Celebrating with homemade vegan and Jain Mitthais is easy!
Can gatherings for Divali and New Year be more inclusive?
Family and friends get together for Divali and New Year and this usually involves making and eating 'Indian' sweets, which are also known as Mitthai. However, they often contain non-vegan ingredients like ghee, butter or condensed milk.
Could this be an opportunity to explore making vegan Mitthai!
Do vegans have to go without or can we make a range of vegan Mitthai for events like Divali?
I think my biggest motivator for arranging this event, was that I'm not used to being vegan and missing out! But of course, I also want the whole world to know that Mitthai can be, vegan, delicious, easy to make and healthier than non-vegan 'Indian' sweets.
I knew I wouldn't be able to reach the entire population through this first event! However, I hoped that word would spread and that within them; it would create a feeling of curiosity, excitement, interest and enthusiasm.
With all that in mind; I arranged for some like-minded folk to get together and share the results of their experimentation with making vegan Mitthai.
How the Mitthai sharing event went
The event involved six of us getting together to share Mitthai that we'd made earlier!
We all chose a recipe and amended it if it wasn't vegan. We also made sure it was Jain friendly i.e. it didn't include any root vegetables. We all made enough so that we could give everyone 4 pieces to take away.
It was great!
Once we had made sure that everyone had their share of Mitthai, we discussed the experience of making it and whether it was easy or not. We also, talked about whether we thought it needed improving and then made suggestions about how to achieve that. After that, we chatted, with some 'Indian' tea and Gathia.
Before the end of the event, we were talking about how useful it was and that we should arrange another soon!
Did we find a way to make a range of vegan Mitthais?
Yes we did!
In the video below, I briefly talk about the goodies we took away from the event! :)
Want to try making some of them?
Here's some of the delicious recipes that came out of the event.
Recipe for Dudhi No Halvo
Recipe for Kaaju Pista rolls
Recipe for Pista Barfi
Recipe for Maava Na Penda
Recipe for Date and Nut slices (Khajur Paak)
Recipe for Cherry Chocolate Slices
This post contains a selection of recipes to make vegan desserts and Mitthais, some of which are listed above.
"When everyone is included, everyone wins."
- Jesse Jackson