Check out these six healthy recipes to satiate your sweet tooth this Navratri.
With the festive season in full swing, traditional sweets are on everyone’s mind.
But one has to balance indulgence with calories to make one's guilty pleasures acceptable.
A lot of sweets and desserts can be made by simply substituting some ingredients. One merely needs to be imaginative.
Mini Ribeiro gets five chefs from across India to share healthful, lip-smacking dessert recipes.
Gur Shakarkandi aur Nariyal ka Halwa
IMAGE: Recipe by chef Alok Verma, The Imperial, New Delhi.
Ingredients
- 450 gm sweet potato
- 150 gm freshly grated coconut
- 75 gm jaggery
- 50 gm cashewnuts
- 150 gm desi ghee
- 5 gm green cardamom
- A pinch of saffron
Method
- Boil the sweet potatoes and mash them with the help of a fork.
- Heat ghee in a non-stick pan over moderate heat.
- Add cashewnuts and fry until golden brown. Set aside.
- Add grated coconut, jaggery, saffron to the same pan and saute until the mixture starts to caramelise.
- Add mashed sweet potatoes to the pan.
- Cook for another 10 to 12 minutes or until the halwa start to leave the sides of the pan.
- Add cardamom powder and cashewnuts. Stir again.
- Remove from the heat. Serve hot or cold.
Khajur ke Payesh
IMAGE: Recipe by executive chef Mayank Kulshreshtha, ITC Maratha, Mumbai.
Ingredients
- 100 gm rawa/sooji
- 100 gm dates
- 80 gm ghee
- 50 gm jaggery
- 30 gm sugar
- 10 gm cardamom
- 800 ml milk
Method
- Heat a pan on low flame. Add ghee and rawa. Roast it well.
- Add dates, milk, sugar and jaggery. Stir it well.
- When the mixture starts to boil, lower the flame and let it simmer.
- Keep stirring often until the whole mixture starts to thicken and leave the edge of the pan.
- Sprinkle cardamom. Serve warm.
Paushtik Ladoo
IMAGE: Recipe by executive chef Sudhir Pai, Holiday Inn, Mumbai International Airport.
Ingredients
- 100 gm moong dal flour
- 50 gm rice flour
- 100 gm wheat flour
- 50 gm urad dal
- 75 gm besan ladoo flour
- 75 gm ragi (nachni) flour
- 50 gm soya bean flour
- 550 gm jaggery
- 350 gm ghee
- 40 gm dry dates powder
- 40 gm almond powder
- 40 gm edible gum
- 20 gm desiccated coconut
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cardamom
Method
- In a thick bottom pan, roast all the flours in a little ghee time on a low flame for three minutes each. Keep aside.
- In the same pan, roast urad dal in a teaspoon of ghee.
- Cool it and make a coarse powder. Keep aside.
- In another pan, take some ghee and add edible gum. Fry it for some time. Keep it aside.
- In the same ghee, roast dry dates powder. Keep aside.
- In a large bowl take roasted dry dates powder, almond powder, grated jaggery, desiccated coconut and fried edible gum broken to coarse powder, all the roasted flours and coarsely powdered urad dal.
- Heat the remaining ghee in a pan. Add to the above mixture and mix it well so that all the ingredients are properly blended with the flour.
- Grease both your palms with little ghee and start shaping the mixture into ladoos rolling them in your palm. You will approximately get 35 healthy and nutritious laddoos.
- Store them in an airtight jar.
Note: The ladoos can be stored for 12 to 15 days.
Shrikhand
IMAGE: Recipe by executive chef, Yatendra Rawat, The Westin Chennai, Velachery.
Ingredients
- 500 gm hung yoghurt
- 8 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- 2 pinch saffron strands
- 10 ml of warm milk
- 5 pistachios, sliced for garnishing
Method
- Mix saffron with milk and keep aside.
- Add fine sugar and cardamom powder to hung yoghurt.
- Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Add this to the saffron and milk mixture.
- Whip until smooth. Sprinkle sliced pistachio on top. Serve chilled.
Chitoi Pitha
IMAGE: Recipe by chef Rajat Kumar Roy, Pastry chef, Hyatt Regency, Kolkata.
Ingredients
- 200 gm rice flour
- 8 gm salt
- 2 gm baking soda
- 600 ml lukewarm water
- 5 gm green cardamom powder
Method
- Make a smooth, runny batter with all ingredients. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter.
- Heat a pan and place egg ring.
- Add one-third cup of the batter. Cook for 150 to 180 seconds under closed lid until there are many tiny holes on the surface.
- Take out the chitoi pitha. Repeat the process with the remaining batter.
- Serve with palm sugar and grated coconut (optional).
Khajoor Anjeer aur Gulab ke Ladoo
IMAGE: Recipe by chef Prashant Tikadia, The Fern, Ahmedabad.
Ingredients
- 400 gm seedless dates
- 150 gm anjeer, finely chopped
- 50 gm gulkand (figs)
- 2 gm green cardamom powder
- 5 gm white til (sesame seeds)
- 5 gm black til
- 10 gm oats
- 5 gm pure ghee
- 20 gm dry desiccated coconut
Method
- On low flame roast oats in a pan.
- Once done, allow to cool for few minutes and crush it.
- Mix oats with the rest of the ingredients, except pure ghee.
- Rest in a cool place for 10 minutes.
- Add pure ghee and mix well.
- Make equal size of roundels.
- Serve at room temperature.
Note: The ladoo can be coated with crushed muesli or crushed cornflakes too. For children, it can be converted into lollypop or put on a candy stick.
Write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in (subject line: Navratri Recipes) with your name, hometown and any interesting details about the origin of the recipe, along with a photograph if possible.
We will publish the best preparations on Rediff.com.