Diwali 2022: Tom Yum Chakli? Mumbai chefs share unique recipes to try this festive season

The festival of lights is a lot about the sweets but it is also about the delicious savoury items that are enjoyed during the festive season. If you want to experiment with your dishes, then Mumbai chefs will give you more than one reason with a unique chakli preparation, calzone, bruschetta and even rabdi

Diwali is almost here and while it is popularly called the festival of lights one can’t deny the influence that food has on people during the festive season. People are excited as can be to celebrate it after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic and rightly so because it is one of the most enjoyable festivals during the year.

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While most of us will be busy gorging on the mithai and laddoos and all other different kinds of sweet meats, let’s not forget that chakli and other savoury items are also popular during this time, and even a plate full of it is never going to be enough. Yes, many people have resorted to buying it readymade over the years. There are many others who still make their own Diwali ‘faral’ (snacks) or simply other dishes during the festival, that are mostly vegetarian but also have non-vegetarian delicacies in some parts of the country.

If you want to try out something new this Diwali, you definitely should or at least that is what Mumbai chefs say. Mid-day Online reached out to city chefs to share innovative and delicious recipes for dishes that people can make during this time of the year while keeping the festive spirit in mind. They not only share one for a Tom Yum Chakli but also a calzone using mixed vegetables or a dish of smoked aubergine, and last but not the least one with the tartness of blueberry.

Tom Yum Chakli by Gauri, chef, Youkoso, Prabhadevi
Who doesn't love chomping on crispy chaklis during Diwali? An eternal favourite throughout the year, the snack also features on the plate of snacks that is not only distributed but also served when people visit our homes. Chef Gauri shares, "This is our favourite snack to binge on with the unique flavour of Tom Yum in a chakli for a Diwali hi-tea party." While it is known that chaklis are available in different flavours, reimagine your love for it with Asian flavours by using the Tom Yum powder, and it is sure to leave your guests in awe.  

Ingredients: 
Rice flour 2 cup
Maida 1 cup
Salt 1 tsp
Butter 2 tsp
Tom yum powder 2 tsp
Water as required
Oil for frying
Tom yum powder:
Lemon grass 25 gm
Thai ginger 20 gm
Kaffir lime leaf 5 gm
Dry red chilli 40 gm
Lemon powder 10 gm
Garlic powder 10 gm
Coriander powder 10 gm 
Sugar 10 gm
Roast them all together cool them and powder it

Method: 
1. Take the rice flour and maida, add tom yum seasoning, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix well.
2. Add butter and mix well until combined together.
3. Add water slowly and start kneading the dough. Need smooth and soft dough adding water as per required.
4. Make the dough a cylinder shape and fill it with the star mould chakli maker.
5. Give shape and slide into the hot oil, flip the murukku and fry on medium flame till turns crispy.
6. Take out the oil and dry it on a paper towel.
7. Once cooled enjoy instant chakli or store in an air-tight container for two weeks.

Exotic Vegetables Calzone by Amit Shetty, chef, Cafe Noir, Lower Parel
If you are looking to make a feast for dinner, then make a delicious calzone with exotic vegetables - the flavours are simple yet wholesome. Chef Amit Shetty explains, "It is the best option as it satisfies your taste buds by becoming the main dish for your Diwali dinners." The cheesy dish has a mix of zucchini, bell peppers, asparagus, beans and corn, that lend it fresh flavours.

Ingredients:
Refined flour 100 gm
Zucchini 10 gm
Bell peppers 10 gm
Asparagus 10 gm
Beans 5 gm 
Basil 2 gm
Corn 5 gm 
Mozzarella 18 gm

Method:
1. Make dough out of refined flour.
2. Roll it into a 6 mm thick sheet.
3. In a pan, add oil and sauté onion and garlic.
4. Cut your vegetables into dice and blanch them for about a minute.
5. Add the blanched vegetables into the pan and add your tomato sauce.
6. Season it with salt and pepper and chopped basil.
7. Cut the rolled sheet into two circles and add your mixture to it.
8. Add mozzarella cheese and cover it. Tuck it in with a fork.
9. Bake it at 180 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes.
10. Glaze your calzone with butter for a shine.

Blueberry Rabdi with Pistachio Crumble by Paul Noronha, executive chef, ITC Grand Central, Parel
If you have always imagined rabdi to be a sweet dish, chef Paul Noronha will make you reconsider. He uses seasonal fruits like blueberry that lends its tart to the dish made from condensed milk and adds a pistachio crumble to it. Noronha explains, “This dish is unique because it has a fusion of flavours. From the mild hint of pistachio in every spoon, this dish highlights rabdi as the hero of the dish while blueberry being the additional sweet infusion makes it unique and presents the seasonal exclusivity."

Ingredients:

Pistachio crumble 
Butter 100 gm
Sugar 100 gm
Flour 100 gm 
Pista paste 20 gm
Rabdi ​
Milk 600 ml
Sugar 50 gm
Cardamom 5 gm
Sliced nuts 10 gm
Kewra water 2 drops
Blueberry 50 gm

Method:
1. Boil milk in a thick bottomed and deep saucepan. Stir continuously for the first 15 minutes. As the skin forms on the surface, keep pushing it gently on the side.
2. Infuse the milk with freshly-made cardamom powder
3. Once the milk reduces to its 3\4th, add in the sugar. Remove from flame and let it cool down to room temperature. Add the kewra water and sliced nuts.
4. For pistachio crumble, beat butter and sugar to an almost creaming consistency fold in the flour and pista paste. Keep this mixture in the freezer until it becomes solid. Set the oven at 180 degrees Celsius and bake cubes of this mixture until golden brown.
5. Take a martini glass, pour some rabdi into the glass, layer it with blueberry compote and crumble. 
6. Garnish the top with pistachio crumble cubes and mint leaves.

Smoked Aubergine Bruschetta by Rachel Goenka, chef and founder, The Chocolate Spoon Company, Bandra West 
If you love aubergine, better known as brinjal in India, then move over your regular stuffed brinjal recipe to make a smoked aubergine bruschetta with spiced chickpeas and fried onions, suggests Rachel Goenka, chef and founder of The Chocolate Spoon Company, that runs The Sassy Spoon and The Sassy Teaspoon, among others. She explains, "A bruschetta is normally made with tomatoes. We decided to do a sassy take on traditional bruschetta with smoked aubergine." 

Ingredients: 
Brinjal 100 gm
Tahini ​15 ml
Olive oil 10ml
Salt 2 gm
Pepper 2 gm
Lemon 5 ml
Tomato 10 gm
Cumin powder 2 gm 
Coriander leaves 3 gm
Chickpeas 5 gm
Pomegranate 5 gm
Scallion 5 gm
Fried onion 20 gm
Baguette 20 gm
Butter ​5 gm
Garlic ​5 gm

Method: 
1. Wash, clean and dry the brinjal, apply salt, pepper, oil and grill it whole on a griddle. You can also roast it in the oven until it's cooked and becomes soft.
2. Cool it well and then scrape the flesh from it discarding the seeds and skin.
3. Chop the roasted brinjal roughly and put it in a bowl. 
4. Now mix in chopped tomatoes, seasoning, tahini, cumin powder, lemon juice and coriander leaves.
5. For the chickpeas, soak it overnight in water and boil them the next day and peel the skin off.
6. Roast them in the oven till crispy and then toss it in sweet paprika.
7. To assemble the bruschetta, toast the sliced baguette in the oven applying garlic butter on it. Then place a spoon full of the mixture on it and top it with pomegranate, crispy chickpeas, fried onion and scallions.

Also read: Diwali 2022: Do you have sweet cravings? Mumbai chefs share these unique recipes for you to relish

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