Even five years ago, preparations for Deepavali were hectic: there’d be a lot of chaos in the kitchen, the smell of deep-fried goodies would be irresistible, the floor would be littered with flour; in short, the picture was nothing short of a mess. But those are the Deepavalis that would be best remembered by us. Even now, there are a number of blogs that list ‘50 sweet recipes for Deepavali’ or ‘7 easy Deepavali savouries to master’ but the truly illustrious ones among us know it’s better to buy sweets outside. What better way than to have our maida cake and eat it too!
Here’s what three of Chennai’s well-known sweet shops are making this festive season.
MANSUKH
“For a sweet shop, there is no Deepavali celebration; we don’t have the time. We celebrate only the next day,” says Kamlesh Sukhadia, proprietor of Mansukh. On Deepavali day, the shops are crowded till the afternoon and then the crowds wane, finally letting the holiday mood set in for the employees of these shops.
For this Deepavali, Mansukh is introducing a range of goodies including butterscotch fudge, gulkand fudge, madurpak, anjeer dry fruit barfi, Horlicks cashew mysore pak, aval chivda and Bombay mixture. It’s all hustle-bustle in the shop, because Sukhadia says they produce up to 1,600 kg of sweets, and it’s the cashew, badam, pista and ghee sweets that do very well. “People don’t prefer milk sweets because the shelf life is limited,” he explains.
ADYAR ANANDA BHAVAN
Every year, the trends in Deepavali purchases change and the sweet shops try to keep up. This year, Adyar Ananda Bhavan is introducing sugar-free sweets and natural sweets because of the increase in diabetes and to cater to their customers who might have concerns about their sugar-intake.
The shop receives orders in bulk and most customers drop in on the day before the festival to pick up their goodies. “More than sweets, gift boxes and dry fruits are in demand. Biscuits, chocolates, savouries and sweets in the same package move more than anything else,” says T. Siddique, Deputy General Manager of Marketing. They’ve introduced assorted gift boxes ranging from Rs.500 to Rs.2500 because of growing demand. Yet, he says traditional sweets like laddoo, adhirasam and mysore pak also sell well.
SRI KRISHNA SWEETS
At Sri Krishna Sweets, Deepavali specials include cashew bites and badam halwa. They also have 75 varieties of karas (savouries) on display including ladies finger chips, bitter gourd chips and different types of thattais, which can be tasted before purchase. Deepavali legiyam and ganga theertham are given complimentary for anyone who ventures into the store and says V. Srinvasan, GM of Communications, “There are about 2000 people who walk in on Deepavali day.”
Sri Krishna Sweets is also introducing fancy gift boxes this year. “Corporates use boxes with beautiful designs. It costs more, but most people are willing to pay extra and order the boxes,” says Srinvasan.
THE GRAND SWEETS AND SNACKS
This popular store at Adyar is a beehive of activity as Deepavali Day approaches. There’s a sharp increase in demand for adhirasam, their speciality, and murukku. “The adhirasam is made the traditional way here. You will not get this taste anywhere else,” says a proud Saravana Mahesh, who runs the store, “During the season, we get a lot of special orders for it.”
But that’s not all – just like several other sweet shops in the city, you have the Grand Sweets ensemble that has an assortment of yummy mouth-watering variety of sweets. Also on offer at this store are a few varieties of thokku.
