Deepavali Recipes

Deepavali is on Thursday, October 31st, 2024

Check here for more Diwali Recipes & Kolams or Rangoli to decorate your house.

Deepavali, or Diwali, is a festival of lights, an event celebrated with sweets, firecrackers, and new attire. Let’s revel in the lights and sounds of this joyous occasion.

The mythology surrounding Deepavali varies from North to South India. In Tamil Nadu, the festival is observed to honor the defeat of the demon Narakasura. The central ritual is the early morning oil bath. The senior-most woman in the family applies gingelly oil to the heads of all members. Subsequently, everyone takes an oil bath and dons new clothes. Children engage in “bursting crackers,” symbolizing the destruction of the demon king Narakasura.

A variety of sweets and snacks are specially prepared for Diwali. These dishes are offered to God, and after prayers, people seek the blessings of their elders. Subsequently, individuals visit temples and exchange sweets with neighbors, friends, and relatives.

Apart from sweets and savories made for Deepavali Idli, Dosai, Vadai, are prepared in almost all the households in Tamilnadu for breakfast.

  • Mysore Pak

    Cooks in 70 minutesDifficulty: Medium

    Discover the rich and decadent taste of Mysore Pak, a traditional South Indian sweet made with gram flour, ghee, and sugar. A beloved treat for special occasions and festivals.

  • Adirasam

    Cooks in 70 minutesDifficulty: Medium

    Adirasam is a beloved South Indian dessert often made during festivals such as Diwali. This deep-fried sweet, crafted from rice flour, jaggery, and spices, can be enjoyed during celebratory events or as a year-round treat, presenting an enticing blend of delicious and crispy flavors.

  • Pottu Kadalai Urundai

    Difficulty: Easy

    Pottu Kadalai Urundai also known as Maaladu or Maa Laddu is one of the traditional sweets prepared during Deepavali or any special occasions.

  • Rawa Urundai

    Difficulty: Medium

    A common sweet made during diwali with rawa, sugar and ghee.

  • Thenkuzhal

    Difficulty: Medium

    This snack is made during festivals and special occasions like Diwali. This can be stored for weeks without refrigeration.

  • Mullu Murukku

    Cooks in 40 minutesDifficulty: Medium

    Mullu Murukku is a popular South Indian savory snack made from rice flour and flavored with spices. It is commonly enjoyed during festive occasions like Diwali and is often served with tea or coffee.

  • Omapodi

    Difficulty: Medium

    A snack dish made with Besan and rice flour sprinkled with Ajwain (omam) and hence the name.

  • Ribbon Pakoda

    Cooks in 25 minutesDifficulty: Medium

    Ribbon pakoda is a popular Indian snack prepared from chickpea flour, rice flour, and various spices. The dough is formed into thin strips and deep-fried to yield a crispy texture. Frequently enjoyed with tea or as a crunchy side to rice meals, it is particularly favored during festivals and special occasions.

  • Pepper Kaara Sev

    Difficulty: Medium

    Learn how to make Pepper Kaara Sev, a popular Indian snack with a crispy texture and a blend of spices. Perfect for snacking or adding crunch to chaat items!

  • Ragi Murukku

    Cooks in 70 minutesDifficulty: Medium

    An evening snack made with ragi flour

  • Suzhiyan

    Difficulty: Medium

    Discover how to make Suzhiyan, a popular South Indian sweet dish made from all purpose flour, rice flour, bengal gram dal, jaggery, and coconut. Learn the key steps and tips for a perfect result!

  • Green Gram Dal Okkarai

    Difficulty: Easy

    Green gram dal okkarai is a traditional South Indian dish made with green gram dal (also known as moong dal), coconut, and a mix of spices.

  • Okkarai

    Difficulty: Easy

    Okkarai is a traditional South Indian sweet prepared during festive occasions and is enjoyed as a snack or dessert.

  • Green Gram Dhal Urundai

    Difficulty: Easy

    Green gram dal urundai is a traditional South Indian snack made from split green gram dal

  • Boondhi Laddu

    Difficulty: Medium

    Boondi laddu is known for its rich taste and sweet aroma, and it is often enjoyed as a dessert or offered as prasad (religious offering).

64 Comments

  1. Wow wat a prefect post for Deepavali..beautiful spread..

  2. Dear Ms. Kamala. My name is also Kamala.
    First let me thank you for the wonderful recipes, made very simple and presented attractively.
    My elder son who is in the university actually uses your recipes to cook his meals. So far he has cooked banana pepper fry, masala, rice, and also capsicum rice.
    I tried the mysore pak and it came out very well for the first time in many years.
    My heartfelt thanks once again.
    Kamala

  3. Sanctified Spaces

    Lovely collection of recipes.

  4. Thank you Sanctified Spaces.

  5. Hi Kamala,

    Thank you for visiting my site. Nice to hear that your son is trying my recipes. Also happy to note that the mysore pak came out well.

  6. Thank you Priya.

  7. Nice collection of recipes for Deepavali.

  8. Nice collection recipes for Deepavali

  9. Thank you Swathi.

  10. hi kamala, ihave become a great fan of ur i am tryig ur recipies everyday my husband and son just loves it tahnks a lot and one more thing is ur kolam designs r awesome my in lawss just praise me now for diwali festival i need a kolam which is a new design.

  11. Hi Kamala,

    I visit ur blog daily and u have such wonderful recepies, which are very easy to prepare. I have tried ur recepies and they have come out very well. thanks a lot for the same.
    I also have learnt many kolams from your collections and i display the varieties in front of my house everydy. thanks once again.
    Regards
    Uma Ramachandran

  12. Thank you Uma.

  13. Hi Sonia,

    Thank you for visiting my blog and your kind comments. For Diwali kolam, you can check my kolams under the category "deepam". I will also try to put a new design before diwali.

  14. Hi,

    I have been to your site many times and each time i am totally surprised seeing the number of varieties you have for each dish. And not being that good at making sweets i have learnt to make sweets from your site.
    My hearty wishes to you and Happy diwali aunty.

    Lak.

  15. Hi Lak,

    Thank you very much for visiting my site. I too wish you and your family a very Happy Diwali.

  16. What a great resource!

  17. Hi Kamala,
    Thanks for posting this. You posts are really encouraging for people like us away from home. Keep it up!

    Thanks
    Sonum

  18. i enjoy doing ur recipes

  19. Hi kamala mam,

    I really liked all your recipes and im trying it too and its coming out good. could you please provide the lunch recipes for diwali which would help me in preparing lunch for diwali.

    Thanks
    Suchithra

    • Suchithra,

      In Tamilnadu, for Diwali, people have elaborate breakfast and mostly there will not be much for lunch, unless there is any newly married couple arriving to the girl’s house. If you want to prepare any special lunch, you can pick up from Pulao/Kheer etc.

  20. Hi kamala mam,

    Whenever i try adhirasam, the outcome is my adhirasam are harder and not able to break also. what went wrong in preparation.please advise.

    Thanks
    Suchithra

    • Hi Suchithra,

      To get soft Adirasam, you have to use freshly ground wet rice flour and also the dough should be fermented for atleast one day. Please let me know what type of rice flour you are using and the method of your preparation, so that I can tell you where it is going wrong.

    • Suchithra,

      I find your preparation perfect, except the following:

      1. Need not soak for three hours. Just soak it for one hour.

      2. The rice flour should be very fine and not like Rawa.

      3. Make right soft ball consistency of jaggery syrup. Should not be overcooked or less.

      Make the above changes and try first with little quantity and let me know your feed back.

      Best wishes for your Adirasam preparation.

  21. Really thank you mam for the reply with regard to my 1st query. I’m a malayalee born and settled in chennai, but now I’m in oman. I know to prepare sweets and savories(learned from your recipes) on deepavali but not sure of food on deepavali.Please advise what breakfast I should prepare on that festival day.So that i can start from this deepavali.thank you.

    • Suchithra,

      For Diwali, Idli, Dosai, Suzhiyan, Vadai and accompanying side dishes like chutney, sambar, Kotsu are prepared. It will be served along with the sweets and savouries prepared for Diwali. Kesari, Okkarai, Bajji and whatever people like they will make it. Normally the breakfast served on the Banana Leaf have minimum 5 items and it will go on …..

  22. Dear kamala mam, I will give you my adhirasam preparation. I take Rawrice and soak it in water for about 3hrs. then drain it and powder it in ravai consistency.then i make sugar syrup, soft ball consistency, put elaichi in that. then i switch off the stove and then in that hot jaggery syrup, i add rice little by little and make it as soft chappathi dough.then i take that dough only next day for making adhirasam(today evening i make dough and tomorr morning or afternoon i make adhirasam).i apply little ghee in plastic paper and make disc shape with that dought and deep fry in oil till golden brown. but my outcome is my adhirasam is harder and not taste like adhirasam.Madam,adhirasam is my favorite, i tried n number of times, but not coming. now i stopped, but this deepavali i thought let me ask you and do. please advise.

  23. Thank you mam for the reply. I will prepare deepavali breakfast you mentioned. And also thanks once again with regard to adhirasam preparation. I will try adhirasam and let you know the status. This time it should come good.

  24. i love deewali recipes……………
    uuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

  25. i love dewali recipes

  26. THANKS FOR THE NICE SWEETS ON DISPLAY. WE ALL WISH YOU VERY HAPPY DEEPAVALI

  27. Ponnammal Balasubramanian

    I always enjoy your recipes. We do all these at home and your details are very useful.
    We wish you a Happy Diwali.

  28. Kamala mam, for deepavali lunch, i made ur sambar rice and brinji. Thank you very much mam first of all. Sambar rice it came out very well and its too tasty too. my husband liked it very much. But brinji rice i think so i made mistake. Aroma was not coming. Please help to clarify on brinji rice. whether ginger and garlic paste should be added or chopped ginger and garlic should be added. i used chopped ginger and garlic, so aroma was not coming of brinji. advise on this so that next time i wont make mistake. thank you very mam.

    • Hi Suchithra,

      So you are an expert now in preparing Sambar Rice. You can even modify/better this recipe as per your own taste. Adding few fresh groundnuts and if you like masala taste, then a pinch of garam masala powder can also be added.

      Regarding Brinji rice, usually it will have the flavour of the “Brinji Leaves” and adding few more brinji leaves will enhance the flavour. I used to add chopped ginger and garlic only to get light flavour. If you want you can add ginger/garlic paste and little garam masala powder. And also cook with Basmathi rice and coconut milk.

  29. I made adirasam as per your instruction. The dough was like chappati dough, smooth dough, but when i took next day to make balls, its breaking, so added milk and made dough again. After frying it was crisp, then next day, the crispness has gone, but i didnot get soft adirasam. Taste is good. little bit softness required in my adirasam.it is little harder to take a piece of adirasm. please help me to make softer adirasam as we get in shops. But I’m really thankful to u mam as my adirasm has got 75% better now. All your recipes are superb, still learning from your recipes.

    • Hi Suchithra,

      100% is not far away from 75%. Two reasons may be, jaggery syrup overcooked OR the rice flour is not wet. When you grind the wet rice, the flour also have the moisture and when you add it to the syrup, the moisture will keep the syrup soft. So next time, careful about the syrup and rice flour texture. Best of luck for a perfect soft adirasam.

  30. Thank you mam for the reply.I have some more queries with regard to adirasam prepartion and i foregot to mention yesterday.Queries are as follows:
    1) 1 cup rice i powdered in mixi, if I’m taking more rice, whether i can give it in flour mill. Wet rice powdered in flour mill is suitable for making adirasam.
    2)This is with regard to syrup. After removing the syrup from stove, immediately the wet rice flour should be added or we have to wait till the jaggery syrup comes to room temperature and then add the rice flour.
    3)last query is size of adirasam. when I made thin, its becoming crisp, so i made little bit thick adirasam.
    Thank you kamala mam for patiently answering my queries. thats all closing my queries with regard to adirasam.for long im trying this recipe, with your help i got it somehow. thanks mam once again.

    • Hi Suchithra,

      1. No. You have to use fresh wet rice flour for this recipe. If you want to grind more rice, you can do it small batches.

      2. You can immediately put the rice flour in the hot syrup. Need not wait for the syrup cool down.

      3. Do not make it thin. It should be slightly thicker.

  31. Dear Kamala mam,

    I need your personal details about. You are staying in chennai. Presently Im staying in muscat now. My hometown is chennai. When I come to chennai, I would like to call you and thank you for patiently answering my queries. I need your phone number to contact you. thanks .suchithra

  32. Hi mam,
    Ur reciepes r so nice, its easy to prepare. i’ll try it often. My hubby also likes it very much. I want more tradional reciepes from u.

  33. Nice recipes . Thank you 🙂

  34. Namaskaram Kamala maami,

    Your recipes turn out just like my amma’s cooking. I am sure many newly married women like me turn to your site for guidance in the kitchen. you are doing a great job of handing down traditional recipes. I have tried a few items from your site and will continue trying out more. This time for Deepavali, my friends and I tried your boondhi laddoo and mullu thenguzhal recipe. They turned out delicious! We are elated. Thank you so much for taking this effort. Also, could you post a recipe for pulikachal please?

  35. Love your Blog.
    I am pleased to have used your recipes which turn out to be excellent like my dad’s cooking and not my mummy. Mummy doesn’t even know how to turn the stove on! But she is a great in keeping our household clean and tidy.
    Why didn’t you use your beautiful kolam designs as kamalscorner background pages because they are simply beautiful adn could make your pages look even more exciting.
    Thanks

    Vaish.

  36. uma sivaswamy

    Thank you very much for the great recipes.My kids surya and maya really enjoyed it.We really enjoyed the eggplant.

    thanks
    uma

  37. Pushpakala

    Hi Kamala,

    I am pushpakala, from chennai recently i seen your website and tried avarakai thokku, and Garlic coriander podi, really its nice….. and i had tried many variety rices and dishes…..

    My kid shaji and my hubby enjoyed the dishes…..

    Thanks …..Kamala

  38. Your recipes are suberb.. really liked it, I dont know that much cooking, but i tried your recipes was very nice. More over i am a diabetics patient i tried oats pongal was very nice….

    Do to have any other recipes for Diabetic…. patients kindly post it or mail it.

    Thanks

    ~~
    Mini. B ~~

  39. I am a single parent taking care of 2 kids in a foreign country. Your site has helped me make tasty Indian dishes for my kids, so thanks a lot.

    Looking at your Deepavali snack collection is bringing back my fond memories of this festival and all kind of foods we used to eat as kids.

    Happy Deepavali.

    Regards
    Siva

  40. Hi…Great collection of diwali spl recipes.
    Do visit my blog. We are currently hosting a giveaway… participate and win surprising prizes too!!http://thekavicliving.weebly.com/giveaways.html

  41. Dear kamala amma thanks for your genuine recipes. Since I lost my mum when I was teenager I could learn my amma’s original recipes. But your recipes are great as my mum’s and I hope my daughter will inherit from me. Happy deepavali kamala amma.

  42. Very good collection of Indian recepis. Happy diwali..

  43. Awesome Recipies – Thank You for Sharing.

  44. There are a lot of collections in your post which help my son to cook actually he is studying in university your blog will help him to cook Thank you so much for this post it’s really nice.

  45. I need some tasty and easy recpies which can be made within half an hour

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