# Happy Diwali! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776 "2007-11-09T14:21:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/21 "2007-11-09T17:46:47Z")
I looked at 2 different places for decorations and all they had was candles and cards, which were pretty but can’t be seen from below a third story window. Then I looked for just colorful lanterns to hang and still no luck. I did get 2 ten pound bags of basmati rice for $15.99, though, which will last us about forever, and some chocolate bikkies. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/22 "2007-11-09T18:42:57Z")
Thanks, all! Yes, I will be celebrating Diwali, on a small scale. I went to \*mandir \*(temple) this morning and tonight we’re going to cook a delicious Indian meal. The SO asked what I wanted and I told him I wanted HIM to make it because the difference in our cooking is l I make lemon chicken and he makes chicken frances, see? So he is going to be making lamb, which I haven’t had since I was 16 or 17 and rather miss. \* Diwali mubarak ho aap sabko! \* Happy Diwali to you all! Oh yes, and I took the day off work. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/23 "2007-11-09T18:45:52Z")
Mr. Neville and I are going out for dinner tonight, and Indian food is one of the possibilities. Are the Indian restaurants likely to be closed? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/24 "2007-11-09T18:54:42Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] Mr. Neville and I are going out for dinner tonight, and Indian food is one of the possibilities. Are the Indian restaurants likely to be closed? [/QUOTE] I’d call ahead. But…in many of the Indian states (I am NOT going to mention any by name! for fear of being accused of being prejudiced) it’s business before pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/25 "2007-11-09T21:56:45Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] We’ll have to go out for it on Sunday. [/QUOTE] Sounds like a plan. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/26 "2007-11-09T22:12:39Z")
It sounds like a thunderstorm outside my flat tonight. I live in an area with an enormous Indian/Pakistani population and my flat backs on to a Hindu temple. Fireworks everywhere! Coming straight after guy fawkes, it’s a good thing my cat isn’t bothered 🙂 Happy Diwali! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/27 "2007-11-09T22:16:20Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] Thanks, all! Yes, I will be celebrating Diwali, on a small scale. I went to \*mandir \*(temple) this morning and tonight we’re going to cook a delicious Indian meal. The SO asked what I wanted and I told him I wanted HIM to make it because the difference in our cooking is l I make lemon chicken and he makes chicken frances, see? So he is going to be making lamb, which I haven’t had since I was 16 or 17 and rather miss. \* Diwali mubarak ho aap sabko! \* Happy Diwali to you all! Oh yes, and I took the day off work. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Here is a recipe one of my Indian buddies sent me. It is lemon chickeny-ish, but it’s so much more: [http://www.indiaexpress.com/cooking/tandoori\_chicken.html](http://www.indiaexpress.com/cooking/tandoori_chicken.html) Sounds positively scrumpie! Has anyone tried this? On a scale of 1 to 10, I enjoy “hot” at about a 4. Is this recipe gonna kill me? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/28 "2007-11-09T23:16:30Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Here is a recipe one of my Indian buddies sent me. It is lemon chickeny-ish, but it’s so much more: [http://www.indiaexpress.com/cooking/tandoori\_chicken.html](http://www.indiaexpress.com/cooking/tandoori_chicken.html) Sounds positively scrumpie! Has anyone tried this? On a scale of 1 to 10, I enjoy “hot” at about a 4. Is this recipe gonna kill me? [/QUOTE] I have never found Tandoori chicken to be very spicy at all. Mostly because it’s marinated in yogurt, and it comes out dry. However you can always reduce the amount of chili powder and replace with cayenne or even paprika. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/29 "2007-11-09T23:21:57Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] I have never found Tandoori chicken to be very spicy at all. Mostly because it’s marinated in yogurt, and it comes out dry. However you can always reduce the amount of chili powder and replace with cayenne or even paprika. [/QUOTE] Thanks for the review! Dry? DRY? OMG…I do that regularly with not nearly the fuss involved here. And it’s no picnic, lemme tell ya. Any suggestions on what I can do to keep it moist? FYI, I’m doing it in the oven; not on the grill. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/30 "2007-11-09T23:31:02Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Thanks for the review! Dry? DRY? OMG…I do that regularly with not nearly the fuss involved here. And it’s no picnic, lemme tell ya. Any suggestions on what I can do to keep it moist? FYI, I’m doing it in the oven; not on the grill. [/QUOTE] Oh. Heh. When I say dry, I mean it’s you know, sans sauce. Reading that recipe, first of all, if you are using store-bought yogurt - which I sometimes do - you don’t have much whey to remove, so no need to hang it for 15-20 minutes. As for the marinade it says 3-4 hours but I like to keep it for 24 hours if I can. And I don’t “apply the marinade to the chicken”, I put the chicken directly into the marinade and let it soak in thoroughly. But the way to make it not dry is - when you put it in, don’t get rid of the marinade. Using a brush LIGHTLY apply the marinade to it as you are cooking. Let it collect in the bottom of the pan, that keeps the chicken moist. It doesn’t specify what kind of chicken to use but I find breasts dry out really fast. use drumsticks, they work the best, or meat on the bone. Luck! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/31 "2007-11-09T23:35:30Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] Oh. Heh. When I say dry, I mean it’s you know, sans sauce. Reading that recipe, first of all, if you are using store-bought yogurt - which I sometimes do - you don’t have much whey to remove, so no need to hang it for 15-20 minutes. As for the marinade it says 3-4 hours but I like to keep it for 24 hours if I can. And I don’t “apply the marinade to the chicken”, I put the chicken directly into the marinade and let it soak in thoroughly. But the way to make it not dry is - when you put it in, don’t get rid of the marinade. Using a brush LIGHTLY apply the marinade to it as you are cooking. Let it collect in the bottom of the pan, that keeps the chicken moist. It doesn’t specify what kind of chicken to use but I find breasts dry out really fast. use drumsticks, they work the best, or meat on the bone. Luck! [/QUOTE] Thanks! It really sounds yummy. He told me he used drumsticks the last time he made it. I’ll either go with that or thighs. Breasts and white meat in general are terribly overrated, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/32 "2007-11-09T23:39:07Z")
I agree. No taste whatsoever. If I wanted cardboard, that’s cheaper anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/33 "2007-11-10T01:06:45Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] I have never found Tandoori chicken to be very spicy at all. Mostly because it’s marinated in yogurt, and it comes out dry. However you can always reduce the amount of chili powder and replace with cayenne or even paprika. [/QUOTE] Right, not spicy as in hot, but rather spicy as in tastes full of spices. Hands down, the best Tandoori chicken the wife and I have ever had was in the Third Eye Restaurant in the Thamel section of Kathmandu. Mmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/34 "2007-11-10T01:07:56Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] Right, not spicy as in hot, but rather spicy as in tastes full of spices. [/quote] Well all Indian food is spicy that way. Sometimes I think other foods are really bland. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/35 "2007-11-10T03:44:17Z")
Are there traditionally fireworks on Diwali? Because around my neighbourhood (which has a large Indian population) there were a number of houses shooting them off, and the only reason I could think of was that it’s Diwali – which _is_ a festive occasion. I just didn’t know if it was festive enough for ordnance. Funny, too, I didn’t realize it was Diwali (I am incandescently white in that regard) but I was debating between stuffed peppers and chicken tikka masala for lunch. I ended up choosing the former, though, if only because I hadn’t tried it yet and wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/36 "2007-11-10T04:33:23Z")
[QUOTE=Mindfield] Are there traditionally fireworks on Diwali? Because around my neighbourhood (which has a large Indian population) there were a number of houses shooting them off, and the only reason I could think of was that it’s Diwali – which _is_ a festive occasion. I just didn’t know if it was festive enough for ordnance. [/QUOTE] Yes. And in India we have no pussy laws about not using explosives or big fireworks by ourselves. We blow shit up! Get things done! Of course every year kids die or are injured. ☹ But…not to put a sour note on this, one of the coolest things they do is blow up an effigy of Ravan. You see, part of the meaning of Diwali is it’s the day Ram came home to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile, and after defeating the evil king of Sri Lanka, Ravan. So at the end of Dussehra, we blow up a BIG effigy of Ravan, it’s awesome. In India you have to dodge the fireworks being set off by kids. We would go to my Neelam Auntie’s house, she had three sons so we got to see some of the coolest fireworks. I still have a scar on my arm. :o ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/37 "2007-11-10T06:08:03Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] Well all Indian food is spicy that way. Sometimes I think other foods are really bland. 🙂 [/QUOTE] They are! Hell, I am about as white as one can get around here (I have Cherokee blood, but in the South, that’s considered white 😃 )and I can’t stand traditionally white foods. GAG! My husband loves bland crap…kills me when I make something mild and he complains about it being “too spicy.” Wuss! At work, I am known as the girl who “doesn’t eat American food.” I will run to the Chinese place or the Mexican place or the Mediterranean place for lunch if I don’t bring my own cooking (which is seldom “American”) – the spicier, the better. I never have understood how people could stand to eat bland foods. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/38 "2007-11-10T07:05:17Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] At work, I am known as the girl who “doesn’t eat American food.” I will run to the Chinese place or the Mexican place or the Mediterranean place for lunch if I don’t bring my own cooking (which is seldom “American”) – the spicier, the better. I never have understood how people could stand to eat bland foods. [/QUOTE] Quite a few “foreign” dishes are actually American, such as Mexican food as served in the Southwest. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/39 "2007-11-10T08:53:47Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] Yes. And in India we have no pussy laws about not using explosives or big fireworks by ourselves. We blow shit up! Get things done! [/quote] A woman after every man’s heart right there. 😃 > [@Anaamika](#): > > In India you have to dodge the fireworks being set off by kids. In Canada, too. Thankfully, I was a dodgeball champ. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776/40 "2007-11-10T12:12:30Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] Quite a few “foreign” dishes are actually American, such as Mexican food as served in the Southwest. [/QUOTE] Here in The South, where Litoris and I are, anything that isn’t typical Southern fare is considered ‘ethnic’. I wouldn’t be surprised to find Spicy V8 in the Ethnic Food Aisle at Piggly Wiggly. One’s enjoyment of ‘ethnic food’ is considered suspect by some and a measure against you as an outsider. I looked in our paper for fireworks last night, but even though we have 2 mandirs (Macon and Perry) there was nothing listed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-diwali/425776.md?page=3)