Add the vegetables, seasoning and stir well until coated. Add the stock, cover and simmer for 30 mins until cooked. Leave to cool.
2. To make the pastry, mix flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the oil and 100ml water to make a firm dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 5-10 mins until smooth and roll into a ball. Cover in cling film and set aside at room temperature for 30 mins.
3. Divide the pastry into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and roll out into a circle of 15cm. Divide this circle into two equal pieces with a knife.
4. Brush each edge with a little water and form a cone shape around your fingers, sealing the dampened edge. Fill with 1 tablespoon mixture and press the two dampened edges together to seal the top of the cone. Repeat with the remaining pastry.
5. Heat the oil in a large deep saucepan to 180C. The oil should come 1/3rd of the way up the pan. Deep fry the samosas in batches for 8-10 mins until crisp and brown. Take out and drain on kitchen paper.

This recipe was found on bbcgoodfood.com

Barfi

Ingredients

• 300ml of condensed milk
• 1 cup of water
• 2½ cups of milk powder
• 1 teaspoon of powdered green cardamom
• 2 tablespoon of ghee
• 1 handful of pistachios

Instructions

1. Take a large bowl and add milk powder to it along with milk. Make a rigid dough using these ingredients. Once done, keep the dough in the freezer and freeze it for at least for 20 minutes.
2. Grate The Dough & Heat Some Ghee
3. Take the dough and grate it in a bowl. Keep this grated dough aside for further usage. Take a deep bottomed pan, keep it on low flame and heat ghee in it.
4. Cook The Grated Dough With Cardamom
5. Add the grated dough to this pan with water. Mix well and stir in cardamom powder in the pan. Cook this mixture until the water dries out and the mixture accumulates in the centre of the pan.
6. Garnish With Silver Varq & Almonds Before Serving
7. Pour this prepared mixture into a greased tray and garnish it with almonds and pistachios. Let the mixture cool down and cut the barfi into desired shapes. Garnish it with silver varq and serve!

This recipe was found on recipes.timesofindia.com

Mango chia pudding

Ingredients

• 2 cups Whole milk or Non-dairy milk (coconut, soy, almond, or cashew milk) – any milk of your choice.
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons of honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar (any sweetener of your choice)
• 2 cups of mango puree (approximately 3 large fresh mangoes preferred, but can use frozen mango chunks or canned mango puree too)

Instructions

1. In a bowl, simply add milk, chia seeds, and sweetener. Mix it well. Keep it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
2. After 15 minutes, bring this mixture out, stir to get out any chia seeds clumps that have formed.
3. You can now place this mixture in the fridge to set for 2 hours or overnight, up to 12 hours.
4. While the chia seed pudding is setting, you can peel the skin and remove the flesh of the mangoes. Add this flesh to a high-power blender and blend it into a smooth puree. See that the mangoes you use are ripe and sweet for good results. Keep this in the refrigerator till you are ready to serve. I have not added any sugar to sweeten the mango puree as the fresh mangoes were already very sweet. Adding sugar or not is totally optional here as you have already sweetened your chia seed pudding.
5. Once chia pudding is set, it becomes gelatinous in texture,  In serving glasses, spoon the chia seed pudding followed by a layer of mango puree. Garnish it with some more mango chunks or any toppings of your choice.
6. Any leftovers can be stored back in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

This recipe was found on cookwithkushi.com

Vermicelli kheer

Ingredients

• 60g of red rice vermicelli or any vermicelli of your choice
• 1½ to 2 tablespoons of butter or ghee
• 2 to 2½ cups of Whole Milk
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of sugar (adjust to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon of cardamom powder
• 8 to 10  saffron strands or thread
• 1 tablespoon of almonds, chopped (you can substitute it with cashews, pistachios or raisins)

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee or butter in a pan. If you are already using pre-roasted vermicelli, skip this step. Else add vermicelli or semiya and roast till light golden and aromatic on medium flame. Keep sautéing during the process so that you do not burn them.
2. Add whole milk and bring the roasted vermicelli to a boil on low to medium flame. Keep stirring to avoid any burning at the bottom.
3. Continue to cook till the vermicelli becomes soft and is cooked through.
4. Add sugar (adjust to taste), cardamom powder, and saffron (kesar) and continue to cook on low flame till the sugar has dissolved completely. Switch off the flame.
5. In a small pan heat 1 tablespoon of ghee or butter. Add almonds (and/or cashews, pistachios) and sauté till light golden in color. Switch off the flame. Add this to the kheer and mix well
6. Red Rice Vermicelli kheer or payasam is ready. Serve and enjoy.

This recipe was found on cookwithkushi.com