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For Chef Meghna Kamdar, festive cooking begins with the idea that good food comes from thoughtful preparation and honest ingredients. Her Diwali recipes place Chilean walnuts at the heart of each dish, bringing depth, texture, and natural richness to familiar combinations of milk, rice, jaggery, and ghee. Each recipe is guided by clarity and balance, using everyday pantry staples in ways that feel celebratory without being complicated. Chef Meghna’s approach reflects an understanding of how small details elevate simple food: the gentle sweetness of dates replacing sugar, the crunch of toasted walnuts, the warmth of slow-cooked milk. For home chefs, these recipes offer an approachable way to cook something festive that feels polished, satisfying, and entirely doable within the flow of Diwali preparations.
Image Credit: Chef Meghna Kamdar, Freepik
No Added Sugar Dates & Walnut Chocolate
Ingredients:
- 1 cup dates (pitted)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1-2 tsp instant coffee (optional)
- A pinch of salt
- 50-60g cooking dark chocolate
- Extra walnut pieces for garnish
Instructions:
1. Dry roast oats and walnuts together. Let cool.
2. In a mixer, take dates and churn them & keep aside.
3. Now in the mixer, take the walnuts and rolled oats, add some coffee and a pinch of salt and churn everything together.
4. Now mix everything in a bowl and make laddoos.
5. Melt dark chocolate and dip the laddoos.
6. Place a small piece of walnut on top while covering with chocolate (Use a butter paper on a plate so that when you want you can be easily remove them)
7. Keep in the fridge to set for a few minutes and that’s it.
Image Credit: Chef Meghna Kamdar, Freepik
Caramel Walnut Kheer
Ingredients :
- 3 tbs Rice (soaked for 2 hours)
- 1 ltr Milk (out of which 1/2 cup is used for cooking Rice, 2 spoon for caramel & remaining milk is used in Kheer)
- 1/3 cup Sugar
- Spoonful of Water
- 1 tsp Butter (optional)
- 7-8 roughly broken Chilean walnuts + more 3-4 to garnish
Instructions:
To Cook Rice:-
1. In a pressure cooker, take 3 tbs of rice (soaked for 2 hours). Add approx 1/2 cup milk and cook up to two whistles on medium heat
To Make Caramel:-
1. In a pan, heat sugar and water on low. Let it melt without stirring. Once golden-brown, add butter (optional) and 2 tbsp warm milk. Stir well and set aside.
To Make Kheer:-
1. Further heat another pan, add remaining milk and let it boil.
2. Add cooked rice into this warm milk and cook for 5 minutes until the kheer turns thicker
3. Now add roughly broken walnuts.
4. Add caramel in the end and mix it well. Garnish with some more walnuts.
Image Credit: Chef Meghna Kamdar, Freepik
No Sugar Caramelised Walnut Makhana
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Chilean walnuts
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 cups makhana
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 3-4 tbsp jaggery, grated
- 1 tsp dry ginger powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1-2 tsp water
Instructions:
1. Take Chilean walnuts & sesame seeds and dry roast them and take it out to cool down.
2. In the same pan, roast makhana in a little ghee until crunchy, set aside.
3. Now again in the same pan, take some ghee and add jaggery and melt it on slow flame, add little water so that we can nicely cook jaggery and other spices.
4. Add a pinch of salt and 1 tsp dry ginger powder. Keep stirring and cooking jaggery till you are able to make it thick smooth consistency.
5. Now add roasted makhana, sesame seeds and walnuts and mix them.
6. Let cool slightly, then break into pieces. Tasty and healthy walnut makhana snack is ready.
Image Credit: Chef Meghna Kamdar, Freepik
No Sugar Walnut Dates Barfi
Ingredients:
- Chilean walnuts- 200gm
- Dates- 150 gm
- Khoya or Paneer- 100 gm
- Ghee- 2 tsp
Instructions:
1. Dry roast 200 gm walnuts and chop them coarsely.
2. In a pan, heat up 2 tsp ghee and add 150 gm of dates. Cook on a slow medium flame until the dates are soft.
3. Remove the softened dates. In the same pan, add another tablespoon of ghee and roast the chopped walnuts until you catch a lovely toasty aroma.
4. Mix in 100 gm of khoya (or paneer if you prefer) and cook for about 5-10 minutes until everything blends beautifully.
5. Add the soft dates back in and mix until the ingredients come together perfectly.
6. Press the mixture into a greased pan, flatten it nicely, and cut into squares once cooled.
