Comfort Food
Sweet cravings
Fresh Fruit Gelato
Fresh fruit gelato with no added sugar Plums, strawberries, mangoes, cranberries, apricots are all over the place now. Take the pulp out, removing stones from stone fruits, churn in mixer, put in airtight containers in freezer. Enjoy it plain by freezing in ice lolly makers, just scoop out in bowl and enjoy or use as a topping with plain ice-cream. You may also take plain soda, add 2-3 scoops of frozen gelato and ice to enjoy a cool drink.
Vermicelli Kheer
This is a very easy and healthy dessert. I used thickened cows milk and thin vermicelli. For this vermicelli is cooked in milk and then added thickened milk is added, flavourings could be of cardamom powder and saffron, thinly cut almonds sprinkled before serving.
Pumpkin Kheer
This kheer is made with fresh whole milk, pumpkin, sugar and saffron.
Yellow pumpkin (kaddu)- 1 kg, Sugar- 250 g, Milk-2 ltd, Saffron – dissolved in hot water- 1 tspn
Grate pumpkin and squeeze the water, this water can be used for gravies. Put milk to boil when it boils, add grated squeezed pumpkin, lightly stir, when the solution starts boiling, lower the flame and let it cook. Let the mixture cook and thicken. This should take about an hr. Stir the mixture once desired consistency is achieved, add sugar and stir. Once the sugar is dissolved, put the flame off and add saffron, cool and serve. This can be stored in a fridge for a week.
Sesame seed and ricotta balls
They make a good winter snack, and very nutritious too. Take 1:1:1 ratio of sesame seeds, sugar and ricotta cheese/khoya. Roast and grind sesame seeds, powder the sugar, heat khoya in a non stick pan till thick and water evaporates. Mix all three and form balls. Add cardamom powder to taste.
Dates Almond Balls
Sugar free dates, fig and almond balls. This is very good for bones and is naturally sweetened no added sugar. Take almonds, figs and dates in 1:1:1 ratio. Soak almonds, peel and cut them, remove stones from dates, soak in warm water for ten mts, wash figs, soak in warm water for ten mts. Grind figs and dates in a mixer. Take a pan add a few tsp ghee, put almonds, then fig dates paste, keep stirring till all ingredients are mixed, takes about ten mts, let it cool down then roll into balls
Besan Laddu
More cooking it's besan laddu (chick pea flour sweet balls) made by stir frying besan flour in butter/Ghee, till cooked add roasted ground almonds, cashews and powdered sugar to taste, form balls and store.
Besan and sugar in ratio of 2:1, in 1 cup besan, add about a tbsp almond and cashews.
Figs & Almond Halwa
This is a great to have in winters, warming when had with a glass of milk and loaded with nutrients.
Wash and soak figs in water overnight, grind them with in same water they were soaked. Dry roast almonds and chop them. Put a pan on flame, add ghee and then add the ground figs, stir and cook till ghee leaves sides of pan, add a pinch of ground cardamom, pinch of ground cinnamon and saffron, sugar to taste and roasted almonds. Cool and store. You may add dates instead of sugar and make small balls too.
Granola
Gluten free sesame and nuts granola Winter is here! Sesame, almonds, edible gum, cashews, sultanas, lotus seeds, cinnamon, ginger powder help beat winter flus, boosting immunity naturally. Stir fry all chopped dry fruits in clarified butter/ ghee, alternately all ingredients except sugar, gum and sesame seeds can be baked in an oven by drizzling butter/clarified ghee over them. Roast and powder sesame seeds, Gum on frying puffs up, let it cool and then powder it in a grinder. Mix all ingredients, add sugar to taste and granola is ready to eat. It is best taken at night with a glass of milk! If you want to do away with sugar, mix all other ingredients and add honey per taste/powdered jaggery right before eating
Dry Fruits Halwa
Food for my aching muscles! A hectic week gone by, another ahead, need some fuel to keep me going full throttle. Tried this dry fruit halwa today. Take about 500 g figs, soak in water for 6 hrs, 500 g grated coconut, 100 g cashews and 100 g Makhana (puffed lotus seeds) cut in medium pieces. In a grinder put figs, along with water they are soaked in and cashews and grind to a thick paste. Take a heavy bottomed pan put fig mixture and let it boil, stirring frequently, cook for 15-20 mts, add grated coconut and lotus seeds and stir to mix, cook for another 15 mts, let it cool. Store in fridge. You may add 250 g dates soaked in water to fig paste if you find it less sweet. For flavouring one may add powdered cinnamon.
Gulab Jamun
Gulab jamuns, yummy black beauties! A very popular Indian Sweet. Made these with ricotta, sweet potato, flour and semolina, balls deep fried in ghee and dunked in cane sugar syrup flavoured with saffron and cardamom. Adding roasted sweet potatoes to it gave a buttery texture to it.
We used Khoya about a cup, 1 tsp flour, 2 tsp semolina (soak it in 4 tsp milk), a pinch of baking soda, 1 tbsp boiled mashed sweet potato. Mix all finely and knead into a dough. Using ghee to grease hands, roll out balls, putting a pinch of cardamom saffron in centre, fry in ghee over slow fire, put in thick sugar syrup.
Bajra Pua
Bajra Pua (Pearl millet and Jaggery dumplings): Winters are here, make some easy sweet
dumplings. Soak about a pound of jaggery in warm water for thirty minutes till it is dissolved properly, then mix bajra flour in it, gradually and knead into a loose dough, add tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp sesame seeds. Mixture should be thick dropping
consistency. Then fry these dumplings in oil.
Milkmaid Cake
Very healthy cake, ½ tin milkmaid, ½ tsp baking soda, 50g butter, ½ cup milk and 1 cup flour. Sift flour and baking soda, in a pan take milkmaid and butter, gradually whisk and add a tsp of flour and ½ tsp milk, fold and keep adding. Once all ingredients are added, bake in a pre-heated oven about 180 degrees, in a greased dusted tin. An icing of cream can be used or served topped with fruit relish, tastes great without icing too.
Lauki Halwa
For Sweet tooth: Bottle Gourd and Dry Fruit Kheer Trying to cut down on white sugar, try Bottle Gourd Halwa with dates added for sweetening. Take about 2 cups of grated gourd, 2 cups of whole milk, put in a heavy bottomed pan and cook covered till a thick consistency. Now add 1 cup, cut, makhanas (lotus seeds) and 1 cup dates with seeds removed, stir and cook till done. Add pounded cardamom for flavor.
Coconut Barfi
Fresh Coconut balls: Grate a fresh raw coconut, keep aside. In a pan, take 3-4 tbsp sugar, just enough water to cover it, heat and make a syrup, let it cool, add grated coconut and mix, roll out ball or set in a plate.
Oats Granola
Its too hot to stand by stove and cook. Made this dry fruit and oats granola for breakfast, Used oats, sugar, butter and coco powder as base, then a layer of coconut, another layer of dried figs, raisins and dates, drizzle with honey and gave it a good bake!!
