Diwali calls for a grand celebration with amazing homemade pure sweets. The festival of lights should be all about merrymaking. So stay away from firecrackers which cause stress, terror and even death in strays and birds with their loud sound and pollution. Instead, indulge in the festivity by decorating your house and making sweets at home. A five-day celebration, Diwali is celebrated with a lot of excitement. This excitement is incomplete without making sweets at home. The festival is celebrated as the homecoming of Lord Rama with Sita and Laxman after a long exile of 14 years and defeating the demon Ravana. So what’s better to celebrate the day of victory of good over evil than filling your house with the breath-taking aroma of homemade sweets?

There is a large variety of Diwali sweets made with different ingredients in different shapes, sizes, colours, fragrances and tastes. Atte ke laddoo (wheat flour laddoos) is one of the ethnic Diwali sweets that is prepared in almost every Indian house on this festival. This sweet is easy to make. It is full of nutrients and it tastes simply divine.

Here is a simple recipe to make ‘atte ke laddoo’:

Yields: 1.5 kg

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

Wheat flour: 500 grams

Karara (a form of sugar): 400 grams

Pure ghee: 450 grams

Almonds: 2 tbsp

Cashew nuts: 2 tbsp

Melon seeds: 1 tbsp

Pistachios: 2 tbsp

Raisins: 2 tbsp

Cardamom powder: 1 tsp

Method:

Chop almonds, cashew nuts and pistachios coarsely. Heat a thick-bottomed pan. Add pure ghee and let it melt on low flame. Add wheat flour and keep stirring frequently on low flame for about 30 to 45 minutes until ghee separates from the flour and start accumulating on the sides and top. The cooked flour will start giving a nutty fragrance. Add almonds, cashews, melon seeds, pistachios, raisins and cardamom powder. Mix well and keep stirring frequently on low flame for another 10 minutes. Turn off the flame and transfer the mixture in a big plate to cool. When the mixture cools down, add karara and mix well with your hands. In winter, add karara when the laddoo mixture is slightly hot otherwise it will be difficult to make laddoos in round shape due to the hardened pure ghee in the mixture. In summer, wait till the mixture gets completely cool. Now take lemon size portions out of the mixture one by one and give them a round shape pressing by rolling them in between both of your palms. Shape all the laddoos round and collect them in a big plate. Store them in an airtight container. They will remain fresh for 15 days.

Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains all across the world. What is eaten during the five-day festival? The immediate answer is sweets – and plenty of them. If there is one thing that captures the Indian culinary psyche, it is Indian sweetmeats, known as “mithai” and ‘atte ke laddoo’ forms an authentic and indispensable part of it. Wheat flour, karara and pure ghee are used as base ingredients to make this mithai. Dry fruits, nuts, raisins and cardamom powder are added to enhance the flavour and fragrance.

It is common for family and friends to drop around to each other’s house with boxes of sweets on Diwali. Try making these laddoos. They are rich in every sense. Distribute them as a symbol of culinary riches.

Have a joyful Diwali!