The routine on the first day of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is always the same for my family: We rise at an ungodly hour, energize with a steaming cup of coffee and biscuits, and jam to Bollywood music while decorating the freshly cleaned house with little diyas (earthen oil lamps), fairy lights, and intricate patterned rangoli designs made with colored rice, flower petals, and quartz powder. My favorite part, though, is sampling various snacks and sweets in the days leading up to this five-day celebration.
Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Newar Buddhists globally, so naturally there are some regional differences when it comes to the food. Frankly, I’m not much of a cook, and have a never-ending list of excuses to get out of kitchen duties. But, when it comes to Diwali, cooking with my mom and aunts in a shared kitchen at one of our homes is a social tradition that I don’t want to miss out on.
The women will spend hours curating a special Diwali menu, dicing vegetables, sourcing the freshest fruits, blending fresh spices, and whisking up chutneys. The real showstoppers, though, are fried snacks and mithai. According to Hindu tradition, the ingredients in mithai (sugar, milk, ghee) are considered to besattvic，或纯净的人，可以被包括精神领袖和素食主义者在内的任何人吃掉，这使他们成为宗教仪式和大型聚会期间的最佳奉献。
As a Gujarati American hailing from the western coast of India, my family’s delicacies include plenty of sweets that are a combination of visually delightful sweets and fried snacks that pair well with alcoholic beverages or standalone nibbles. There’s a saying in my household: “Mehman Bhagwan hota hai’,” which is loosely translated to “Guests are God.” Food is at the heart of each family gathering, and a tribute to the hospitable Indian culture that emphasizes feeding, and cooking, with others as a labor of love.
自从我小时候，我妈妈做了chakri, a golden brown crunchy, savory snack made from chickpea flour, butter, red chilli powder, turmeric, sesame seeds, salt, and pepper to taste. The spirals are created courtesy of ahand gadgetthat releases the dough into a deep fryer. Once fried, the spirals are placed on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil and then lightly drizzled with a few drops of lemon juice. Since they have a long shelf life, they can be made days or even a week in advance and stored. My mom actually makes Diwali gift baskets for the family and chakri is featured annually.
多年来，我们试图选择“更健康”的替代方法，因为我们的新陈代谢放慢了速度。我的Ranjana aunty’schevdo, a snack mix of fried lentils (or sometimes even cornflake cereal), peanuts or almonds, potato crisps, crispy sev, curry leaves, beaten rice flakes, and spices, is one of these choices and is the ideal marriage of sweet and savory. The spices, including curry leaves and green chillies, give the crispy snack a kick, but the sweetness of the peanuts and sometimes even raisins balance the heat. The thing with chevdo is that once you start eating it, it’s hard to stop.
我的爱吃甜食最大 - 实际上，我爸爸曾经在冰箱上方的锁上橱柜里放着所有甜点，以使它们无法触及。现在我年纪大了Diwali Khajur (nut) roll.
These balls of goodness are made from a mixture of dates, almonds, pistachio, cardamom, and sugar (optional) and topped with toasted coconut. The dates are ground, lightly sauteed in ghee, and then cooled. A separate mixture of the remaining nuts are blended and then added to the date mixture. My family likes to create small balls out of this mixture, though many opt to roll it into a log and then refrigerate it for a few hours. These certainly hold you over until the mains are served for dinner.
The only thing I love more than sweets are the quick, easy recipes that achieve the same satisfaction. A recent favorite dessert that I plan on making again this Diwali is chef Kamana Bhaskaran’sDiwali Ladoo Cheesecake Cupsthat I discovered while browsing Instagram last year. These no-bake Indian-inspired cheesecake cups are made from my favorite Parle-G biscuits that I am guilty of eating one too many of, plus cream cheese, condensed milk, and vanilla, topped with traditional Indian ladoos.
Maybe one day I will be the woman leading the kitchen like my mom and all the generations of Indian women before her, but until then, these hacked Diwali desserts will do.
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