Low calorie ladoos, baked karanjis to mark Diwali celebrations in India and abroad

THANE: With Diwali just a few days away, the bylanes of lake-city have already been flooded with the aromas of a variety of farsan prepared by families. Be it the indulgent festive sweets and savory dishes including flavoured coconut laddoos or the tomato and garlic chivdas, or the healthy but crunchy baked goodies including karanjis, chaklis and shankarpali, families have begun coming together to create a variety of traditional and modern dishes.
Shwetha Honkote, one such 38-year-old Kalwa resident who has been spending the past weeks making chaklis and laddoos with her family said, “This is the time of the year when everyone in our family comes together to cook. My mother-in-law leads the traditional faral recipes and the rest of us follow her instructions.”
While families like the Honkotes have continued their tradition of coming together and creating the authentic Diwali special snacks this year as well, many others are opting for healthier alternatives.
“During the next few weeks we will have to eat a lot of oily and sweet loaded snacks when we go visiting our friends, family and neighbours. So have decided to take a health conscious route this year. We have started making chaklis, shankarpalis and coconut karanjis so far, but we are baking them,” said Arundhati Shinde. “I even went for a baking class and will be making sweets made from dry fruits instead of chocolate,” Shinde added.
Many renowned farsan makers have also begun preparing these festive delicacies in bulk and shipping them off to families across international borders.
Medha Deshpande, one such homechef, said, “Thaneites have been getting very health conscious and I have made a variety of diet karanjee, chivdas, shankarpalis and other such Diwali snacks which are all baked. This year, I also made some low calorie besan ladoos. In addition to the hundreds of orders we have received in the city, we have also received many more from the across Europe, Australia, the US, Singapore and New Zealand.”