Tasty Treats For Diwali Wishes

Diwali 2011 is just around the corner and it is time for the sweets, snacks, lights and crackers again. While you may be busy preparing the sweets for Diwali, you mustn't ignore the savoury part of the festival. It's always nice to have some tasty treats on hand to serve the guests who arrive with Diwali wishes. Here are some simple recipes for two Diwali snacks.

They can be prepared in advance and stored to serve on the days of Diwali.

1.     Chakli

Ingredients

• 4 cups rice
• 2 cups of Bengal gram (chana dal)
• 1 cup black gram
• ½ cup of coriander seeds
• ¼ cup cumin seeds
• ¼ cup white sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)
• Red chili powder (according to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• ½ teaspoon of haldi (turmeric powder)
• Pinch of asafetida
• ½ cup of ghee (clarified butter)

To prepare:

• Roast rice, Bengal gram, and black gram separately on low heat until crisp. Do not use any oil for roasting.
• Roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds, sesame seeds.
• Grind all the ingredients into a fine powder. Add salt, chili powder, asafetida to the powder
• Heat the ghee in a pan.
• Pour the hot ghee into the powder
• Add some boiling water and knead into a soft dough.
• Put the dough into a chakli mold (available at Indian grocery stores).
• Press the molds to make spiral chaklis.
• Deep fry the chaklis in oil at low heat until crisp.
• Cool and store in an airtight container

Note:

• If you do not have chakli molds then you can also use your icing gun to make the shapes.
• You can use ghee to fry the chaklis
• These can be stored for up to a month.

2.     Mathri

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup of maida (all-purpose flour)
• ¾ cup wheat flour
• ½ cup dahi (yoghurt)
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

To prepare:

• Combine all-purpose flour, wheat flour, yoghurt, oil, salt, carom seeds, and knead into firm dough.
• Keep the dough aside for ½ hour.
• Now take small pieces of the dough and roll into thin rolls of 2 inch diameter.
• Prick the mathri with a fork so that it does not fluff up when fried.
• Heat the oil on medium heat and fry the mathris until golden brown in colour and crisp.
• Drain on a paper towel and cool
• Store in an airtight container.