My husband never fails to look through the Diwali goody bags hoping to find his all time favourite - mixture. And, once a year the side board in our dining area turns into a mini mixture outlet.
Over the years this famous Indian snack has seen many variations. People have tried to make it healthy by adding pounded ragi flakes, dry roasted red rice aval, raisins, various other lentils and so on. They’re all very tasty in their own way but it is the traditional deep fried boondi mixture, all crisp and golden with the bits of crunchy curry leaves, fried peanuts, cashewnut halves and thin long sev that is the true love. It is the Diwali mixture that produces the avalanche of crunch in the mouth.
You can’t eat the noisy mixture on the sly. It is exhausting if not impossible to eat it noiselessly. And anyway, a companion always improves the experience. This mindless chomping leads to some very deep conversations.
I rediscovered another favourite on one of my jaunts in Town Hall. I hadn’t seen it in decades. It was at the New Annapurna Sweets on Raja street where in see through cabinets amongst many other goodies was the diamond biscuits of my childhood. These were always added to the mixture that was made at home. When the cooks employed to make the Diwali palaharam first made the mixture first and then add to it these mildly sweet /salty nuggets. That hint of sugar would add a perfect contrast to the chilli flavor in the mixture.
We each had our own unique way of eating mixture. My mother took a spoonful in the middle of her palm and pop a few individual bits into her mouth before tossing in the final crumbs in one whole swoop. The spoon would go in again for another scoop. We, the kids would just dip our fingers into the mixture and take it straight into our mouths. Of course, this meant more mixture on the floor than anywhere else, but we really didn’t care. The better behaved amongst us used bowls and spoons.
We were also allowed to eat mixture at meal times. We filled a bowl with thick fresh curd, topped that with a mound of mixture which we then ate by the spoonful. Delicious! I have successfully passed that habit on to the next generation of mixture connoisseurs and they love it just as much.
My many aunts have once again lovingly prepared and packed lots of mixture for the festivities. The diamond biscuit that I bought will be added to the mixture and we shall chomp our way down memory lane, yet again.
Make your own mixture
Ingredients
1 cup kara boondi
1 cup Omapodi
1 cup beaten rice flakes
1/4 cup roasted bengal gram
1/2 cup roasted peanuts with skin
1/4 cup broken cashew nuts
1/2 cup curry leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Chilli powder and salt to taste
1/4 cup oil of choice
Method
Take a wide-mouthed shallow pan. Add oil and set on medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the beaten rice, curry leaves, cashew nuts, peanuts and Bengal gram. Sauté until all the ingredients turn golden. Add the spice powders and a little salt. Mix until well coated. Take off heat and remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper. Once cool, mix in the kara boondi and omapodi. Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer to an airtight tin.
