Diwali delights: Mava Karanji, Coconut Barfi and more

Readers share their favourite Diwali recipes with us. Share yours!

As the Festival of Lights rolls around once more, we invited readers to share their favourite festive delicacies. Here we post some of the responses we recieved. Share yours!

First up is Anita Raghu who shares her mother-in-law's recipe for Chandrakanta:

Cuisine: Andhra sweet

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 cup moong daal (yellow)
• 1 and 1/2 cup sugar
• Cashewnut pieces
• Oil for cooking

Preparation

• Soak the moong dal for about 3-4 hours.
• Grind it coarse without too much water and keep it aside.
• In a cooking vessel, take about 1/2 cup water and add the sugar.
• When hot, add the moong daal paste and the cashewnuts.
• Stir well till the mixture starts leaving the sides.
• Pour into a greased plate. When cool, cut it into square pieces.
• Take cooking oil in a kadai and deep fry the pieces.
• Allow to cool and serve.

Next is Swapna Veldanda's recipe for Gooseberry Rice:

Cuisine: Andhra

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup gooseberries (amla)
• 1-2 green chillies
• Salt
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1/4 tsp mustard powder
• Some fresh grated coconut
• Oil
• 1/2 cup channa dal
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 10-15 peanuts

Preparation

• Cut the gooseberries in half, take out the seeds and fry them in a little oil.
• Mash it in the mixer.
• Heat oil for seasoning, add mustard seeds, channa dal, peanuts, turmeric, curry leafs. Once mustard seeds start to sputter, add gooseberry mash, grated coconut, mustard powder (very little).
• Add cooked rice and mix well.
• Garnish with chopped coriander.

Nalini J Kudalkar shares her grandmom's recipe for Mava Karanji:

Cuisine: Maharashtrian

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients

• 100 gm mava (milk solids)
• 100 gm dry coconut
• 50 gm khus khus (poppy seeds)
• 20 gm til (sesame seeds)
• 150 gm maida (refined wheat flour)
• 250 gm powdered sugar
• 100 gm dry fruit mix
• Oil for frying

Preparation

• Knead maida into dough.
• Mix mava and dry fruit mixture, coconut and sugar together.
• Make maida puris (small pancakes).
• Put a teaspoon of the mixture in the centre and fold the puri to make a semi-cirlular shape. Seal the edges with a little water in between and fold to create a decorative edge.
• Heat oil in the kadai (wok) and fry the karanjis till golden brown.
• Garnish with rose petals.

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Vidya tells us how to prepare Carrot Halwa:

Cuisine: South Indian

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 kg carrots
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 glass milk
• 2 tbsps ghee
• 10 cashewnuts
• 10 almonds and pistachios

Preparation:

• Grate the carrots nicely. Place them in a heavy copper pan and fry them in ghee (1 tbsp) till they are completely dry and the raw smell disappears.
• Add the milk and cook the carrots. Add sugar and continue frying until the entire mixture comes together.
• Finally take a plate, add a little ghee and pour into it.
• In another pan, fry the cashewnuts, almonds and pistas in ghee until they are light brown and add the same to the halwa.
• Serve hot.

Susmitha Raveen shares her mother's recipe for Sheera:

Cuisine: Punjabi

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 500 gms rava
• 500 ml milk
• 300 gms sugar
• 3 pods of cardomom
• Raisins, cashewnuts, almonds and saffron as required
• 250 ml ghee made from cow's milk

Preparation:

• Fry the rava.
• Heat the milk and add sugar to it. Mix the rava in and add ghee.
• Add raisins, cashewnuts, almonds and saffron.
• The delicious sheera is ready.

Neha Mehta also shared her mother's recipe for Rice Pudding:

Cuisine: Indian

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: Upto 2 hours

Ingredients:

• 2 bowls of rice
• 2 ltrs toned milk
• 1/2 kg sugar, or as per preference/Sugarfree
• 4-5 small cardamom pods
• 50-100 gms each of cashew nuts, raisins and almonds
• 3 tsps ghee

Preparation:

• Boil the milk in a pan and thicken till it's 3/4 of the original quantity. Add the cardamom to it.
• Add rice, after having soaked it in water for a minimum of 10 minutes.
• In a frying pan heat ghee and when it is warm, fry all the dry fruit in it.
• When you see that the rice is almost cooked, add sugar. Stir continuously so that it doesn't get burned.
• When the rice is all cooked and sugar is properly mixed in, put it off the burner.
• Let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.
• Serve cold.

And here is Sandhya's Coconut Burfi preparation, from her mother-in-law:

Cuisine: South Indian

Type: Vegetarian

Preparation time: 30-45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup grated coconut
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 pods of cardamom
• 4 tbsps ghee
• 4-5 strands of saffron
• 2 glasses of water
• 1/4 cup milk
• Cashew nuts

Preparation:

• Heat a kadai on a medium flame.
• Saute the grated coconut, until rawness vanishes for about 5-8 minutes. Set it aside.
• Add water and bring it to a boil.
• Add sugar slowly -- let it melt well in the water.
• Add saffron strands, milk, cardamom and coconut.
• Let it simmer for about 15 minutes, until the water gets absorbed.
• Take a plate, smear with ghee and then add the mixture to it.
• Let it set for about 30 minutes.
• Garnish with a cashew nut at even distances and then cut into diagonal shapes.
• Your Coconut Burfi is ready to serve.