Lifestyle / Get Your Festival Food Game On With These Delish Diwali Recipes

Get Your Festival Food Game On With These Delish Diwali Recipes

Lifestyle Oct 29, 2021

by Geeta Wahab

Diwali — The Festival Of Lights is quickly upon us and this may be the first time in over 2 years where in-person gatherings will take the place of virtual ones. Which means that your festival food game needs to be on point more than ever. Check out these recipes which will light up your party!

Spicy Caramelized Onion Chutney

**Get Your Festival Food Game On With These Delish Diwali Recipes: Spicy Caramelized Onion Chutney.** Photo Credit: www.milkandpop.com

Ingredients

4 medium sized onions, peeled and thinly sliced
2 dried chilies
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
½ cup unsweetened pomegranate juice
Salt to taste

Directions

Toast chilies in a small pot, until fragrant. Add juice and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes and then let cool completely. Once cooled, blended until smooth.
Heat large pan over medium to low heat, add a drizzle of oil and onions. Cook until onions are golden and soft, approximately 30 minutes. Add maple syrup and vinegar mix.
Turn up heat to medium and add pomegranate/chili mix. Add salt and stir. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes or until thick.

One Pot Dhal and Rice

Ingredients

1 cup jasmine rice
½ cup red lentils
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small dried whole chili
2 cups water
Pinch saffron
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt to taste

Directions

At least 1 hour before cooking, wash lentils. Let lentils soak in water until ready to cook.
Warm a drizzle of oil in small sauce pan. Add cumin seeds, onion and dried chili. Toast for a few minutes until fragrant.
Add rice, lentils, water and saffron. Cover and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, add a pinch of salt turn down heat and let simmer for 15-20 minutes. Continue to cook until rice and lentils are soft, add more water if needed.

Spicy Aloo Fry-Up

Ingredients

2 medium size potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion
½ teaspoon turmeric paste
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 medium fresh chili
Fresh coriander leaves to serve
Salt to taste

Directions

Boil cubed potatoes until they are soft but still hold their shape.
In a pan, warm drizzle of oil. Add onions and cumin seeds and toast until fragrant.
Add potatoes and toss. Cook potatoes until they are crisp, about 10 minutes.
Add turmeric paste, chili flakes, and curry powder and toss. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
Add salt and toss. Serve with fresh chili and coriander leaves.

Kheer

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
¼ cup basmati rice
¼ cup golden raisins
¼ cup sliced almonds
¼ cup unsalted pistachios
¼ cup maraschino cherries, quartered
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 tablespoons water (or enough to cover the bottom of the pot)

Directions

Wash rice and set aside.
Add water, milk cardamom and cinnamon to a medium saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Stir often to avoid burning the milk.
Add rice and continue to cook until rice is soft.
Add sugar, raisins, sliced almonds and cherries and continue to cook until rice breaks down and kheer starts to get thick. Let cool.
To serve, top with pistachios.

Khajur Ladoo (Date, Pistachio, and Almond Bites)

Ingredients (Makes 12 ladoos)

2 cups whole milk
3 cups rinsed and deseeded dates, coarsely chopped
1–1½ cups raw pistachios, coarsely chopped
½ cup raw almonds, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Step 1:

Heat the milk in a large nonstick saucepan. As the milk comes to a boil, add the chopped dates and stir well. The dates will begin to disintegrate and thicken the milk. Cook and stir this mixture continuously over the next 10 to 15 minutes on medium low, or until the mix begins to leave the sides of the pot. Stir in half of the crushed pistachio and all the crushed almonds. Mix well until the nuts are evenly distributed. Cool until ready to handle.

Chicken Yakhni Pulao

Ingredients: Serves 6

400g (14 oz/2 cups) basmati rice
Kosher salt
3 Tbsp. neutral oil
2 medium onions, finely sliced
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) skinless bone-in chicken thighs, cut in half
2 or 3 green chiles (optional)
A few sprigs of mint, to garnish (optional)

For the spice bag:

6 garlic cloves, cut in half
1 piece fresh ginger (5 cm or 2 inches long), cut into thick slices
6 green cardamom pods
6 cloves
2 pieces cassia bark, each 2.5 cm or 1 inch long
1 black cardamom pod
3 or 4 medium Indian bay leaves
2 heaped Tbsp. fennel seeds
2 tsp. coriander seeds

Directions:

Step 1

Wash the rice in several changes of cold running water until the water runs clear, then place in a bowl and soak for 30 minutes in more fresh cold water with 1⁄2 teaspoon salt.
In a frying pan (skillet), heat the oil over a medium–high heat. Add the sliced onions to the pan and fry gently, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized. Using a slotted spoon, remove the onions from the oil, leaving as much of the oil in the pan as possible to cook the chicken, and place on a plate to drain. Spread the onions across the plate so they crisp as they cool.
Keeping the heat on medium–high, add the chicken to the pan and seal it on all sides. Return half the caramelized onions to the pan.
To make the spice bag, place the spices in a piece of cheesecloth or muslin and knot the corners securely together so the bag does not open during cooking process.
Add the spice bag to the pan. Pour over enough cold water to cover the chicken and add 21⁄4 tsp salt. Bring the water to the boil, then lower the heat, cover with a lid and leave to cook for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, check the chicken to make sure it is not falling apart.
Once the chicken is cooked, using a slotted spoon, carefully remove the chicken from the pan and place on a plate, trying to keep the meat on the bone.
For the yakhni, you will need approximately twice the volume of stock to rice (so 4 cups of stock to 2 cups of rice). If you have more than 4 cups, reduce the stock. If you have less than 4 cups, add some water.
Return the 4 cups of stock to the pan. Drain the rice and add to the pan, together with the chicken and green chiles, if using. Place the pan over a medium–high heat. Leaving the spice bag in the pan, bring the stock to the boil. Once boiling, lower the heat, cover with a lid, and leave to simmer. Check the pan often to see if the stock has been absorbed, but that the rice still retains some bite.
At this point, remove the rice pan from the direct heat and reduce the heat to low. Place the rice pan on a tawa (flat iron griddle pan), or the closest thing you have to a tawa—an iron plate or a flat pan—to diffuse the heat. Leave the rice pan on the tawa over a low heat for 10 minutes. Alternatively, place the rice pan in a preheated low oven for 10 minutes.
Once the pan has been removed from the heat source, cover the top of the pan with a cdish towel and leave it undisturbed for 10 minutes.
Check the rice—there should be no liquid at the edges of the pan—and gently run a fork through to lift and separate the grains. To serve, garnish with the remaining caramelized onions and sprigs of mint.

2-Ingredient Paleo Caramel Candy

Ingredients

10 Mejdhool Dates
Ghee

Directions

Remove pits from dates and then chop dates into small pieces.

Add ghee to a saucepan on medium heat and then add chopped dates. Saute for about five minutes or until dates soak up most of the ghee.

Flatten the pliable date fudge between two sheets of parchment paper or with a spatula.

Put in the fridge to cool for an hour.

Remove and cut into caramel squares.

Let it cool to room temperature and eat like candy!

Main Image Photo Credit: www.myheartbeets.com, www.epicurious.com

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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Get Your Festival Food Game On With These Delish Diwali Recipes

by Geeta Wahab

Geeta Wahab

COMMENTS

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