Deepavali Legiyam: A spoonful of good health

Now, it is an eternal part of our culture and tradition. It is impossible to find a house in India that does not celebrate this festival. The magic is such that even Christians and Muslims celebrate it with the Hindus. The festival of lights is one of my favourites. 

As a travelling gypsy who went to different places as part of my work, I have enjoyed celebrating it the way it is in the respective traditions of those locations. As a child, I remember the excitement and thrill in buying crackers, new clothes, sweets and sharing the yummiest of dishes with neighbours, relatives and friends celebrating together, the whole day. 

My grandfather in Chennai had a sprawling mansion in Mylapore, which is 100 years old. It still stands testimony to the many great celebrations it had witnessed. Located right on Brindavan Street, in between multi storeyed flats, it symbolises old culture, traditions and the beauty of the past. 

The house stretches from one street and all the way to another. The backyard is filled with fruit trees like jackfruit, guava, chikoo and mango. If this old dilapidated mansion could talk, it would be the biggest entertainer, voicing the best tales, especially the Deepavali ones where all my cousins, uncles and aunts gathered at the instruction of my grandma to celebrate. 

One week before the festival, people would start arriving and the mansion would echo sounds of happy laughter, cheer and sounds of cleaning, sprucing and cooking. It was celebrated for three days and every day was different and filled with memories of great food, crackers and a live nadaswaram concert. There was a place where the menfolk went secretly to have their drink (which they called medicine in a bottle). 

On the actual day, there would be a competition as to who would get up the earliest — the 2 am riser was considered a winner, so we got up as early as possible, burst the first and loudest cracker and waited for our turn to be seated on a decorated wooden palaga. 

In front of this, my paati sat with gingelly oil in a brass container, and in another container, the famous Deepavali legiyam awaited us. In the same area was the main puja with all the new clothes bought for the occasion kept one above the other on a silver plate for god’s blessings. Once we sat, my grandma would apply the traditional oil on our head and give us a spoonful of legiyam to eat, even before brushing our teeth. 

After applying chandan and kum kum, we would be handed over our set of clothes before having a comforting oil bath. Then, it was firecrackers all the way. Evening was about lighting the lamps. The whole mansion was lit up. The tradition of legiyam goes back to a few centuries, to the court of the last Nayak king in Thanjavur. The story goes that the queen went down with severe stomach ache after eating the delectable sweets made for the festival by the palace’s cook. 

The king, who could not stand his queen in pain, announced a bag of gold to whoever could bring instant relief to the queen. A clever priest called Lakshminarayan came from nowhere and made the queen eat the legiyam or jeerana (digestive halwa), which it was called. The moment the queen ate it, her pain disappeared and there was great joy. It was said that the divine Vishnu himself came down and gave this relief giving legiyam. 

The recipe was also acquired and after that a decree was passed that everyone must eat this legiyam on an empty stomach on the festive occasion. I’m sharing the recipe of the Deepavali legiyam which is very healthy. Just have a spoonful before indulging in your festival treats. 

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 20 Min

Cooking Time: 20 Min

Calories Per Serving: 360.cl per tsp

Sukku (Dry ginger) – 50gm 

Omam (Ajwain) – 100gm 

Kanda thippili (Dried long pepper root) – 1 1/2 tbsp 

Arisi thippli (Dried long pepper) – 1 1/2 tbsp 

Sitharathai (Thai ginger) – 2 sticks 

Ginger – 2 inch piece, grated 

Black peppercorns – 1 tsp

Coriander seeds – 2 tsp 

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp 

Cardamom – 1 tbsp powdered 

Kalkandu (rock sugar) – 2 tbsp 

Jaggery – 1 1/2 cups, powdered 

Ghee – 4 to 5 tbsp 

Honey – 3 to 4 tbsp 

Gingelly oil – 2 tbsp

Dry roast all the ingredients for a minute Combine them in a mixer and grind to a fine powder 

Heat 1/2 cup of water in an iron kadai over medium flame. Add the jaggery and stir well until fully dissolved 

Filter this to remove any impurities. Place the jaggery syrup on the flame

Add the ground powder and mix well. Add honey, kalkandu, cardamom powder, gingelly oil and ghee

Simmer for 10 minutes or until it has reached a halwa consistency and ghee starts to leave the sides of the pan

remove from flame Allow it to cool before storing in a clean, sterilised container

1. This legiyam can be stored for one year in the fridge and consumed at any time. Starting your day with one teaspoon of this marundhu can help you stay healthy. 

2. It is not available commercially and anyone selling it will not have the same potent qualities as preservatives would have been used. 

3. But avoid excess consumption. Anything more than two spoons a day is not advisable.