What's Pongal without some delicious sweet nariyal or thengai laddoos that are a delight to consume during any Indian festival?

Add splendour to your celebrations with Hemasri Subramanium's Walnut Coconut Balls and Chef Sabyasachi Gorai's Carrot Laddoos that are totally irresistible.

Both sweets are a classic combination of goodness and flavour, but minus the guilt of adding up too many calories an contain nutritious ingredients like walnuts, carrots, orange juice, sunflower seeds and turmeric.

A specialist of South Indian food, Hemasri adores food and learned to cook after her marriage, when she moved to the US, but she always offers simple-to-create recipes.

Chef Saby takes conventional dishes and turns them on their head -- his carrot laddoos are complete illustration of that. Access more of his recipes here: Chef Saby's Recipes.

Walnut Coconut Balls

Recipe by Hemasri Subramanian

Servings: 8 to 10

Ingredients

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1½ cup freshly grated coconut
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ tsp green elaichi or cardamom powder
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 tsp ghee

Method

• Pulse the walnuts in a mixer a few times till a coarse mixture.
  Keep aside.
• In a saucepan or heavy-bottomed kadhai, add the ghee.
  Add 1 cup of the freshly grated coconut.
  Saute for about 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
  Add the ground walnut mixture to the pan.
  Saute for a few minutes then add the cardamom powder, brown sugar and mix well.
  Let the sugar dissolve fully and then pour in the milk.
  Keep stirring until this mixture becomes a nice sticky mass.
  Let it cool a little and roll into laddoos.
  Keep aside.
  Take the remaining ½ cup of the freshly grated coconut and spread it on a plate.
  Roll the prepared laddoos in the grated coconut.
  Serve.

Carrot Laddoos

Recipe by Chef Sabyasachi Gorai

Servings: 25

Ingredients

• 200 gm walnuts, toasted
• 80 gm oats
• 50 gm sunflower seeds
• 2 heaped tsp ground ginger
• 1 heaped tsp ground haldi or turmeric
• Zest and juice of ½ an orange
• 130 gm grated carrot
• 200 gm medjool dates
• 60 gm desiccated coconut

Method

• Grind the walnuts, oats, sunflower seeds, ginger, turmeric, orange zest in a food processor/mixer and pulse until you have a fine meal-like or coarse consistency.
  Add the grated carrot and the dates and whizz again.
  Add in a little of the orange juice and blitz again, adding a little more juice if needed, until the mixture just comes together.
  Roll the mixture into 25 laddoos.
  Spread the desiccated coconut onto a plate or tray and roll the laddoos in it to coat.
  Chill in the fridge or keep in your freezer until it's time to serve.

Chef Sabyasachi Gorai is a consultant chef and mentor.

Hemasri Subramanian is a Chennai-based online cookery expert.