Sweets & Snacks for Diwali Is our theme for this Mega Marathon, where I have posted traditional snacks and some sweets that are served during the festival of Diwali.
Mega Marathons are our a month long marathons where we , a group of bloggers post everyday except for Sundays throughout the month . We work on a particular theme given by our team leader Valli . April and September are the two months when we have these Mega Marathons .
The theme for these marathons is decided a few months back , but every one has their own way of working . After the theme is decided , I quickly make my list, which normally doesn’t change . I start working on the recipes and normally like to cook new dishes in weekends , when all can enjoy . Of course there are some which are done during week days too . I prefer to work on one recipe at a time , concentrating on how to present the dish .
This marathon is all about the upcoming festivals , specially Diwali , the festival of lights . The theme being Sweets and Snacks .The first week was Sweets . It is during this festival we have lot of visitors and besides serving mithai or traditional sweets , one needs to flatter them with some Indian desserts .
The second week we were to pick , one Indian State and make snacks from it . Living in Gujarat , I decided to pick Gujarati Namkeens and Farsaans . The Gujjus have such a wide collection of these , that one goes literally crazy in a farsan shop . For the third week , which was Our Choice week , I continued posting Farsan and Namkeens . Lat week was a mandatory week . We were given a set of recipes and we had to post those .
Like all marathons , I loved doing this one too . These marathons are such a learning experience . Here I have compiled all the recipes in one single post . Hope you guys shall enjoy these .
Before we do that let’s have a quick look at the previous Mega Marathons –
April 2014 – A Re -cap of The Indian Food Odyssey……A Journey of 30 Indian States
September 2014 – Re Cap of Around the World in 30 Days
April 2015 – Re cap of Fire up Your Oven
September 2015 – Recap – Buffet on Table
April 2016 – A to Z , 26 Traditional Sindhi Sweets
September 2016 – The Sandwich Festival…over 40 Sandwiches ! – Recap of Cooking Carnival 2016
April 2017 – A – Z Baking Around the World – Re-cap,26 Egg less Cakes!
September 2017 – Protein Rich Recipes
April 2018 – Explore the Flavors – How to make 26 Lip Smacking Street Foods from India
September 2018 –Flatbreads and More – How to make 26 Indian Flatbreads
April 2019 – 26 Rice Recipes at Biryani, Pulao and Khichadi Festival
Week 1 Sweets
Gajjar Halwa Cups with Ice Cream
Gajjar Halwa cups with Badaam Pista Kesar Ice cream are cups made with carrot halwa and filled with ice cream to make a delicious dessert .
Gajjar Halwa Spring Rolls is a fusion snack where we make rolls out of samosa patti and then fill them with Gajjar Halwa .
Motichoor Cheese Cake is a delicious no bake cheese cake made with golden Oreos , cream and Indian sweet Motichoor ladoos .
Kesari Mango and Roasted Almond Shrikhand
Kesari Mango & Roasted Almond Shrikhand is a traditional Dessert made with hung curd, sugar and flavorings. This is one of the most popular desserts of Gujarat as well as Maharashtra .
Kesari Phirni with Mango and Nuts
Kesari Phirni with Mango is a traditional dessert of Punjab with a slight twist . Phirni is a milk based rice pudding . It is creamy , yet light .
Rabdi ,also called Rabri is sweeten reduced milk . The milk is boiled over slow flame and reduced to more than half . Sugar and cardamom complete this delicious sweet.
Week 2 City Specific Snacks
Dry Fruit Kachori is a round kachori stuffed with dry ingredients like ganthia, papadi along with nuts and spices . This kachori is a speciality of Jamnagar , which is a famous city of Gujrat.
Papad nu Chavanu is a roasted crunchy Gujrati snack made with puffed rice ,gram flour vermicelli and fried papads .
Tum Tum is delicious, spicy ,crunchy on the outside, soft inside deep fried tea time snack , popular in Nadiad district of Gujrat.
Tikha Ganthia is a crisp , crunchy , traditional Gujrati snack made of chickpea flour. It is a variant of sev and is very crunchy and spicy.
Leelo Chevdo is a special potato based namkeen and is a speciality of Vadodara . Vadodara is the second largest city of Gujarat and the word Leelo literally means wet and chevdo is a farsan or a namkeen .
Limbu Mari ne Sev is a crunchy chickpea flour sev with the flavor of lemon and black pepper. It is one of a popular varieties of sev of Gujrat.
Week 3 Gujarat Special Snacks
Bajri na Vada are disc shaped deep fried fritters made with pearl millet This Gujrati snack makes a perfect tea time snack .
Methi Poori is a crunchy poori , made with wheat flour , spices and dry fenugreek . The sesame seeds give it a super crunch .
Fulwadi / Phoolwadi is a Gujrati crispy snack popular with the Jain community of Gujrat . It has a unique and delicious flavour .
Farsi Poori is the Gujju version of the Punjabi Mathri . Crunchy , crispy pooris make an excellent tea time or a breakfast snack .
Sada Khakhra are a thin crispy flatbread made from wheat flour . This is one of the most popular Gujrati snack .
Besan Sev is a deep fried crisp crunchy and addictive farsan made with besan or gram flour . It is a great snack to munch on and makes a excellent tea time snack .
Week 4 State Special Snacks
Pappu Chekkalu is a rice cracker , which is crispy and crunchy , mildly spiced and with a flavour of curry leaves . This is a Andhra speciality .
Handvo is a savoury lentil cake which is a wholesome and nutritious Gujrati snack . It can be served as a meal too .
Kalmi Vada is a lentil crisp , which is made crisp by refrying or double frying . This crisp is a speciality of Rajasthan and is normally used in chats.
Ooty Varky is a crisp fried or baked snack from the beautiful hill station Ooty . This is a Tamilnadu Special .
Kotambir Vadi is delicious protein packed snack from Maharashtrian Cuisine . It’s crisp on the outside and soft inside , a perfect anytime snack .
Dahi Gujiya is a soft melt in the mouth half moon shaped Vada which is stuffed with nuts and then laced with creamy whipped curd . It’s a speciality of Uttar Pradesh .
Bengali Veg Chop is a croquette made with beetroot and potatoes . This Bengali speciality has a soft interior and crispy exterior and tastes fabulous .
Awesome collection Vaishali. Your hard work and efforts you put in all your posts is always so inspiring! I love each and every dish you have shared for this BM. The composition and setup always make me want to reset my own dish again. So much to learn from you always! thanks for doing this.
Wonderful recap. I must say ek se badkar ek. I was trying to see which one would be my favorite. Nope, I couldn’t come up with a single one because each one is unique and steals the show. I wonder when I would get to making all the goodies from your space.
Your title for the post is so apt and anyone looking for the same would stop searching other options if they come across this page. As usual, your choice and presentation of the dishes was fantastic. They each reflect the thoughts and hard work that went behind the process. Among that sweets category, that motichoor ladoo cheese cake takes the cake. :))
What a marathon Vaishali, you shared so many Gujarati dishes where I learned so much about their snacks. Each and every dish is beautifully presented. Learned so much about presenting the dishes as well.
Wow.. it is visual treat to view all the exotic dishes in one page. I loved all your dishes. Amazing planning and execution. Presentation is extraordinary and I always admire a lot. Need a learn a lot from you.