A season for sugar overload, and non-stop snacking, Deepavali brings together everyone on a sweet note. Traditionally, it is sweets such as adhirasam, laddu (boondi and rawa), badusha and jangri that are prepared for the festival of lights. But there are many other speciality sweets that are made at the stores, and are also available in healthy options with less sugar and more nuts and dry fruits being used. Taste of tradition with adhirasam The experience of watching food being prepared is a unique. It’s hard to resist the aroma of freshly made delicacies. And it is precisely for this reason that a live counter was set up at Hotel Saravana Bhavan (HSB), 18 months ago. What started as a trial run, has now become a part of their everyday routine at three of HSB outlets (KK Nagar, Ashok Pillar and Alandur). “Normally, we make one to two kilos of adhirasam and jangri per day, but during Deepavali, the sales is 40 times more. Apart from adhirasam and jangri at the live counters we also make kai murukku and thattai,” says K Kamalakannan, creative manager, HSB. “Apart from making for a rather tempting sight, the process of making adhirasam and jangri is fascinating for those who visit the restaurant. Moreover, they know the food is fresh and will last longer,” he says. According to him, ever since the live counters have been set up, their sales have improved. This Deepavali, they see a high demand for adhirasam. The dough for the adhirasam is made at the KK Nagar branch while the chef at the live counter shapes the sweet and fries it in oil once an order is placed. “Making of the paagu (jaggery syrup) for adhirasam is most important. If the consistency goes wrong, then the taste and softness will be affected. That is why it is centrally made by an experienced master, and then the dough is distributed to other locations,” says Kamalakannan. K Ramadevi, manager of the snack unit, HSB, says that for one kilo of rice and ¾ kilo jaggery, they make about 40 pieces (two kilos) of adhirasam, each weighing 50 grams. At HSB, Ashok Pillar branch, they also offer gulab jamun made with alvalli kizhangu (tapioca), something usually preferred by diabetics . Karupatti and millets At Sri Krishna Sweets, the focus is on innovative packaging and also on healthy alternatives. Last year they had launched the karupatti halwa and karupatti katli. “We use eight different types of millets and make a range of laddoos and snacks. Our dry fruit laddoo was well received last year. Karupatti, ghee and cashews are the only ingredients used to make the halwa and katli,” says Sneha Murali, director, Sri Krishna Sweets. Here sweet boxes come decorated with a bouquet. “We have launched a story board concept in the Ramayana gift boxes. There will be one main scene from the epic depicted on the big box, and there will be nine small boxes inside with each depicting an important incident from the epic; these are accompanied by explanatory text,” says Murali. From October 16, 6 am to October 18, 6 am, three of their outlets will sell sweets non-stop for 48 hours. Their happy hours are between 11 pm to 5 am and all items cost 10% less. Ganga water, Deepavali leghyam and herbal oil are complimentary with every bill. A special package Aavin, the trademark of Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, has introduced eight new sweets for Deepavali, and they are nuts halwa, cashew cake, cashew burfi, chocolate burfi, badam burfi, dates khova, cashew halwa and badam halwa. Officials at Aavin say that, they have come up with a gift box (650 grams, ?500) which is an assortment of all the eight sweets. These are available across all Aavin outlets across the state. Dry fruit delight At Adyar Ananda Bhavan, they specialise in a wide range of almond and cashew based sweets, but the most popular one is dry fruit cake, and kaju mothi cake. Vidya G, the sales person at their ECR branch says, the sweets comprise of one layer of ground dry fruits that are topped with dried and preserved rose petals, which lends it a unique flavour. Pista burfi and dry fruit chikki (also available in a low sugar variant) are the other popular items on their shelf for the health conscious this season. Cash on cashews At Ganga Sweets, it is the mango and strawberry flavoured kaju katli, kashmiri kalakand and special laddoo are the popular signature sweets. S Selvi, from the HR department of Ganga Sweets, says that this year they have introduced a boat-shaped kaju katli, and a few millets-based murukku varieties. High on jangri While Suriya Sweets is popular for its cashew, almond sweets and dry fruit laddoo, this year they have made elaborate arrangements to make huge quantities of special jangri. ”During Deepavali, many shops don’t sell jangri as it is a labour intensive and time consuming process. But we bring in more masters from around the state and have it made at wedding halls that are hired specifically for this purpose,” says Lingeswaran S, manager at RA Puram branch of Suriya Sweets.

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