Diwali-Diya-Daler Vada

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Autumn in India is all about festivals. Every day brings in the smell of the coming festivities, the joys and the of course the food. Shopping, visting places, meeting relatives and friends,travelling, pandal hopping, worshipping the goddesses, painting the house, coloring rangolis, eating, cooking –  all comes as if in a package in this festival season.

Diyas for sale at a street side stall in Gariahat market, Kolkata

Getting the diyas ready- part I

Getting the diyas ready- part II

For the last couple of days I had been doing all these. Visiting my native was one of the main dos in the list. I visited Kolkata, my hometown. As you all feel when you go back home after a long long time I felt the same. My mom, my aunts and everybody in there was ready to welcome me with my favorite platters. For one whole week I had been eating and eating with of course learning these dishes.

Diyas ready to light

Rangoli with pista shell lamps at my Bangalore flat

As I was not able to celebrate Diwali with my family, I managed to have the taste of the celebration a few days before the day. Me and my sister went out shopping for the terracotta diyas and painted them with acrylic paints, it was so much fun.

Talking about food I had a pretty good share of the typical home-made dishes and I’ll be putting up one in each of my following posts starting from today with Daler Vada. Daler vada is a typical Bengali starter and also a side dish with rice and dal.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Motor Dal powder: 100 gms

Onions (Peyaj): 3 medium sizes, juliened

Green chilli (Kacha Lanka): 4, cut into small ringlets

Turmeric powder (Halud Guro): 1 teaspoon

Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 1 tablespoon and extra for deep frying

Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Take the onions in a bowl and pour in one tablespoon of oil and soak in the onions.
• Add the other ingredients to the onions.
• Pour in enough matter to make a soft dough and keep for half an hour.
• Heat oil in a pan and fry the dough in small balls.
• Serve with sauce as starter or with rice and dal as a great side dish.

Daler Vada with tomato sauce

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