HELLO JI!
WHAT DIWALI IS ABOUT
Diwali is about celebrating traditions…and making new ones as one moves and evolves. Image credit: YAN KRUKAU on Pexels.
Dr Vicki Bismilla shared links to several collections of recipes from the diaspora, sent to her by Dr Zuleika Mayat’s son in Durban. They are a sweet reminder of the taste of home we carry with us, from continent to continent, from generation to generation, through grandmothers, mothers, aunts. Dr Mayat, whom she has profiled in her articles in Desi News, is widely regarded as the doyenne of South African Indian culture and keeper of ancestral stories of settlers from India in South Africa. She has authored books in many genres including cooking – the Indian Delights series.
I make mithai every Diwali but would describe myself as more determined than good – still at it after so many years!
In spite of being told by the men in my life that it’s far easier to just go out and buy them. And they come in those beautiful boxes, all ready to gift, they remind me as I struggle to wrap plates full of my misshapen offerings in clingwrap. It’s not like I am unaware of this, or that I am not tempted by the many offerings at the sweets shops that have proliferated across town over the years. But still I keep at it – inspired by my aunt who is in her mid-80s. With the family scattered across the globe and with everyone becoming conscious of ghee and sugar consumption, she makes smaller quantities now and the beneficiaries tend to be the house help who wait for the treats. Her recipe for gujiyas is the one I try to replicate.
Busy in the pre-Diwali whirl, I thought I’d take a quick look at the recipes Vicki sent and take a deep dive later, but was hooked!
Some have little notes from bloggers. Handwritten on a cutout of a diya, the one for Sadabahar Chatpat says, “This is a recipe that has been passed down for generations. From my mom to me to my daughter.”
They have new and old recipes – microwave date fudge and chandrakala. As well as recipes from both north and south – besan laddoos and ukkarai.
I have a little story about ukkarai, a traditional South Indian sweet. My mother-in-law’s version was famous and one year, I tried making it. I was newly-married, not an experienced cook, and we were in Dubai. So I used condensed milk instead of thickening milk, besan instead of soaking and grinding chana dal, and desiccated coconut instead of scraping and grinding a fresh one. My husband said it tasted good and so I shared the news with her on a visit back home. Amma, the sweetest lady on the planet, was happy I made it, but I could see she wasn’t impressed with my short-cuts!
After years of near-disasters when I tried something new just before Diwali or Christmas, I have now narrowed my mithai-making down to the same old, same old every year. Just safer and saner! The new ones I leave for trial and error at other times of the year.
So these have been saved in a folder called Vicki’s Diwali Recipes and shall be attempted after I make five mithai and two namkeens for this Diwali because that’s what my mother did.
Happy Dussehra! Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Diwali!
Shagorika Easwar