deepavali revisted

Our little Indian feast in honor of Deepavali, with my version of butter chicken in the foreground and spiced potatoes and spinach in the background

It’s the Indian holiday of Deepavali (also known as Diwali, or the Festival of Lights) this weekend, the third in a series of national Malaysian holidays that have happened over the last three months. The first was the Muslim Ramadan in August, which the hubby and I celebrated by gorging ourselves at a bazaar, and the second was the Chinese MId-Autumn Festival, which I had planned on celebrating by learning to bake my first mooncakes from scratch. The Gravy Baby’s early arrival nixed those plans, so for Deepavali I was determined to do something to get in the spirit of things.

I’ve taken several Indian cooking classes since we moved here, and I have to say that while I absolutely love Indian food, I am still really uncomfortable trying to make it. I just don’t know how the spices blend and what proportion to use them in.

Butter chicken

Nevertheless, tonight I took a shot at making two classic Indian dishes: murg makhani (butter chicken) and palak aloo (spinach and potatoes). The hubby has had a really long couple of weeks at work, which means that I’ve had a couple of really long weeks at home caring for the Gravy Baby. Both of us have been eating on the fly, which for me means eating whatever leftovers I can heat up and eat while standing with the Gravy Baby nestled securely in the baby carrier. I’m just a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve had to brush crumbs off my child’s head multiple times in the last two weeks, and once — just once — I found half a potato chip wedged between the two of us after a meal. Forgive me, child.

So tonight we sat down to a little Indian feast, our first real meal together in a long while. We talked about some travel we’d like to do before we move home to the US next year and caught up on the goings-on of the last couple of weeks. It felt normal, which meant it felt special, since the last two months have been anything but what used to be normal for us. And since it’s a holiday, and we got to feel special, I think we celebrated Deepavali just fine.

For some ideas and recipes for Deepavali, check out these links:

For locals, an interesting article on where to buy muruku, the crunchy chickpea flour snack that the hubby and I are addicted to

A photo gallery of kolam, the rice mosaic designs made on the floor during Deepavali