Life is busy and keeping good health is a must. However, we suggest you save all you cheat days and enjoy the festival of Deepavali just the way it should be. And yes, we’re talking about the good old homemade sweets, full of love and happiness. This time, if you’re away from the family, be sure to put together a few of these and enjoy by yourself.

This is as Telugu as we can get with the festival! You cannot possibly miss Garijalu. To make this, start with some ghee and coconut shreds in a frying pan and saute them until golden brown. Add some sesame seeds and roast them. Keep aside this mixture once it’s done. Take another grinder and add to it all your favourite dry fruits. Give it a good grind until it forms a coarse powder. Add the powders together and to this, add some nutmeg, cinnamon, and castor sugar powder. Set aside your filling to make the cover.

Heat some ghee and pour the flour into it. Mix it well and once it starts to form beads, add milk to make it a smooth dough and keep kneading it. Set aside under a moist cloth for 20 mins and take it out later to chop it into equal parts. Use a rolling pin to make a small roti of sorts, run watery finger over the edges and add the  filling in the centre. Finally, turn one side over to the cover and make sure it sticks well. You can leave it here or pleat the edges. And now, fry it in moderately heated oil and enjoy the delicacy.

A good festive morning starts with biting into a crunchy yet soft Nankhatai. Don’t you agree? To make this, take some ghee and add sugar powder to it, mix it well to make it a creamy and fluffy mixture. Later, add a spoon of curd to give it some more texture. Now, gather the dry ingredients – all-purpose flour, gram flour, baking soda and baking powder, Sift them together and then mix both the mixtures. Add some nutmeg and cardamom powder to this and keep mixing. Once it takes a dough-like shape, pinch small balls out of it and make your desired shape. Later, keep it all in a baking pan and bake it at 180 degrees. You can also decorate it with your desired topping and enjoy one Nankhatai every day.

Ditch the sugar in your morning tea and enjoy Shankarpali instead, with the tea or in the tea. This one is the easiest of them all and tastes good uncooked too. In a large bowl, add some castor sugar, some all-purpose flour, some rava, and ghee. Keep mixing it all together and occasionally add a few drops of milk to make sure it forms a nice dough. Keep it aside for 20-30 mins and then take some dough on a rolling pin, make a flat roti, take a knife and starts cutting it, first horizontally and then vertically. Set them aside for some time before you give it a good deep fry. And now, enjoy!

If regular sweets are too sweet for you, try this Atukulu recipe that is both sweet and savoury. Take a deep frying pan, add little oil to it and dump all the Poha/flattened rice it. Within a few minutes, it will turn crispier, take it all out and set it aside in a plate. Take another small bowl, add oil to it and fry the following, separately, until golden brown – coconut pieces, peanuts, chana dal, raisins and cashew nuts. Now, in another pan, add some ghee and spoonful of castor power and let it caramelise. Once done, add the poha and the fried ingredients to it and give it a good mix before taking it off the flame. Morning breakfast or an evening snack, you got it all.

The real feel of Diwali comes in a platter of Diwali sweets with some Chaklis on the side. Right? Here’s how you can make it. Start with mixing gram flour and rice flour together. To this, add – carom, cumin, sesame seeds, asafetida turmeric and chilli powder, salt to taste. Mix it all together and add some heated ghee into this mixture. Once you combine it well, add boiling water to it, in parts and form a soft dough. Now comes the fun part, add this dough to a chakli maker and keep going round and round. Once the chaklis are done, fry them until golden brown. Add this to your platter and watch Diwali walk into your vibe.

Yet another popular tea-time Diwali snack it Karrap pusa. For the lovers of spice, add this to your tea or have it alongside, nothing can beat this combination. To a large bowl, add some gram flour, salt, ajwain powder, garlic powder, chilli powder and mix them well before adding some hot oil to this mixture. Now, add water occasionally as needed and form a smooth dough. Take another deep pan and add oil. Once it is hot, take your mould and add some dough to it. Directly press the mould on to the pan and watch the crispy golden magic food come to life.

Make sure to decorate your Diwali Platter in the best way possible and win hearts this festive season. Ditch the diet, not happiness! Now, check out Gods Of Dharmapuri on ZEE5 for some solid entertainment.