CHOCOLATE FUDGE & SPICY NUTS…TRYING TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS !!
“Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,That’s how the light gets in.”
Leonard Cohen
It’s Diwali, the Indian ‘Festival of Lights’, & I’m racing against time. Don’t know how Nigella does it; I mean, how does she get her act together! Every time I try a calm, glam & unperturbed attempt at Nigella’s recipes, ‘Express’ or otherwise, pandemonium is the only memory I’m left with. Nigella Lawson’s fudge is quite a winner; I’ve made the pistachio chocolate fudge earlier, & decided to make the walnut variant for Diwali. 
There’s a virtual flood of Indian sweets at home, so I always opt to make a chocolate fudge or truffles at this time of the year. The kids have a week off, so the boy drives me to distraction. Oooooh fudge mama, he exclaims! Can I taste the chocolate? It’s yummy; may I have just a little bit more, please? And then, every 10 minutes, Is it set yet Mama? While I’m warding him off my precious chocolate which is fast falling below the required weight, the daughter chooses this very moment to make candles! She’s pulled out all my favourite pressed flowers & has me on tenterhooks with hot candle wax all over the kitchen counters! I’m racing to line the counters with newspaper, while slapping the lads hand away from my future fudge! Pandemonium reigns supreme because he now sees his future in making candles but is terrified of getting burnt. Ye gads, I’m tearing my hair out by the end of the day & am SO relieved when he dozes off to sleep at night. 
Up with first light, you can imagine the first question…”Is your fudge made Mama?”. I think he even dreams in sweet…talk about sweet dreams!!! He is funny most of the time, difficult sometimes, though has the potential to drive me to tears too!! !The fudge, on the other hand, is easy-peasy & very delicious. Here we go…
Chocolate Pistachio Fudge (Originally published by Nigella Lawson)Ingredients:
Dark chocolate / roughly broken up – 350gms
Condensed Milk – 1 can (4 oz)
Butter -2 tbsps
Salt – 1 pinch
Chopped walnuts – 1 cup
Method: -
Melt the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter, and salt in a heavy based pan on a low heat.
-
Add the nuts to the melted chocolate and condensed milk and stir well to mix.
-
Pour this mixture into a 9-inch square foil tray, smoothing the top. Let the fudge cool and then refrigerate until set.
-
Cut into small pieces approximately 3/4 by 1 3/4 inches or cut 8 by 8 lines in the tin to give 64 pieces.
-
Freeze a portion if you like. You can chomp it right out of there!
If there is sweet on my list, then savoury can’t be far behind. Made these spicy nuts on a sudden whim which overtook me, after the sight of ‘sugar overdose’!. These are delicious too, with mild flavours like garlic & Worcestershire Sauce. I made these more like a Goddess coz the boy couldn’t figure out whether he liked the saucy aromas or not! Once done, both kids gobbled up a few happily indeed. Spice them as as you like; this is an easy recipe, great for gifting! Increase or decrease the spices/garlic. I eyeballed them.
Spicy Nuts
Ingredients:
Whole almonds (unsalted) – 500gms
Butter – 1/4 cup
Garlic – 2 cloves; minced fine
Worcestershire Sauce – 2 tbsps
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper
Paprika as desired
Method:
-
Melt butter in a heavy bottom pan on low heat with all ingredients except almonds. Stir to mix well.
-
Put off heat, mix in the almonds, stir well to coat. Bake in preheated oven at 250 degrees C for 30-45 minutes, stirring every 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye out so they don’t get burnt.
-
Cool & store in an airtight container.
Wishing you all a Happy, Peaceful & Joyous Diwali…
Deepavali, or Diwali is a major Indian holiday, and a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Many legends are associated with Diwali. Today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the “Festival of Lights“, where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being. Diwali is celebrated on the first day of the lunar Kartika month, which comes in the month of October or November.
A few pictures of the kids on Diwali over the past few years…
Sorry if I’ve been missing for a while; will get back to blog-hopping in a couple of days!
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25 Comments
Dwiana P
Your recipe is sounds great. You know everytime I make fudge after it gets hard I can’t take it out from the pan even though I put aluminum oil. I think I will try your recipe then.
btw, Happy Diwali for you and family!
Mansi
aah, the fudge looks decadent, and you surely are a domestic goddess Deeba!:)
Wish a Happy & prosperous Diwali to you and your family!:)
Helene
This fudge looks easy to make & delicious. I should start looking at her recipes more often.
Pearlsofeast
Happy Diwali Deeba, Nice spicy nuts and I love ur fudge, the walnuts combination is also good ones.I am sure u must be busy arranging things for the great day.
Manggy
Happy Diwali to you and your family, Deeba! The fidge looks so good. I think Nigella does it by locking her children up until it’s time for the cameras to take a shot of them… Kidding! Well, you are every bit as ravishing as NL herself, so there! 😉
Dragon
Happy Diwali, my friend. You are always a domestic diva in my eyes. The fudge looks so creamy and delicious. Yum!
nadia
oh my this looks amazing! deeba i am in love with your dishes as well!!! I have never made fudge- your photgraphs look amazing and i love how you always break it down for us…also the festival of lights sounds wonderful the children look great!
Nags
u have gone above and beyond being a domestic goddeess a long time ago, deeba. that fudge looks great!
farida
Deeba, Happy Diwali and many more to you and your lovely family! Your fudge looks so good. I should try to become a domestic goddess too one day:)
Ning
Happy Diwali! Your kids sound like my kids! 🙂 🙂 The fudge looks great and sounds easy to do!
noble pig
Happy Diwali! I can just imagine the candles and fudge in the same kitchen, I’d be crazed! Such is the life of a mother.
The treats look amazing.
Snooky doodle
this looks good. I like fudge. Happy Diwali
Darius T. Williams
I’m going to totally need an invite to your house…can you work on that. I’m a really great house guest lol!
Bellini Valli
I hope that Diwali is a special time for you and your family Deeba!!! The fudge sounds “easy peasy” as you mentioned. Time to hone my techniques:D
Yasmeen
I love Nigella’s Chocolate recipes,Fudge looks decadent. The spicy almonds are truly my favorite.
Have a wonderful Diwali Deeba!
Heather
Hi There
I was wondering if you could contact me at heather dot rascona at gmail dot com. I’m a fellow blogger and also food Editor of Galavanting.com, a women’s travel magazine. We are looking for bloggers around the world to contribute to our December issue on global holiday celebrations, and I was wondering if you would do a write up and recipe of the holidays in India. I’d love to talk to you about this, but can’t find your email on this page…
Thanks!
Heather
Ivy
Happy Diwali to you and your family my dear Deeba. Your fudge sounds great but I am laughing as I feel like slapping my son, who is a grown up, whenever he comes in the kitchen, try to secretly eat something 😀
Kalai
Happy Deepavali, Deeba! The fudge sounds delicious and the nuts are a great idea, too! 🙂
Mike of Mike's Table
lol, the fudge-making + kid chaos made me chuckle. You’d never know it from the end photos–it looks delicious! And Happy Diwali
meeso
Great pictures of your kids! And of course the dessert looks super great too!
Purnima
Happy Diwali Deeba! The fudge is something I will try, the roasted nuts (read baked) sure look yum..silver ware collection n making them pose for you- awesome! Perfect looking fudge here! Kids r looking great- ethnic wear makes them look younger (or is it they hv cousins over?) My son, to b 3 in jan, is already making me go bald!Keeps me on my toes literally. Pls do click her pressed flower candles and display on this blog sometime! Looking forward to it! Meher n Rohan, Happy Diwali too!
Rosie
Happy Diwali to you and your family Deeba! The fudge sounds so yummy and the nuts too!
Rosie x
nicisme
I know, I know! I can’t pass by a fabulous fudge, this looks great!
Happy Diwali to you and your family Deeba!
Camilla
Whipped up some of your spiced almonds tonight because I had all of the ingredients on hand(my husband loves spiced nuts!)–we loved them, it was our post cleaning-all-day-treat (along with glasses of wine). Yum, and thank you!
Jeanne
Who are you kidding Deeba? Trying?? You ARE a domestic goddess!! 🙂 Some of my happiest childhood food memories involve helping my mom to make fudge.