This is for all those who will open the newspaper, see the recipes and rush into the kitchen to supplement the store bought stuff. Most of the recipes are grandkids-tested and are made out of pronounceable, easily sourced ingredients, including thippili. Ammas, paatis, periammas and athais have made the kaarasev, maida biscuits, halwa and paniyaaram for you before, now it is your turn to make it for them. The lehiyam is the precautionary part of the menu. It is there to protect you from the eating onslaught of Deepavali. So go ahead and make it a cracker of a festival.
Statutory warning: Sweet and savouries are notoriously tempting. We are not responsible for indigestion, weight gain or hyperventilation.
Kaarasev
Ingredients
Gram flour: quarter kg
Rice flour: quarter kg
Chilli powder: 1 tsp
Pepper: 1 tbsp
Jeera: 1 tsp
Asafoetida: a pinch
Butter: 50 gm
Cooking soda: a pinch
Oil: 500 ml
Method
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and knead into a thick dough (chapatti dough consistency) using water.
Heat oil in a kadai.
Rub the dough through the ladle with holes in it over the oil.
Fry till it turns golden brown.
For those who like the taste of garlic, mix a little garlic paste into the dough as you knead it.
Crispy Maida Chips
Ingredients
Maida: 500 gm
Sugar: 4 tbsp
Salt: quarter tsp
Cooking soda: a pinch
Unsalted butter: 1 tbsp
Sesame seeds: 3 tsp
Cooking oil: 1 tbsp
Oil: For frying.
Method
Blend soda and butter. Mix with the other ingredients and knead into a smooth dough using enough water.
Let it stand for an hour. Roll into thick rotis and slice into small cubes with a knife.
Heat oil in a pan and add a handful of the cubes at a time, frying on a low flame till they turn golden brown.
Place on a hand towel-lined plate to absorb excess oil. These chips taste good when eaten alone or when added to home-made mixture.
Godhumai halwa
Ingredients
Broken wheat: 1 tumbler
Sugar: 3 tumblers
Ghee: One-and-a-half tumblers
Roasted cashew nut: a handful
Hot water: a couple of tumblers
Method
Soak the wheat for four hours and grind coarsely. Add water and sieve. Repeat till the wheat milk has been extracted. Let it stand overnight. The next morning, decant the water on top of the extracted milk. You'll be left with about a tumbler of thick wheat milk.
Make sugar syrup with water in a thick-bottomed pan. Once it comes to a boil, add the wheat milk and stir. Add some hot water and continue stirring.
Ten minutes later, add some ghee and stir till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
Add more ghee, a pinch of orange food colour and powdered cardamom. Once the mixture turns semi-solid, add a couple of drops of lime juice. Pour onto a plate greased with ghee and garnish with cashew.
After half an hour, cut it into pieces and serve.
Rava paniyaaram
Ingredients
Semolina (rava): 1 cup
Maida: 1 cup
Sugar: One-and-a-half cups
Oil: To fry
Method
Soak the rava in water for two hours.
Add maida and sugar to it and mix into a thick batter. Stir till the sugar dissolves and there are no lumps.
Heat oil in a pan. Spoon the mixture into the oil and fry till golden brown.
Deepavali Lehiyam
Ingredients
Omam: 50 gm
Jeera: 20 gm
Cinnamon: 5 gm
Clove: 5 gm
Elaichi: 5 gm
Kandathippilli: 5 gm
Ginger: 25 gm
Jaggery: 200 gm
Ghee: 1 tbsp
Honey: 1 tbsp
Pepper: 5 to 10 gm
Method
Dry roast omam, jeera, cinnamon, clove, elaichi, kandathippilli and pepper and make it into a fine powder.
Extract juice from the ginger.
Mix the juice with jaggery and make a thick paahu (one-string consistency)
Add the dried spice powder, ghee and honey to the paahu .
After a minute, take the mixture off the heat and allow it to cool.
Store in an airtight container.
