Diwali and Holidays

This holiday in India, is a big one in Northern India - the festival of lights, the start of a new year! So it is a very big deal for Anshul and his family. In Eastern India, it is celebrate similarly and called Kali Puja. In India, this marks the end of a month of various holidays, I like to think of it as the continuation of the holidays. Commencing with Durga Puja, the holiday season ends with the New Year for us.
Aadi's preschool tries to observe all the holidays - Chinese New Year, Easter, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Thankgiving... I think you get the drift. This purple diya was made by him. On Diwali morning, I tried making a simple quick dessert. Really nice and comforting especially given the



frigid temperatures we have been having here.

A phirni is traditionally a dessert made of ground rice and milk. I have made this with oatmeal and ground almonds.
Try this some morning for something special or for a nice simple and reasonably healthy dessert at night.

Oatmeal Phirni

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk

1/2 cup evaporated milk

4-5 cardamoms

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup powdered almonds

1 teaspoon saffron strands

Method of Preparation

1. Bring the whole milk and the evaporated milk to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Add in the cardamoms, sugar and oats and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes. The mixture should have a thin porridge like consistency.

3. Stir in the almonds and saffron. Serve warm.

If you want to get some spices on the cheap stop by at the local Bhavik Grocery, he has a whole bunch of items on sale, I picked up a large package of cinamon sticks for $1.99.

Stay tuned, have cooked up some interesting recipes, trying really hard to finish green tomatoes and have visited a bunch of interesting eating joints!