Lifestyle / Diwali & Me — Recipes To Make Your Diwali Feast for One Simply Lit

Diwali & Me — Recipes To Make Your Diwali Feast for One Simply Lit

Lifestyle Nov 04, 2020

by Geeta Wahab

Diyas are lit, prayers are done and now it’s time to dive into a yummy vegetarian feast. In current times, Diwali may look a little different, and in the case where you may be on your own there shouldn’t be anything holding you back from a delicious meal. Check out these recipes to make your solo Diwali festivities vibrant.

Aloo Onion Almost Samosas

Solo diwali recipes — **Recipes To Make Your Solo Diwali Feast Simply Lit: Aloo Onion Almost Samosa.** Photo Credit: Kroger

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry (pre-made)

1 medium sweet onion

2 medium potatoes

1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon Garam masala

Salt to taste

Milk

Directions

Defrost puff pastry overnight, or according to package.
Peel, slice onions thinly and set aside. Peel, dice potatoes into half inch cubes, and set aside in bowl of water.
Drizzle oil in a pan, add onions. Allow onions to cook until soft.
Add potatoes and cook on medium heat until potatoes begin to soften.
Add spices and continue to cook until potatoes begin to fall apart and onions are golden. Slightly mash the potatoes and onion together. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out puff pastry and cut into eight squares. Divide the potato mix into eight portions.
Brush milk around the edges of the square and add a portion of the potato in the middle. Fold square over into a triangle and pinch the edges closer. Repeat for each square.
Place triangles on a parchment lined baking tray. Brush the tops with milk and place in over. Bake until pastry is puffed and browned, about 20mins. Serve with tamarind or mint-cilantro sauce.

Classic Grilled Corn On The Cob (Bhuttas)

*We went back into our archives and found this great recipe from our recent street-food recipe story, which perfectly adds the harvest/fall vibe to your Diwali feast.

Ingredients:

6 fresh shucked corn

1 lemon sliced into 6 wedges

½ butter or ghee

1 tablespoon chaat masala

1 teaspoon ground chili

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon cumin

Fresh coriander, chopped, optional

Directions:

Preheat grill on high. While grill is warming, to make the spice mix, mix chaat masala, ground chili, salt, and cumin in a small bowl and set aside.
Grill corn on BBQ with lid closed, until done, approximately 10 mins.
Remove corn from grill, and brush with butter.
Sprinkle spice mix over butter corn, and squirt fresh lemon juice over corn. Sprinkle fresh coriander if desired and serve immediately.

Vibrant Dhaal

Ingredients

1 cup red lentils, washed

1 1/2 cup vegetable stock

1 shallot minced

2 cloves garlic minced

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 inch piece ginger, peeled and grated

1 dried chili (or 1 teaspoon Chili flakes)

1/2 garam masala

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon turmeric paste

Salt to taste

Lemon wedge, optional

Fresh cilantro, to serve, optional

1/2 Cup Baby spinach, washed and sliced optional

Directions

Add a drizzle of oil to a warm sauce pan and add all the spices, except salt. Let toast until fragrant about 1-2 minutes.
Add lentils and stock and stir.
Let cook on medium low for approximately 20 minutes, stirring every 5-7 minutes.
After 20 minutes check firmness of lentils, they should be getting soft. Taste and add salt. Continue to cook for another 10 minutes or until lentils begin to break apart. Add some water if dhal is too thick. Once you have the consistency you like turn the heat off.
To serve, place spinach in the bottom of a dish and spoon hot dhal on top, dhal will wilt and cook the spinach. Top with cilantro and fresh lemon juice, serve with rice or naan.

Tamarind Rasam

If you are feeling more a hearty soup check out this recipe from our South Indian Soups story!

Rasam

Rasam is a light and tangy soup base that is simple and easy to make. Popular in South India, it only takes a few ingredients and spices and you’ll have a wonderful soup you can have on its own, with more ingredients or served with side dishes.

Ingredients

3 small tomatoes, chopped

1 inch piece of ginger, chopped

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 pinch of asafoetida to taste

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

5 fresh curry leaves

1/2 cup coriander leaves, rinsed and chopped

2 cups water

1 cup room temperature water

Salt to taste

Directions

Add chopped tomatoes and ginger to the room temperature water with a pinch of salt and set sit for a few minutes.

Drain tomatoes and ginger and add peppercorns, cumin, asafoetida, curry leaves, coriander and pinch more salt and grind into a paste.

Bring remaining 2 cups of water to a gentle boil and add pasta.

In another pan, add a drizzle of oil and let heat up. Add mustard seeds and toast lightly until fragrant. Add toasted mustard seeds and oil to soup and serve.

For Tamarind Rasam: Follow the same recipe above but soak 2 small pods of fresh tamarind or a 2-inch piece of tamarind paste in 1/2 up warm water. Let the fruit soften and remove any seeds. Mash the fruit and stir until smooth. Add the tamarind paste when adding the Rasam base to water and continue the same way indicated above.

Gulab Jamun & Ice Cream

Ingredients

3 gulab jamun in syrup

2 small scoops vanilla ice cream

Toasted pistachios, optional

Directions

Warm the gulab jamun and syrup and pour over ice cream.
Top with pistachio if you’d like and serve immediately.

Chai Latte

From our coffee recipes story this would be the perfect way to kick back and enjoy the fruits of your cooking.

Ingredients

2 black tea bags
1 cinnamon stick
1 slice of fresh ginger
1 star anise seed
1 cup hot water
½ cup steamed or hot milk
2 tablespoon honey
1 cardamom pod, crushed
A splash of vanilla syrup (see recipe below), optional
Top with some ground cinnamon (optional)

Directions

Bring water, tea bags, ginger, anise seed, cinnamon and cardamom pod to a boil, and let steep for 5 minutes until the tea is strong and fragrant.
Mix honey and vanilla syrup into hot milk.
Strain tea into milk mixture and serve hot. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired.

Main Image Photo Credit:

Geeta Wahab

Author

Cultivating a life she loves, Geeta (@geets.suites) is chasing all her passions, including her love for home décor. As a brand new home owner, her current journey has launched her further into that world - check out her Instagram @geets.suites for tidbits of her story and other decorating pieces. A...

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Diwali & Me — Recipes To Make Your Diwali Feast for One Simply Lit

by Geeta Wahab

Geeta Wahab

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