Divali Sweet and Savory...Boondi Laddoo and Taro Root Fritters.
As it's divali today and the custom back in Mauritius, is we cook sweets and share with friends and family. I decided to cook some boondi laddoos and some taro root fritters (Gato Arouille in Creole). My laddoos look a bit reddish in color, because red food color was at hand's reach when I was mixing.. fortunately my blue or green food colors were tucked in far behind in the closet.. otherwise, it'd have been funny to see some multicolored laddoos.
Both are relatively easy to cook, but so much preparation and stuff.
For Laddoo, first I had to make the syrup by boiling sugar in water and let it cool down. Then make the batter with Besan (split peas) and water. Fry it in tiny little specks. Then dip the fry specks in the cold syrup and after dipping for a bit, take them out, crush them, add almonds and make small balls and finally it's ready to eat :)
For the Taro Fritters, a bit less work, remove hard skin from Taro Root.. then julienne cut the taro in long uniform thin strands. After that, add ginger/garlic paste to the strands, a little of corn starch and some soy sauce, make balls and fry and then eat :)
