Diwali wishes are upon us and it’s time to put on your cooking apron and prepare some tasty sweets and snacks to serve your family and friends.
There is nothing better than the taste of homemade fresh snacks during Diwali 2012 that can really set the mood for the Diwali holidays.
Of course, we’d prefer not to be slaving over a hot stove all day. So here are some quick and easy recipes for snacks which can be prepared a few days in advance:
1. Chakli
Ingredients
- Rice- 4 cups
- Bengal gram (chana dal)- 2 cups
- Black gram- 1 cup
- Coriander seeds – ½ cup
- Cumin seeds – ½ tablespoon
- White sesame seeds- ¼ cup
- 1 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)
- Red chili powder (according to taste)
- Salt (to taste)
- Haldi (turmeric powder)- ½ teaspoon
- Pinch of asafetida
- ½ cup of ghee (clarified butter)
- Oil for frying
To prepare
- Roast rice, Bengal gram, black gram individually. Cool
- Roast the spices and cool.
- Grind together the rice, Bengal gram, black gram and the spices to make a fine powder.
- Add asafetida, red chili, turmeric and salt to the powder.
- Heat the ghee in a pan until smoking hot.
- Pour in the powder and mix thoroughly.
- Add a little water to make a soft dough.
- Put the dough in a chakli mold.
- Press the mold to make the spiral shapes onto a butter paper.
- Heat the mold for frying and fry the chakli at a low heat till they’re crisp and golden brown.
- Drain, cool and store in an airtight container.
Note:
- You can also use powdered rice flours available in the market.
- You can also make rice chaklis (omit the black and Bengal gram).
- Can’t find the chakli mold? You can also use your icing gun to make the shapes.
2. Ghathia
Ingredients
- ½ kg Wheat Flour
- 1 ½ cups Water
- 1/2 teaspoon Ajwain (carom seeds)
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon haldi (turmeric) powder
- 2 tablespoon of Oil
- Oil for frying
- Salt to taste
To prepare
- Sieve the flour and add hot oil to it. Rub well so that you get a crumbly mixture.
- Add salt, carom seeds, turmeric and red chili powder and mix well.
- Add enough water to knead the stiff dough.
- Roll out the dough in a big size chapatti.
- Cut it into long strips and roll the strips in a twist.
- Deep fry in hot oil till golden brown in colour.
- Drain, cool and store in airtight container
Note:
- You can add variations by using dried fenugreek leaves or dried spinach leaves
- You can give any shape to the ghathia strips before frying.
About Anukriti Parsai
Anukriti Parsai+ is a contributing member of the Diwali Network which provides event news, media, articles and Blogs for the community who celebrate Deepavali annually.
Anukriti loves every aspect of the Diwali celebration and looks forward to the preparations as well as the event every year.
