Continuing from here
Cleaning is half-way through and home is already looking beautiful. For most Hindus, Diwali is a wonderful excuse to spruce up the house, discard old unused stuff, bring in new little ideas and ofcourse make delicious food to share with loved ones.
I truly believe that old unused stuff brings in a stagnant negative energy. Simply getting a few new things and throwing away all the junk can makeover your home and bring in the positive energy. Gone are the days of whitewashing each Diwali – thanks to the expenditures involved and ‘who-has-the-time’! For starters – just hanging up new curtains over the gleaming panes is making my bedroom look brand new and spacious. Here’s what I’ve been upto…
Panes have been scrubbed clean, enough for accident-prone me to walk into them
Organised the kitchen cabinets well enough to find the right pots and pans in a jiffy
Gave away stuff that we haven’t used in the last 6 months
Bought nice earthern lamps painted red and a red thoran to hang outside our door
Also improvised on a boring, black side-table to make it colourful and bigger (Read as hold more junk)
Brought in my favourite areca nut palm plant indoors to liven up the living space
Cut to our favourite topic – FOOD
I’ve been wanting to try Nankhatai – our goold ol’ Indian cookie for quite some time. Doing a blog search on the same lead me to some blogger recipes for this cookie. Here are the recipes for the same:
Jyotsna’s Nankhatais from Pune
Krithika making Nankhatais Jyotsna’s style
Manasi’s Plain Jane cookies – A cook @ heart
Vaishali’s Narayan Kataar Naankhatai
After a great deal of blog hopping, I finally settled for Manasi’s recipe with a bit of modification in technique.
I rolled the dough in cling film, chilled them and cut them into slices instead of rolling them into balls. I actually reduced the sugar to 1/4th cup and added a pinch of salt with coarsely powdered fennel seeds. It was a salty sweet version that will appeal to the sweet-lover as well as the savoury-lover.
Spicy Khajas** ( Recipe adapted from__bawarchi.com)
Deep fried savoury crisps
Type – Festival Food, Indian Snack
Time taken – Around one hour including drying time
Spicy Khajas & Nankhatai in Diwali Blogging - Part I
Ingredients
Method
- Mix the flours with salt and spices.
- Add water little by little to make a smooth and pliable dough. Knead with one tbsp oil into a smooth ball.
- Divide into 4 big balls. Spread each ball into a big round (less than 1/2 cm thin). You can cut this into desired shapes. Prick both sides of all pieces with a fork.
- Dry out the cut out pieces on a clean kitchen towel. Repeat the same process for the other 3 balls. Dry out the pieces for 20 minutes or so on the towel like shown in the picture below.
- Heat about 1.5 cups of oil in a kadai. (use the one you prefer for deep frying).
- You can decide if the oil is hot enough by putting a small piece of dough. If it rises to the top immediately, the oil is ready.
- Put the cut out pieces in batches and fry till golden brown on a medium flame. Drain excess oil on kitchen tissues. Store in airtight container.
Hi there! Yes, Diwali is a great excuse to put things straight at home. When I lived at home, it was always annoying when Mom went on her cleaning sprees. But once I was not living at home, I realise how important it is to clean up and stay organized. And thanks for the great recipe too!g
I could feel the Diwali celebrations from here after seeing your pictures– I am missing home already Nanditha:(
WOW, your home looks absolutely wonderful Nandita. Great job !! I just love the deepam’s. Last year I could not see our apt dull during deepavali and we got a string lights and some scented candles !! This year I have a few diya’s I got from a visit to the Hindu temple here. I’m gonna try the nankhatiya’s soon, and hope I can make something special for Deepavali, school is getting pretty hectic for me!! Wish I were home 🙁
Hi NanditaGreat to see you backI really enjoy reading your blog and was wondering what happened. Ohh talk about de-cluttering. I’m one of those who attach memories to things and so can never get rid of anything. been packing and have told myself that this is my chance. it’s now or never. i wish I could give away stuff here like we would in india. Happy Diwali!!!
I miss home now..but I am trying to make some sweets and get together with friends to make it feel like Diwali as much as possible..but firecrackers…:)
Hiiii!! U have a luvly home! all spic-n-span!! True Diwali spirit! Lage Raho!! Ur Nankhatai’s look Yummy! BTW, how did u put the name on the pic? do lemme know!
Nandita – am a silent reader of ur blog all this while but couldnt resist replying today. U make everyday worth living..dont ask me why. Ur blogs just bring about a lot of life and especially the Diwali cleaning update added some colors today..Good wishesSunita
Hi Nandita,Happy Diwali to you and your family. The Nankhatai’s looks nice, i have been thinking of making them for sometime after seeing Happy Burp’s recipe, not gotten around may be it is waiting for Diwali season.Not had Spicy Khajas before, but looks delicious and simple.Abt the previous post, if you come up with a 10 point check list before buying, do share with us. I just pick up stuff, and don’t throw away the old ones. Need to do a bit of cleaning call it festive cleaning or fall cleaning.I have similar diyas too, but my aunt got them from Mumbai.~Usha
G- It’s true, we keep putting off cleaning chores etc forever and though Im not doing it FOR DIWALI, its a better time than any to get enough motivation for the chores 🙂 Or else Im just happy writing or taking pictures!!Priya B , Shankari- I know how it feels, the best way to beat the nostalgia is to start little rituals of your own. Though all of my family is in Bombay, I want to start some small rituals for our home too – thats the reason for all this hungama 🙂 Wishing you loads of good cheer this Diwali dear!Priya- I got these diyas from the market near our place – just 2 Rs each but what a beauty when lit up! Even if you dint get diyas in US, scented candles, incense sticks from Pier 1, and some floating tea lights in a big bowl of water sprinkled with flower petals is a wonderful way to get that festive atmosphere into your home Spice Lover-exactly now or never policy for me – i LOVE to hoard meaningless stuff , stuff that i would miss if it got lost, but no heart to throw them…so once i chuck them into the ‘throw’ box, i dont even second glance them, lest i change my mind hahahaManasi-Thanks for your recipe dear…house looks spic n span coz i wasnt blogging for a week, hehe..and thanks for the kind compliments too :)Sunita-Your comments really touched my heart – makes it spendign so much time on the blog worthwhile! Im glad you like what you read here…Usha – got these from a local Bombay market wonly – 20 bucks for a dozen – aint that happiness for free? Nankhatai is a good idea for diwali, u can make both sweet and savoury and except for the butter that goes in, no frying involved…and tastes yum too, this was my first attempt at it.Khajas too I havent eaten before, tried this from bawarchi’s diwali recipes – tastes like our ribbon pakoda especially because of the omam seeds.Will formulate the list in a day or so…Usha-
Manasi- putting text on pics is easy – you can use any photo editor – I have done it on Adobe photoshop
Nandita,Good to see you back. Isn’t it amazing how little knick-knacks like lamps and thorans add so much character to a room.Can you provide a link to your chennaionline article – I would love to read it. Btw, I’ve updated my blog – have put up a food quiz. Have a look at it when you can.Happy Diwali to you and your family.
Hi there,Lovely looking Nankahtai and khajas!!..Things are looking really festive at your place. You almost got me wanting to do the diwali cleaning thing myself. almost!!!!Thanks for participating and Happy diwali to you and your family…
Happy diwali Nandita.Ur diya really sets the mood for celebrations. Nice recipe for khajas .. wish you could send some to me straight. how do you celebrate diwali normally?write abt that too.
Happy Diwali Nandita! And thanks for sharing the little details about the happenings at your end! It felt really good reading your posts..almost like going over to a friend’s house! 🙂
Happy Diwali Nandita. Have fun and be Safe!I liked both the recipes, will have thm in my to do folder on my laptop
Wowee! Your place sparkles, Nandita. My cleaning got done automatically this time. I mean, with the move and all. :)Your home definitely looks worth a visit now. 🙂 Keep those Khajas and a cup of tea ready for me, please!
Thanks all my dear friends, now go over to diwali blogging part 2 and then 3. Vaish, i shall wait for you to come home sweets!
Hello, Thanks for sharing all ur recipes. In the recipe Spicy Khajas what is carom seeds? is that a hindi word or english ..please verify…Thx Aruna
Aruna, Carom seeds is nothing but ajwain…call it omam in Tamil
Ahhh… Diwali is on our doorstep again. I can almost hear the footsteps. Dunno why, every year I feel like a little child as Diwali approaches. The lights, the sweets, the smell of new clothes, its a pity that crackers have been banned in Kolkata, my hometown. I miss them. Anyway guys, Happy Diwali to you all, and check out these Ecards, I came across the other day, if you want to greet someone electronically!;) These are released by an international brand, but they capture our Indian flavour quite well.
wow, really good diwali informative post and mouthwatering diwali sweets photo and thanks for sharing diwali sweets recipes. I read your post and remain my childhood memories for diwali celebration. Diwali is a major festival and all people celebrate this festival with their own way. NRI People can not reach india on this festival so they send online diwali gifts to india to near and dear one.
Looks delicious.
I like the recipe. It’s really very nice. I also visited this indian festival diwali site, it has also very nice information.http://www.diwalifestival.org
Looks Wonderful! Wish I could visit you and taste your delicacies:) Have a Happy and safe Diwali __________________________Good Gynecologist in Chennai
Awesome recipe.. Thanks a lot.. For beverages check Drink Recipes at foodsnearme.com