Parimal Sawant is the Director Culinary at Meluha The Fern An Ecotel Hotel, Rodas An Ecotel Hotel.
Diwali is a festival of lights celebrated across India with enthusiasm. People may celebrate in different ways across India, but one thing that brings together people during this festival is food.
The lip smacking snacks and delicious sweets add a special flavour to this festival of lights. This festival brings joy to everyone and helps bring families together.
When I think about Diwali celebrations of the past, I can only say that they were epic. As a chef, we are always interested in food prepared for special occasions. Just thinking about the memories brings the back the smell of shankarpali (shakharpara) or chakli being fried. We had a tradition at home that the women in the house would plan what all snacks to prepare for the morning of Narak Chaturthi. Then we would all divide the work and mother and grandmother would prepare all snacks and sweets. But we were not allowed to eat these sweets and snacks till the next day, when a thali full of all snacks would be presented before the god as a prasad early in the morning on Narak Chaturthi. Then after the pooja, we would all sit together and enjoy the lip smacking snacks like Tikhe shev, Pohyacha Chiwada, Chakali, Khari Shankarpali which were accompanied with sweets like Ravyache Ladoo, Shankarpali, Karanji, Besan Ladoo. I can assure you that even when the dishes were made without tasting anything beforehand would always turnout to be great as they were made with love and made by all of us together.
But this year things might be a little different. We cannot visit the families of relatives and friends. No late night talks or sharing of food in one place. No comparing who is better at making those tasty snacks or who is better dressed. But technology has progressed so much that even if we cannot be in one place together, we can still be together. This year people will mostly meet each other on apps like Zoom, share their favorite sweets and snacks on Instagram with friends or better yet send each other the sweets through parcels. Nothing can stop the festival of light as long as we have the will to celebrate it with our friends and family. The memories that we share with them are precious and surely we will reminisce about the past Diwali celebrations. And I am sure that those memories will bring a smile on all our faces in these challenging times.
Parimal shares some lip-smacking recipes in our “Foodies den“. Please do visit and try these out during the festival season.
Team – FACTS of Living