“THE TRUE MEANING OF DIWALI IS
VERY CLEAR TO ME. FAMILIES
GETTING TOGETHER… ENJOYING
EACH OTHER’S COMPANY.”
Do you have any traditional Diwali dishes?
W H AT I S D I W A L I ?
On that day, traditionally we would eat vegetarian food – we don’t eat meat.
And I still, as a cultural thing, I still follow that very traditionally.
I also believe personally, any holiday or religious celebration is not celebrated
without sweets. There has to be a lot of sweets. And there are a ton of sweets
when we celebrate Diwali. Where I come from, my mother would make a Diwali
sweet or dessert called kunjia, made out of flour. She puts the stuffing inside, like
a paneer, a cottage cheese, and sweetened coconut, and then she would deep fry it,
and then deep fry it again, and put it in the simple syrup – it was awesome.
How would you tell someone who knows nothing about
Diwali what it is?
Diwali is as big for me as Christmas is for anybody. That’s one thing I say.
Secondly, if someone wants a little more detail about it, I say, Diwali is a simple
family celebration of having everybody together and enjoying the moment and
enjoying the day. That, I think would be the best way to describe it.
What is the true meaning of Diwali to you?
The true meaning of Diwali is very clear to me. Families getting together, of
forgetting anything bad that’s happened in the past, everybody’s sitting at the
dining table, and just enjoying the day and enjoying each other’s company
without being pretentious, and without being “Oh, I did this, I did that, I want
to do that”…that’s my favourite and the best part of the whole thing.
Pukka Chaat. In keeping with Diwali tradition, this dish is vegetarian.
As fantastic as it looks, it tastes even better.
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F E S T I V E F L AV O U R S
F E S T I V E F L AV O U R S
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