Garam Masala Tuesdays: Sweet mathri/ Meethi mathri

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Sweet Mathris | The Novice Housewife

Things have been quite busy at my end and hopefully its a sign of good things to come. I will be posting about the latest developments on my front in a blog post later but you can get an idea about what has kept me busy here. Today I got some time to breathe so thought I will update this space which has unfortunately and not to my liking taken a back seat.

A few days back I had posted a raw, vegan, gluten free sweet option to give as gifts or just make for yourself during Diwali or otherwise. Today’s recipe is the complete opposite. Its deep fried, gluten loving, clarified butter enriched sweet goodness. Well technically you could make this vegan by substituting the ghee with oil, but unless you are lactose intolerant, I would not recommend you to do so.

Sweet Mathris | The Novice Housewife

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Vegan, sugar free, gluten free Date Truffles

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Gluten Free, sugar free, vegan, raw Date Truffles } | The Novice Housewife Diwali, one of India’s biggest festivals, is right around the corner. Known as the festivals of lights, Diwali celebrations generally last 5 days, with Indians all over the world celebrating it in their own special way. Diwali signifies the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness.

Diwali is kind of like the Indian Christmas, with the days preceding Diwali marked by people cleaning their houses, lighting it, shopping new clothes and buying gifts/sweets for friends and family.

I had read somewhere that there is actually a scientific reason behind the cleaning of houses before Diwali. Since Diwali is celebrated somewhere between mid-October to mid-November, right after monsoons end, the cleaning makes sure all the germs and infestation that monsoons brought with them get eradicated with the whitewashing, and other pre Diwali cleaning activities. In fact a lot of Hindu traditions that we follow blindly these days are backed with a very logical reasoning that we are not aware of. Gluten Free, sugar free, vegan, raw Date Truffles } | The Novice Housewife Growing up, Diwali for me meant new clothes, lighting candles and diyas, putting lights up, cleaning every nook and corner of our rooms because else the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi won’t pay our house a visit, going to the Gurudwara to light candles and then bursting crackers at home.

I, being terrified of crackers, would just just burn the sparklers and be happy while my dad and brother would burst the more scary crackers. As we grew up and realized how terrifying the noise is for animals (we had a dog who had the toughest time during Diwali), besides the air pollution that crackers cause, we stopped bursting crackers altogether. Just to continue a little tradition we celebrate Diwali now by lighting a sparkler or two, and maybe an anar for fun. Besides that we just light the house and distribute sweets to our loved ones. And eat good food and lots of sweets!

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GMT: Rajasthani Kadhi

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Rajasthani Kadhi | The Novice Housewife A good part of my childhood was spent in Rajasthan. Two of my best friends are also from Rajasthan. One I met in school at Jodhpur and the other during college in Delhi.  Luckily for me, both my friends’ mothers were amazing cooks and I was treated to amazing dishes every time I paid my friends a visit. Neela aunty’s Bhutte ki sabzi was one such recipe. This rajasthani kadhi was another.

Kadhi is a dish made from gram flour (besan) and sour curd/yogurt and actually originated in Rajasthan.Unlike punjabi kadhi, no pakodas (or gram flour fritters) are added to the rajasthani version of kadhi, making this recipe both light to eat and easy to make.

When I was a child, the only reason I was not fond of kadhi (the punjabi kind) was because- one, it used to be laden with pakodas, and two it was too thick. This recipe is neither. And that’s why when I first tried it, I fell in love with it. Read More →