Munchies

I looked forward to festivities as a kid. One of my favorite amongst them was Diwali. With the festival of lights came loads of sweets and savories and no curfew on making a meal out of these delicacies.  It was every child's dream come true once a year.. Times have changed and we find ourselves indulging in store-bought-mass-made savories on a whim. The exclusivity of home made delicacies are a thing of the past, when mothers and grandmothers slogged in the kitchen a day or so before the festivals, to make these delectable munchies for their family and friends to enjoy on the festive day.  The taste was unique and the main ingredients were mostly love. 

This post is mainly to celebrate all those wonderful women  (mainly my mom and mom-in law) who tireless whipped these delicacies all these years to make festivities memorable for us their children. This  is also for those of us that want to continue this tradition of love. 

Here are a few recipes from my mom's  kitchen for..

Murukku

Ingredients

1 cup besan (Gram Flour), pinch of salt, lgm Asofatida , 1 Tablespoon Unsalted butter ,4 cups rice powder/flour, Murukku Mould, Oil for deep frying.

Mix all of the above into a dough . Place a lump of dough into the murukku maker and squeeze to pipe out the patterns either onto a plate or straight into hot oil and fry until light brown and crispy.

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Tattai's / Crunchy Rice Patties

Ingredients

Rice Powder 1 cup ,Bengal Gram Dal (chana Dal/ kadalai Paruppu) 1/4 cup, Peanuts, Salt ,Red chili pepper powder,1/2 coconut (grated) ,Asafetida 1-2 pinches, Butter 2 tablespoon, Oil for deep frying.

Soak Bengal Gram Dal for about 4-5 hrs. After its fully soaked drain with a colander and mix with rice powder , peanuts , salt , Red chili pepper powder, Grated coconut , Asafetida and butter. Mix it into a (pizza or roti ) dough like consistency. Fold this dough in a wet cloth and keep aside while u heat oil in a pan for deep frying. When the oil is at optimum temperature, pinch out grape size dough and flatten it in your palm and drop it into the oil to deep fry until brown and crispy.

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Tukdas / Shakkar Paaraas

Ingredients

All Purpose flour (Maida) 1.5 cups , Sugar 1/3 cup, 1/3 cup Butter , Oil for deep frying.

Mix all the ingredients and knead into a soft dough . Pinch out a golf ball size dough and with a rolling pin roll it into a tortilla (roti). Cut the tortilla into small 1 inch x 1 inch squares with a pizza cutter or knife and deep fry until golden brown.

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Cheedais / Rice Bullets

Ingredients

Rice Flour 2 cups,1/2 fresh grated coconut, salt and two pinches of Sesame seeds(Til), butter two teaspoons ,Oil for deep frying. If u want u can add Asafetida and red chili pepper powder.

Mix all the ingredients and knead it into a dough. Pinch peanut size dough and roll it into balls. And keep aside on a plate until all the dough has been rolled into small balls . Deep fry until golden brown and crisp. Usually when its being deep fried it gives a hissing sound with bubbles when the hissing sound and bubbles subside the Cheedais are ready to be taken from the oil onto a colander be cooled down to room temperature.

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Ribbon Pakodas / Rice Ribbons

Ingredients

Red Gram Dal (toor dal) ,4 cups rice powder/flour, salt, 2 Tablespoon Unsalted butter , Red Chili Pepper Powder 1-2 tsp , Oil for deep frying.

Mix all the ingredients and knead into a soft dough . Pinch out a golf ball size dough and with a rolling pin roll it into a tortilla (roti). Cut thin long strips of the dough using a knife or pizza cutter and deep fry the strips until crisp and golden brown.

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Ompodi / crunchy noodles /Bhujiya

Ingredients

Rice Flour 1cups , Gram Flour (besan) 1 cup ,Carom Seeds (Ajwain) (ground in a mortar) 2 tsps., Asafetida 1 pinch, Murukku Mould with fine holes, Oil for deep frying.

Mix all the ingredients and knead into a dough. Place a lump of dough into the murukku maker and squeeze to pipe out directly into hot oil (loosely ) in a circular motion . Make sure not to lump the batter in one place. Fry until golden brown or crispy.

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Rava Laddu

Ingredients

Semolina Flour (Rava) 1 cup , Clarified butter (Ghee) 3 tbs(approx) , Sugar 1 cup, Broken Cashews Handful, Raisins handful , Saffron a pinch, Cardamom 1tsp.

In a pan dry roast (with out Ghee or butter) the flour until it turns light brown.  Grind this with cardamom, saffron and sugar to a slightly coarse powder.  Heat the clarified butter and sauté  cashews and raisins. Mix these with the flour and pack /roll it into balls while hot. 

Please note these are quite flimsy and would crumble when touched. But thats the fun of it :)

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Burfi

Ingredients

Chickpea flour (Besan) 1 cup, All purpose flour (Maida) 1 cup, Sugar 2 cups, Clarified butter (Ghee) 1 cup, Milk (preferably condensed) 1 tbs.

Mix all the ingredients together and cook in a heavy bottom pan on medium heat while turning often. The mixture will start cooking and leaving the sides of the pan to form one loose lump. Cook until the lump tightens a bit. Remove from flame and pour it onto a greased sheet and flatten it.  Let it sit for a few minutes . Cut it into small cubes and let it cool . Your mouth watering burfi is ready to be devoured.

Ps. These can also be rolled into balls as Laddu's.