Give your Diwali leftovers a makeover with these mouthwatering recipes
Indian staples, international favourites, and everything in between
A brutal hangover, piles of pants that don’t fit anymore, and towers of leftovers in the fridge are some of the things you’re left to deal with after your roaring Diwali celebrations. You can sleep the first one off, and hopefully sweat off the next one, but the third one is what poses a challenge.
Staples like dal or rice don’t really make for Diwali leftovers, it’s usually sugar-laden, ghee-filled goodies that you find stuffed in Tupperware boxes threatening to pop, much like the button on your jeans that you’ve managed to squeeze into despite the mithai-top.
And it really requires some special Nathulal Halwai expertise to transform something beautiful into something even better.
But we turned to the Gen-Z edition of a resourceful aunty, who has a solution for everything – the internet. And Google chachi did not disappoint, we managed to get our hands on recipes that will give Diwali leftovers a facelift.
Recipes to help you make the most of your Diwali leftovers
Motichoor ladoo no-bake cheesecake from Sanjeevkapoor.com
Take the Diwali leftover that tops your list and transform it into an international favourite in a few easy steps.
This dessert will make for the best of both worlds in one bite, and in no time, will become a post-Diwali dinner party favourite.
Ingredients:
For the crust
- 10 digestive biscuits
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 cup condensed milk
For the filling
- 2 to 3 motichoor laddoos, crumbled
- 1 1/2 cups hung yogurt
- 2 cups chenna
- 1 cup condensed milk
- 1 tbsp vegetarian gelatine
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Directions:
- Crush the biscuits to form a coarse powder and put them into a bowl. Add melted butter and mix. Add condensed milk and mix.
- Put this mixture into a spring form cake tin and press tightly to form the base of the cheesecake. Keep it in the refrigerator to set firmly.
- For the filling, take hung yogurt in a bowl. Add chenna and condensed milk, and mix well. Crumble one motichoor laddoo and mix.
- Dissolve the gelatine in a little water and add to the filling mixture and mix well.
- Pour over the biscuit base and level the surface. Crumble two more laddoos and spread on the top.
- Keep it in the refrigerator to set.
- When firmly set, cut into wedges and serve.
Photo credit: Tuhina Maheshwari/Instagram
Besan ladoo-stuffed paratha from Thebridgechronicle.com
This is the only way you can get away with eating besan ladoos for breakfast.
Ingredients:
- 4 to 6 besan ladoos, crumbled
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 all purpose flour
- Salt as required
- 2 tsp oil
- Rice flour as required
Directions:
- Mix whole wheat and all purpose flour with salt, and add water to make a dough.
- Add oil and keep kneading till the dough no longer sticks to your fingers. It should be elastic.
- Cover and set aside.
- Crush the besan laddoos and set them aside.
- Divide into four equal portions for stuffing.
- Make four uniform dough balls. Roll into puris, and use rice flour for dredging while rolling.
- Stuff the besan ladoo crumble into the puris. Bring the ends together and roll again into small, thin parathas.
- Heat a pan and cook the paratha on a low flame, till brown spots appear on both sides.
- Serve with ghee.
Diwali leftovers cake from Anybodycanbake.com
This cake is to Diwali leftovers what veggies about to go bad are to a pulav – just throw everything in and watch the magic happen.
Ingredients:
- 100 gm leftover milk-based sweets
- 25 gm all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp green cardamom powder
- 200 ml milk
Directions:
- In a bowl, add broken pieces of milk-based Diwali leftovers (only sweets).
- Add hot milk to it and whisk it until the sweets completely dissolve in the milk.
- Add cardamom powder and mix.
- Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda, and mix.
- Use a spatula to fold all the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Meanwhile, preheat your oven at 180 degrees celsius.
- Add the remaining 100 ml of milk to the batter, and mix well. Ensure that there are no lumps in the batter.
- Take a baking tin and line it with parchment paper.
- Pour the prepared batter into the tin.
- Garnish the batter with sliced pistachios and bake it in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- Once baked, take the tin out from oven and let the cake rest for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, take the cake out of the tin, slice, and serve.
Boondi Kheer
A bowl of kheer is exactly what you need to lift the spirits and get through post-Diwali blues. And the exciting addition that are the glistening pearls of boondi, make the suffering sweeter .
Ingredients:
- 8 cups milk
- 6 boondi laddoos
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 4 to 5 pistachios for garnish
- chopped nuts (optional)
Directions:
- Bring milk to a boil in a thick-bottomed pan.
- Simmer and reduce to roughly five cups.
- Crumble the laddoos into the simmering, reduced milk.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes until creamy and thickened.
- Grate in fresh nutmeg, and add more nuts if desired.
- Serve warm.
Photo credit: Choiceoffoods_/Instagram
Puranpoli made using leftover soan papdi from Zaykakatadka.com
No dessert menu, Diwali leftovers or not, is complete without puranpoli. And this recipe manages to make our favourite Indian dessert even better by keeping our beloved soan papdi from going to waste.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup soan papdi
- 1/4 cup milk
- Wheat flour dough enough to make 2 rotis
- 1/2 tsp ghee
Directions:
- Break soan papdi into small pieces and add them to a non stick pan. Stir on a medium flame till they turn light brown.
- Add milk, and continue stirring. Turn the flame off when the milk and soan papdi combine to form a lumpy mass.
- Roll out two rotis using the dough.
- Spread the soan papdi mixture on one roti, and cover it with another roti. Press the edges to seal the roti.
- Use a pan to roast the puranpoli on a medium flame. Once cooked, serve with ghee.