Happy Diwali

Wish you all a very happy Diwali folks.


Usually I am not big on making Diwali faraal since I've found I end up having to eat most of it. Also, I cannot get into the spirit of Diwali here in the US...probably 'coz of having to go to work as usual on Diwali days.


The "OM' design in the above picture is a kind of permanent rangoli I picked up in Mumbai 2-3 yrs back. Its made of Fevicol I think. I have been using it every year since. Works well for lazy me. I only make it a point to draw rangoli on Laxmi Pooja day, its a special tortoise rangoli I learnt from a close family friend several years back. Hopefully I can post it in a day or 2.


The diya is the last of a big lot I had bought 2 years back for a Diwali presentation at my daughter's montessori class. Her teacher asked if I'd give the kids a little background on this festival. So N & me dressed up in traditional Indian clothes, distributed these diyas etc. I was surprised how well the kids responded, for several days after that, they'd come up to tell me how they loved the diyas, had their parents light it etc.


Coming to this year's Diwali treats, I made a batch of Rainbow Karanjis which I have posted earlier. Then we were off to Phoenix for 4 days visiting family. After coming back & catching up on all the housework, I was kinda tired & wanted to make something quick & easy, hence made these Almond, Walnut & Cashew Burfis I found on Manjula's Kitchen in You Tube. I followed her method exactly. The one thing I'd do differently next time is grind the nuts to a fine powder as against leaving them slightly coarse as I did this time.



These Almond, Walnut, Cashew Burfis are off to Vaishali's Sweet Vegan event at Holy Cow!



Another faraal item I could not resist the moment I saw it was this Rice Crispies Chiwda I found on Meera's Enjoy Indian Food.

The recipe is pretty flexible here, so I modified it slightly for the ingredients I had. Here's how I made it:


2 cups Rice Crispies cereal

2 cups puffed rice (kurmure)

handful of store-bought shev

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

Generous pinch of asafotida

1/2 tsp turmeric pwd

3 dry red chillies - broken into 2 pieces each

handful of cashews

handful of peanuts

few curry leaves

1/2 tsp amchoor pwd

salt and sugar to taste

Heat the oil in a large pan. Temper with the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafotida. Add the red chillies, curry leaves, cashews, peanuts, turmeric and puffed rice. Saute on medium low till the puffed rice crispens (about 7 mins). Add the rice crispies, salt, sugar, amchoor and mix well. Cool the chiwda and store in an airtight container.

This Rice Crispies Chiwda and the above Almond, Walnut, Cashew Burfis are off to the Festival JFI event at Srivalli's Cooking 4 All Seasons.