A celebration of the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance, Diwali is a feast for the eyes, and of course the stomach. Festivals are about gobbling delish delicacies and Diwali is no exception. Ladoos, rasmalai, kaju katli, pinni and nevri form the dining spread at every household. Every year, we try giving an innovative spin to traditional recipes and preparations and love them too. Here is a list of recipes that you must-try, this season
Almond and Sesame Pinni by Chef Manish Mehrotra
Ingredients
2 cup Wheat flour
2½ tbsp Semolina
¼ cup Roasted Almond slivers
¼ cup Roasted White Sesame powder
¾ cup Pure ghee
1½ tbsp. Gram flour (besan)
1 cup sugar
½ Water
½ Green cardamom powder
1 tbsp Roasted white sesame
3 tbsp Roasted whole almonds
Method:
- Heat ghee in a pan, add semolina and wheat flour to it. Roast the mixture till a golden colour is achieved.
- Mix the sugar and water in a pan, and put it over low heat. Cook till single string sugar syrup is formed.
- Mix the sugar syrup with the wheat flour mixture. Add the green cardamom powder.
- Cook the mixture till it becomes a little dry. Add the roasted almond flakes and ground white sesames to the mixture and mix well.
- Allow the mixture to cool. Divide the mixture into equal parts and shape it into rounds.
- Cut the roasted almond into halves and place it over the pinnis and roll the pinnis gently in roasted white sesame.
Almond Mixed Grain Biryani by Chef Manish Mehrotra
Ingredients
½ cup Barley washed & drained
½ cup 1Brown rice, washed & drained
1/2 cup Pearl Millet, washed & drained
2 tbsp Ghee
1 tbsp Garlic, Chopped
1 tbsp Ginger, Chopped
1tbsp Green Chilli, Chopped
1/2 cup Baby carrots, diced
1/4 cup Onion red, sliced
½ Black Pepper, Crushed
1/2 tsp Salt to Taste
7 cups 1Vegetable stock
1 tbsp Cumin seeds
1 ½ Chopped Coriander
1 ½ Chopped Spring Onion
1/4 cup Almonds
Method
- Heat ghee in a large dutch oven/pot over medium heat. Add cumin seeds & bay leaf. As it crackles add onion, green chilli, garlic & ginger; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add carrots. Raise heat to medium-high, and cook, until carrots are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in all of the grains and cook for 12 minutes. Stir in stock; bring to a boil.
- Add almonds. Cover the pot, and put in oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 180 degree celsius (check after 30 minutes; remove lid and cook a little longer if grains need to be softer). Fold in chopped herbs. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
Mango mousse hazelnut crumble by Chef Mahek Sugandh, Founder, The Binge artisan chocolates
Ingredients
135 gms White chocolate
310 gms Cream
55 gms Mango purée
Method
In a stand mixer, whisk cream and gradually add melted white chocolate.
Add mango purée in the cream and white chocolate mixture and whip until it is light fluffy.
Pour the mixture in glass jars and refrigerate.
Garnish with hazelnut crumble and top it off with luscious diced mango and enjoy!
Hazelnut crumble
Ingredients
36 gms Butter
14 gms Hazelnut paste (100%)
50 gms Granulated sugar
50 gms All-purpose flour
50 gms Hazelnut flour
Method
- Mix the softened butter, hazelnut paste and the granulated sugar in a stand mixer (paddle attachment).
- Add all purpose flour and the hazelnut flour to the mixer until all the ingredients are well combined.
- Freeze for few hours and then process. Transfer the crumble to sheet pans and bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes.
- Once the crumble has cooled, store until needed. Crunchy and sweet, this mango dessert is sure to get stuck in your mind for long.
Whole Wheat Nevri By Narasinh Kamat, Executive Chef at DoubleTree by Hilton Goa Panaji
Ingredients
For outer pastry of Nevri
1 cup whole wheat flour
1.5 tablespoons ghee or oil
¼ to ⅓ cup water or add as required
1/4 teaspoon salt
For Nevri stuffing
- 1 tablespoon ghee or oil
- 1 cup freshly grated coconut
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoon grated jaggery
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 7 to 8 cashews, chopped finely
- 19 to 20 golden raisins (or 1 tablespoon of golden raisins), chopped finely
Method
For the outer pastry of Nevri
- Mix 1 cup of whole wheat flour with 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Keep aside.
- Heat 1.5 tablespoons ghee/oil in a small pan or tadka pan.
- Add the hot ghee/oil to the flour salt mixture.
- Just allow the ghee/oil to cool if using your fingers, else you might burn them. Rub the melted ghee in the flour, with your fingers. The flour should have a bread crumb like texture.
- Then add 1/4 cup water and begin to knead the dough. Add more water if required while kneading the dough.
- Knead to a smooth dough.
- The dough should be neither too soft nor too thick. Wrap the dough with a damp muslin or cotton cloth and allow to rest for 10 to 12 minutes.
Making stuffing for Nevri recipe
- In a pan, melt 1 tablespoon ghee.
- Add 1 cup of fresh grated coconut.
- Stir and saute the coconut for 2 minutes on low heat.
- Add the chopped cashews and raisins.
- Now add 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon of grated jaggery.
- Stir well and saute the mixture for 2 to 3 minutes on low flame.
- Don’t saute the jaggery for a long time, just mix well.
- Switch off the gas and sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder.
- Transfer the mixture to a plate. Allow the mixture to come to room temperature.
Assembling and making Nevri
- Uncover the dough. Knead the dough again. Then roll and form into a log.
- Cut the log in equal slices.
- Roll each dough piece between the palms of your hands and then gently flatten into a round or oval shape. Just ensure the balls have no cracks in them. I got 7 balls from the dough.
- Dust some flour over it.
- Roll the dough round in 4 to 5 inches diameter circle.
- Similarly roll all the dough balls into thin circle of almost same size and thickness.
- Brush some water towards the edges of the nevris.
- Place 1 tablespoon or 2 to 3 teaspoons of the stuffing in the center or on one side of the circle, keeping the edges empty. Make sure you don’t over stuff as then it becomes difficult to shape the nevris. They may also break while frying.
- Fold from one side. Seal the edges properly.
- Now with your fingertips, start pinching and pleating the pressed edges.
- Keep on pleating till you come to the end.
- Seal the end carefully with a pleat. Just ensure the edges are sealed properly else they might break while frying.
- Make all nevris this way. Keep the prepared nevris covered with a moist kitchen towel, so that they dough does not dry out.
Frying Nevri
- Heat 2 to 3 cups of oil in a pan.
- Once oil is hot, deep fry 1 to 2 nevris at a time depending upon the size of pan or kadai.
- Once one side is crisp and golden then flip the nevris and deep fry the other side until golden brown. Flip once or twice for even browning and cooking.
- Place them on kitchen paper towels or napkin, to absorb excess oil if any.
- Once they come at room temperature, store them in an air-tight container. You could also keep them in the fridge.
- You can serve Goan nevris warm or at room temperature.
Gond aur Gulkand Ke Laddo Recipe by Suraj Kumar Sahoo, Executive Chef, Novotel Vijayawada Varun
Ingredients
200 gms Gond (acacia gum)
300 gms whole wheat flour
250 gms sugar
250 gms ghee
50 gms almond
50 gms pista
50 gms cashew nut
50 gms dates
50 gms gulkand
25 gms cardamom powder
METHOD:-
- Take 50 gms of ghee in a non-stick pan and heat. Add all the nuts except dates and shallow fry in slow flame until light brown. Cool and coarsely crush the nuts in a blender and keep it aside.
- Heat rest of the ghee into the kadhai and add gond to it. Make sure gond grains are getting immersed in the ghee. Or else the gond will not puff. Mix gently till gond gets puffed. Now strain the fried gond and cool.
- Take a non-stick pan. Heat the same strained ghee and add whole wheat flour and cook on slow to medium flame until golden brown. The flour will release an aromatic smell. Keep it aside for cooling. Add sugar and green cardamom powder to it and mix properly.
- Rough chop the dates and add gulkand to it. Mix and keep it for stuffing.
- For making laddu, take a large mixing bowl. Put the whole wheat mixture, coarsely chopped nuts and fried gond into it. Gently mix all the ingredients together to get a binding texture. You also can add some hot ghee while mixing to get the perfect texture.
- Now take around 30 grams of mixture and shape like a laddu by stuffing the gulkand mixture in centre.
- Garnish with crushed gond and chopped almond.
Kiwi Barfi recipe by Shubha Rawal, Director- of sourcing, and marketing at IG International
Ingredients:
1 Cup Kiwi Crush
150 gms Khoya – 150 grams
2 Bread Slices – 2
1 tablespoon Ghee
Method:
- Grind bread in a mixer grinder to form bread crumbs and keep aside
- Take kiwi crush and grated khoya in a pan. Cook till khoya melts and gets dissolved in the Kiwi crush
- Add dry fruits like almonds and cashew nut (optional)
- Add bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon of ghee. Continue cooking till you get a thick consistency and then leave the pan to cool down it will become a dough
- Take the pan off the heat and spread the contents on a greased plate. Allow it to cool down and then cut it into the desired shape.
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