God bless this land of great culture, heritage where festivities mark the sentiments of the country as we say, “For 12 months we have 13 festivities!” & Diwali has already knocked on the doors in the! This festival holds a lot of prominence in India and now Diwali is celebrated everywhere in different parts of the world as a legitimate festival of light! In India, Diwali is celebrated for marking the ultimate victory over evil and also symbolizing inner spiritual enlightenment!
Now then the celebration of Diwali is not subjected to any one community but also celebrated by other religions as well as a collective festival of happiness! People create astounding decorations in the festival of lights; starting from room decorations of various kinds with lovely decorative lights, colorful floral designs somewhat similar to the Mandela art.
Along with the several decorative things we cannot miss the fact that in Diwali several kinds of snacks are prepared. You’ll be amazed that in Maharashtra, the Diwali Faral is the exotic collection of Diwali dishes!
The Diwali Snack Recipes & Dishes:
1. Moong Dal Pitha
Moong Dal Pitha or Moong daler pitha bhaja is a mouth-watering sweet dish. This is a delicious starter with a ‘muh meetha kijiye’ dish! This dish is especially famous in the Northern Indian part of India & West Bengal!
Predominantly, the desserts are derived from milk as well as the Chennah based luscious sweet dipped in a wide sugar syrup packed with dry nuts & raisins. However, this recipe is unique and one of a kind that can add magic to Diwali made from moong dal or moong dal and is known as moong dal pitha recipe as uttered before!
The things you’ll be needing to prepare the Moong Dal Pitha Recipe will be provided below. To begin with, choosing Jeevan Rekha Rice Bran Oil is the utmost priority for reasons quite attached to good health.
The look & feel of the dessert is very similar to the gulab jamun recipe. But from the context of the taste and texture, it’s very different.
For pitha you need:
- 2 tsp ghee / clarified butter
- ½ cup moong dal
- 1½ cup water
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup rice flour
- Edible oil for frying
Eventually for the Syrup
- 1½ cup sugar
- 1½ cup water
- ¼ tsp saffron
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
The Method of Preparation
- Firstly, you need a pressure cooker & take around 1 tsp ghee and roast ½ cup moong dal with 1 cup water and 1 cup milk.
- 4 whistles on medium flame on the cooker.
- Whisk the dal smooth as much as you can!
- Next, you need to add ½ cup of water
- Stir well to form a smooth regularity.
- Now add 1 cup rice flour and stir well.
- Keep stirring until the mixture starts to separate from the pan.
- Add 1 tsp ghee and continue to mix. Mix until a non-sticky dough is formed separating the pan easily.
- Pinch a small ball-sized dough and shape it.
- Now comes the use of rice bran oil with a deep-frying technique; until it turns into a golden brown color!
- Dip them into the warm sugar syrup and then rest for around 2 hours before serving moong dal pitha as a Diwali dish.
2. Chakli
The preparation method of the Chakli dish
- Principally you need to combine around 1 cup of rice flour and take about half a cup of gram flour also known as besan which you can assemble in a large mixing bowl.
- The gram flour is another version of the Ground flour that is prepared out of our made from chana dal or Bengal gram.
- Make sure you don’t use any kind of chickpea flour.
- You can add about half a teaspoon of carom seeds, with half a teaspoon of cumin seeds with around 1 tablespoon of white sesame seeds.
- Add a few teaspoons of the turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder,
- Lastly an ample pinch of asafoetida and salt according to the taste & needs!
- Most importantly add a mixture of butter and edible oil to the chakli flour
- Keep adding water to the dough till it’s good enough to be formed into the chakli shapes!
3. Gujiya
Gujiya is a sweet snack dish recipe that is trendy in northern India, the Western part of India, and Bengal and Orissa in the East for that matter!
Gujiyas are pastry, crisp, flaky outer covering filled with khoya (milk solids) and dry fruits related stuffing. Gujia is usually a recipe and can be prepared in the baking recipe. You can choose your way and enjoy creating these conventional sweets both in Holi or Diwali festival.
The Recipe Idea and stuff you will need:
- Around 300 gm khoya.
- 1 tablespoon powdered green cardamom
- 2 tablespoon finely chopped almond
- 1/4 cup semolina
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 ½ cup of water
- 1 cup of rice bran oil & ghee
- 1 bowl of milk
- A little bit of Saffron for garnishing!
Making the dough and stuffing them with shaping things would be best after making small round balls and filling them as sumptuous stuffing.
4. Besan Ki Sabji
Last but not least is a little different from the normal Besan which is a spicy Indian side dish that goes well with any type of rice or Flatbreads. We ordinarily can eat this Diwali recipe with either Roti or Paratha. We can’t declare this as a side dish.
- You need to heat about 4 tablespoons of edible oil in a pan.
- In case the Jeevan Rekha rice bran oil is hot enough add some asafetida, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, etc.
- Please add chopped green chilies, chopped spring onions, and sauté for 3 minutes.
- Add coriander powder, red chili powder, salt, and mix well.
- Add 4 cups of heated water and keep stirring constantly without a lump.
This is the time of the month when several people come together to celebrate the festivity. Anyways, food is such an important cultural aspect in India, a country where the food varies wildly from north to south. I have divided the foods to eat by savor vs sweet Diwali snacks as I am sure we are all looking for something spicy!
However, after the Pandemic, we must make sure that the vaccination drive is still going on therefore we must comply with the rules and regulations. We must take absolute care of our heart and therefore, we must make sure that the edible oil that we use should be nutritious!
