Diwali

South Indian Beetroot curry with coconut

The festival of lights; a celebration of light over dark; of good over evil.

I don’t remember learning about the religious basis of Diwali when I was young. Come to think of it, I don’t really remember learning the religious basis of any festival – unless I was told something very specific - like this is a celebration of Ganesha’s or Krishna’s birthday.

What I do remember is the celebration, which included many religious rituals. And as I raise my children, I become increasingly aware of how much I want to share with them some Indian celebrations. Sans the religious, ritualistic asepct. I am much more at peace with this, the separation of the religious from the rest of the culture, this year than I was last year before Diwali. And I decided that this year, Diwali would have to include family pictures.

For me, Diwali meant fireworks. OK, can’t do that here. Or at least, I don’t think so. Have no idea where to buy fireworks, even small sparklers. But when we were kids, that was the best part of Diwali. Little boxes of sparklers, they came in gold and silver. And flower pots. I can still smell them.

Diwali meant new clothes. I always had a new pavadai, a long silk skirt with a matching blouse. These were a requisite part of every little girl’s wardrobe. Precursors to the half-saree, which every teenage girl I knew hated. We couldn’t wait to graduate to a saree. I’d wager this is still the case.

So the kids got new clothes. My daughter is now 6, and has a very girly side to her (somewhat to my chagrin; I have never had a girly side, I don’t think, and don’t quite know what to do with it). Anything pink, anything shiny, anything sparkly, she is ecstatic. If my parents had been able to visit, my daughter would have got a brand-new silk pavadai made by my mum. But that was not to be, so a ready-made outfit had to suffice. And suffice it did. Light pink with silver work on it. Something she picked out. And she loved the family pictures. A new kurta-pajama set for my son. He tolerated the family pictures.

I very rarely wear sarees here; they take some effort, plus there’s the whole I can’t reveal my middle in this culture bit. I decided we could take a set of pictures at home with me in a saree – my daughter absolutely loved it. She didn’t remember the last time I wore one, and so far, has only associated sarees with my mum. That changed this week. And a second set of pictures with me in a salwar kameez, still Indian, but no belly reveal. And my husband wore his wedding kurta. Simple and elegant. This picture-taking might have to become part of our Diwali traditions.

And Diwali meant good food. Not just an elaborate meal for the day’s lunch, but sweets and snacks that the women in the extended family would start making days in advance. Now I like to think my household always has good food (she says unapologetically), so Diwali has to be something different. And over the past couple of years, my littles have come to associate Diwali with special sweets. They weren’t disappointed this year. My son loves food, and has an incredibly keen palate for someone so young. Did you put extra cardamom in the barfi today, he asked last week when I made a new batch of coconut barfi. I had, a tiny bit.  The Diwali sweets made up for the pictures.

And Diwali meant celebrating and eating with friends and family.

The friends and family part of our Diwali came the weekend before, with friends over for dinner, and concluded with dinner out with other friends at our favorite restaurant here at the end of the week. To start with, we had friends from Oman, the UK, and Turkey over at our house. 6 adults and 7 children sharing good food and laughter. (OK, there were some tears; can’t have 7 littles in a house with no tears). What better a celebration can there be? Complete with lighted lamps.

And masala dosas.

Shoutout to my husband here. While I make everything else for a masala dosa meal, it is he who makes the actual dosas - on his cast iron tava. That night, we tag-teamed it, with him with his cast iron tava, and me using my usual non-stick skillet. His were far superior.

For Diwali night, my husband knew he was getting a South Indian, vegetarian thali for dinner. Now this is probably his favorite way to eat.. and yes, it is wonderful and healthy (for the most part)…but I mean, who has the time to make 10 to 15 different dishes for one meal?  I exaggerate not, a good thali has a whole bunch of dishes on it. Variety. Diwali evening, my husband really enjoyed our modest thali. And that, I know, did make the effort for family pictures a bit more..er.. palatable.

So for our Diwali dinner, a small south Indian thali – small was all I could manage given it was a school day and night for me. And two sweets. Gulab Jamun and what we used to call Diamond cuts when we were young. Slightly sweetened dough flavored with cardamom. What’s not to like?

It has truly been a wonderful Diwali. A lovely week, a celebration of life in ways that are meaningful to me.

So my thali had rice with plain dhal and freshly-made ghee, a tomato and tamarind rasam, two veggies, the first, a cabbage and peas curry with coconut, and the second, a south Indian taro curry. And then as a final addition, a cilantro and coconut chutney. If you would like to see any of these recipes in a future post, let me know in a comment?

For today, I will give you another south Indian curry that frequently features on thalis – a beetroot curry.

South Indian Beetroot Curry

Ingredients (serves 4 as a side)

1.     3 cups peeled and diced beets (raw beets) – diced into approximately ¼ inch by ¼ inch cubes. (Could you dice them bigger? Sure, but make sure they’re all approximately the same size, and increase cooking time accordingly)

2.     2 Tbsp coconut oil. This tastes really good in this dish, but if you don’t have any, by all means use any neutral-flavored oil you have on hand.

3.     ½ Tbsp mustard seeds

4.     1 Tbsp urad dhal

5.     1 Tbsp channa dhal

6.     ½ tsp turmeric

7.     2 sprigs curry leaves

8.     2-3 dried red chillies, or more if you want it hotter.

9.     ¼ tsp asafoetida

10.  1 tsp salt

11.  1 tsp sugar

12.  ½ to ¾ cup fresh grated coconut. If you have no fresh coconut, you can use dried unsweetened coconut. Make sure it is unsweetened!

Method

1.     Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet and add the mustard seeds. When they start popping, turn the heat down to low.

2.     When the mustard seeds have slowed down in their popping-intensity, add the urad dhal and channa dhal. Cook them on low-medium heat for 30 seconds to a minute, to allow them to turn a beautiful golden brown. If this happens too quickly, the dhals will burn on the outside and will remain raw on the inside.

3.     Once the dhals are a gorgeous golden-brown, add the chillies, curry leaves, turmeric, and asafoetida. Stand back if you are using fresh curry leaves, and allow them to splutter. Enjoy the aroma!

4.     Now add the cubed beets and 1 tsp of salt. Stir and add about ¼ cup of water. Cook with a lid on, stirring occasionally. After about 10 minutes, test a beet cube for doneness. It took mine about 10 minutes to reach the right level of doneness for me – and this, obviously, depends on the size of your beet cubes.

5.     After about 10 minutes, or once your beets have reached your approved level of doneness, add 1 tsp of sugar and the coconut. Stir, turn off heat, and serve with a rice and dhal of your choice.