snack

Sushma Nagarkar got her M.Sc. Maths, Honours School from Panjab University. She lives with her husband Dhanesh in Nagpur. Her daughter is an ophthalmologist, and her son is a mechanical engineer.

I got married in 1979 and came to my in-laws' place at Nagpur. My husband has two brothers and two sisters, three of whom live in Nagpur.

We are a religious family, and celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi and Mahalaxmi Puja in Bhadrapada (Hindu lunar calendar month, usually in August-September).

The preparation starts about a fortnight before the Puja day as about 100 people dine on the Puja day.

Every day, the women gather at my husband's older brother's home, where my late mother-in-law, Shrimati Gangabai Nagarkar, lived.

Sweet modaks are made on the first day. These are sweets and Prasad for Ganpati.

We make lots of sweets and snacks, such as laddu, shev, karanji, chakli, and anarse. Nobody ­­- not even small children ­- are allowed to eat them until the Puja is over.

Nithya Balaji holds an M.Phil. in Computer Science. Her food blog www.nithubala.com focuses mainly on South Indian Vegetarian Cuisine. She is interested in food photography, food art and floral rangoli. She is a writer of stories in Tamil and English. Her stories and recipes were featured in popular magazines.

Whenever I think about a fried snack, the first thing that hits my mind is Kai Murukku. Pankajavalli Patti, (Patti means grandmother in Tamil) my paternal grandmother, and Gandhimathi Patti, my maternal grandmother, were both experts in preparing Kai Murukku.

Purnima Patel has lived in many continents but now resides in Bethesda, Maryland. She is the mother of two grown daughters. She works as a cytotechnologist in the Pathology Lab at Virginia Hospital Center. In her spare time, she loves to cook, read and travel.

My mom married my dad – both Gujaratis- in 1945 at a very young age in India and went with him to start their life in Uganda, where my siblings and I were born and raised.

y mom, and many others like her, rooted their lives by establishing all their Indian customs and foods in the completely foreign environment.

A favorite ritual in my life in Kampala was Sundays. My dad would pack the family into our car and drive off to the beach at Entebbe to spend the day. My parents would have planned the food with our family friends and relatives ahead of time. All the children and dads would play on the beach, while the moms would turn on kerosene stoves to start cooking the lunch.

Purnima Patel has lived in many continents but now resides in Bethesda, Maryland. She is the mother of two grown daughters. She works as a cytotechnologist in the Pathology Lab at Virginia Hospital Center. In her spare time, she loves to cook, read and travel.

I was not fortunate enough to spend time with either my paternal or my maternal ba (grandmother in Gujarati).

However, my daughters and niece were able to spend a reasonable amount of time with my mother when she came and lived with us in the U.S. after my father passed away. On the weekends, she would ask the girls what they would like for lunch. Most often the answer would be dhokla.

Traditional dhokla requires prior notice since there is a fermentation process involved. So, my mother created an instant rawa dhokla recipe. It replicates the  taste of traditional dhokla, but is compatible with the "instant" lifestyle of the U.S.

My mother has since passed away but her rawa dhoklas are a staple snack in our extended family as far as Argentina and Geneva, where my niece Trushna makes them regularly.

Picture courtesy Trushna

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Serves: 4 as a meal, 8 as a snack

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients: