For more than a decade, three friends – P. Hemalatha, Lim Bee Ling and Norzalina Nordin – have been making muruku together for Deepavali and this year is no exception.

Housewife Hemalatha, 56, said it all started about 15 years ago when she had to rush home after her children’s squash lesson to make muruku.

“The three of us have known each other for 20 years. Then one day, Bee Ling and Lina (Norzalina) asked if they could come over to help me seeing how busy I was then.

“And I said, why not?” Hemalatha said with a smile.

Norzalina, 61, chipped in to say that they have not looked back since then.

“Now, we have even learned how to make muruku, kara muruku (spicy muruku) and even athirsam (Indian doughnuts made using jaggery),” she said.

Lim, a mother of two children aged 24 and 21, said all those years of helping Hemalatha make muruku have made her an expert at kneading the dough for the snack.

“The only time we couldn’t help Hema with the Deepavali snacks was during the movement control order as I lived in Sungai Ara, Lina in Bayan Baru and Hema in Bayan Lepas,” said Lim, 53.

All three housewives, who created a WhatsApp group called 1Malaysia among themselves, are good cooks.

Hemalatha’s signature dishes are sambal udang and mutton varuval which she will be cooking for Deepavali this year while Norzalina’s specialty is her ayam rendang.

Lim, whose mother-in-law is a Peranakan Chinese (nyonya), is naturally an experienced cook with Peranakan dishes.

“What’s more meaningful about our get-together to make the traditional snacks is we grew to respect each other, having a better tolerance and acceptance of each other’s culture and traditions,” said Hemalatha, looking towards Norzalina and Lim, who both nodded in agreement.

Hemalatha, whose son and daughter are 25 and 19, reminisced about the time they first met at the school when their children were in Year One.

“It was the first day of our children’s Year One and being foodies, we just clicked and bonded.

“If the kids were in the afternoon session, we would go hiking after dropping them off and if they were in the morning session, we would go for a walk.

“Then, as usual, we would proceed for breakfast and talk the whole time about food,” she said.

Lim said apart from hiking, the three of them would also meet during their children’s squash training at the Nicol David International Squash Centre in Bukit Dumbar.

“Our children were state squash players and all of us would travel together for our kids’ national tournaments,” she said.

Norzalina added that their friendship has grown stronger over the years and their families would try to visit each other’s homes during Deepavali, Chinese New Year and Hari Raya.

For this year’s Deepavali, the trio made about 150 muruku pieces in about two and half hours. Once that target was achieved, the ladies went off to enjoy a piping hot lunch together to celebrate.