Sweets and Savories for Diwali Part I

I might as well wave the white flag now:  from now through New Year’s Eve, it is going to be a gluttonous couple of months.  Salads and juice cleanses will have to go on the back burner.  But what are celebrations without food (and good food at that)?  Moderating is going to be a tough task!

This week I’ve been looking up recipes for Diwali, the Indian “festival of lights” (about Diwali), and started to make a few goodies as Diwali gifts that I plan to give family and friends over the next couple of weeks.  Mathri or fried salted crackers, are one of my favorite savory Indian snacks.  I fell in love with them years ago, when I had them for the first time, during our wedding festivities.  The savory taste of the crackers balance out the rich sweetness of Indian sweets, and they go so well with spicy Indian pickles and a cup of chai.  I found a very easy recipe for mathris, which I have included below.  I used my poori press to flatten the discs before frying, which made the whole process a piece-of-cake.

Simple Mathri Recipe:  http://whatscookingmom.in/mathri/

*I fried the crackers for a good 3-4 minutes on medium heat to get the color to a deep golden brown, and to ensure that the mathris were crispy.  To store the mathris, make sure that they have cooled down completely before putting them in an airtight container.  The mathris should stay fresh for a couple of weeks.

Sweet and Savory

I love snacks (who doesn’t?).  I love having them around.  I religiously have snacks at tea time and sometimes make a meal out of them.  In keeping with my philosophy of eating primarily home-cooked food, I decided to make some (relatively) healthy snacks to have at home for those middle-of-the-afternoon munchies.

“Chevra” or mixture is a savory snack common in most parts of India.  It is served at breakfast or tea time to add a bit of substance and flavor.  I used to make a simplified version that I grew up on which was pan fried flattened rice (poha), spiced with chopped chillis and served with peas, for a light breakfast. I found another version on Pinterest, which has more ingredients in it, and has a bit more kick.  Once the mixture cools down, you can store it in an airtight container for a few weeks.

http://www.stellasmeza.blogspot.com/2013/05/chevra-or-chevdo.html?m=1 

*I omitted the yellow lentils, rice crispy cereal, corn flakes, and shoe string potato sticks.  For a simpler, but similar concoction, I used 2 cups of thin flattened rice (called poha and available in most Indian markets) which I pan-fried with 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet or pan until the flakes were crisp, but not too brown.  (This was after the asafetida, green chilli,  and curry leaf steps, listed in this recipe).  After removing the crispy poha and curry leaf mixture from the stove and placing it in a large round bowl – I added a handful of roasted and salted peanuts (Trader Joe’s Old Fashion Blister Peanuts are great), and about a cup of thin sev (I used the packaged Deep Foods Thin Sev found in Indian markets).  I would recommend adding the salt (to taste), last, as the salt in the peanuts and the sev will make the mixture pretty salty.  You can even add some lightly toasted shredded coconut for added flavor.  The combinations are endless!

Chocolate is another one of those necessary evils to have around.  I’ve wanted to try my hand at making truffles for awhile now and coincidentally came across a nice little write up in the Food section of Huffington Post about homemade truffles.  The Lemon Chiffon Truffle recipe in particular, caught my eye (and caused me to salivate).  The recipe is fairly straight forward.  I would recommend using a melon baller, which makes it easier to scoop out the chocolate and creates truffles of the same size and shape.  I would also recommend leaving the truffles in the freezer overnight, to really solidify the chocolate.  (Also, do not recommend making these when outside temps are high, without the AC on.  Otherwise, get ready for a gloppy mess!)  You can purchase chocolate wrappers at any craft supply store or Amazon.com, for a neat little gift!  I keep a dozen or so of these in the fridge for a sugar fix, or for unexpected guests.  People will think you slaved over the stove for hours!

http://sweetannas.com/2011/03/lemon-chiffon-truffles.html