Indore's foodies can look forward to anar cakes, mawa dry fruits and much more this Diwali

With a dazzle of lights, colourful soirees and tables full of delectable sweets and namkeen, Diwali has arrived in the city! Every corner of Indore is twinkling with the glitter of tiny bulbs and lanterns. Households are already sporting colourful rangolis and the delicious aroma of freshly made savouries and snacks is wafting from kitchens. And since food forms an essential part of all Indori celebrations, we take a look at what's trending on the Diwali platter this year...
Dry fruits get spicy twists
Dry fruits platters are a staple gift during the season and are purchased in bulk by households for adding richness to homemade sweets as well.And this year, the traditional platters are getting some spicy twists. "Going beyond the conventional salt and pepper or roasted cashews, we have got pav-bhaji flavour, cocktail flavour and mawa coated kaju. Similarly, almonds are available in kulfi, coffee-raisin, rose, blueberry and chocolate flavour," shares Dewanshu Neema, owner of the 450-years-old shop, Govindji, in Marothia bazaar. The price of these novelty dry fruits ranges from `300 to `180 for 250 grams. Besides quirky flavours in dry fruits, healthy seeds and fox nuts are also available in flavours like cream and onion, heeng-jeera, pani puri, etc. "I was amazed to see so many new flavours on offer in city shops. Generally, such flavours are found only in high-end gourmet shops. Making this available for the masses in old bazaar was a good move," says design student Pankhuri Sharma, who was purchasing boxes of the same.

Cakes and cupcakes crackle this year
With increasing demand for new types of confectionary items, bakers have created a crackling spread for patrons. Rakshita Mehta has been getting orders for anar and chakri cakes that give the feel of real crackers. "After having edible crackers last year, customers wanted something newer and bigger, so I floated the idea of anar and chakri cakes with real sparkles. Keeping the base of traditional flavours like fruit, vanilla or chocolate cakes, I designed it to look like a huge anar or chakri, with space for inserting the sparklers. When one lights it up, it looks like a real anar is showering sparkles. It’s a huge hit at Diwali parties."

Similarly, Diwali themed cupcakes with edible diyas, rangoli and crackers are also trending. Farida Amir, a city-based confectioner shares, "Cupcakes and fusion desserts have become common now. So on insistence of patrons, we made Diwali and cracker themed desserts this year. There are a myriad of choices in flavours from vanilla to rasmalai, kesar-pista, etc."
Truffles go desi, and mithayi videshi
Although youngsters are inclined towards chocolates and baked goodies, they look for Indian flavours in these western desserts. "Corporates as well as youngsters prefer gifting chocolates and truffles because of their longer shelf life. At the same time, they look for Indianised flavours. We have masala chai, rose-pista and pinni truffles," says Rakshita. Other chocolatiers have also incorporated motichoor, shahi korma and mawa badam flavours in their chocolate hampers. Chocolatier Shivam Kalra adds, "Nobody wants soan-papdi anymore. But if it is stuffed inside a chocolate they will have it happily. That is why most of the confectioners are opting for desi flavoured treats."

On the other hand, mithaiwalas have upped their game by adding chocolate, blueberry and strawberry to their traditional mawa sweets to make them more likeable. "Customers always come looking for something different in mithais for Diwali, because it becomes a conversation starter among their peers and families. So we have added elements like chocolate or strawberry crust even to traditional sweets like gajak, to make it more appealing," shares Natwar Nema, owner of Nema Gajak.