JOIN USFor many, dessert happens to be the most awaited course of a meal, and possibly the best thing to look forward to. Festivals are a perfect time for sweet indulgences. We often lose count of the number of laddoos we devour or barfis we bite into.
And post the festivities, we are puzzled by the unprecedented weight gain and rise in blood sugar levels. How about striking a fine balance between gluttony and health this year? Sugar-free sweets are a perfect way to achieve that. Let’s replace sugar with healthier alternatives like dates, jaggery and honey. Purba Kalita tells us how. Khajoor roll (yields 18-20 pieces)
Ingredients: Around 250 gm of dates (deseeded); ¼ cup of cashews (chopped); ¼ cup of almonds (chopped); ¼ cup of pistachios (chopped); 2 tsps of condensed milk or honey and 1-2 tsps of ghee.
Method: Dry roast chopped nuts in a non-stick pan for 2 minutes till they change colour. Turn off the heat and let them cool. Chop the dates and blend in a mixer. Heat some ghee in the pan over low flame, and add the dates. Sauté them for a couple of minutes till it turns into a soft mixture. Add the roasted nuts and mix well. Add condensed milk or honey so everything comes together to form a lump. Allow the mixture to cool before dividing it into parts and shaping them into small cylindrical rolls.
Sugar-free besan laddoos (yields 7 pieces)
Ingredients: A cup of besan; 2-3 tbsps of sooji (semolina); ½ cup of grated jaggery; 2 tbsps of ghee and raisins for garnish.
Method: Heat ghee in a pan over low flame, and roast besan and sooji for 7-8 minutes till the mixture turns fragrant. Gradually add the grated jaggery, and stir continuously till it melts and mixes with the besan-sooji mixture. Turn of the heat and let it cool. Grease your palms with some ghee, and shape the laddoos. Garnish each laddoo with a raisin and serve.
Dry fruit laddoos (yields 20 pieces)
Ingredients: A quarter cup each of finely chopped raisins, almonds, cashews and pistachios; a cup of chopped seedless dates; ½ tsp of cardamom powder and a tbsp of ghee.
Method: Blend the seedless dates in a mixer. Next, heat the ghee in a kadhai and dry roast the chopped dry fruits till they change colour. Add the coarse date mixture and stir well. Add the cardamom powder and continue sautéing the mixture till it starts releasing the ghee. Once that happens, turn off the heat, and let the mixture cool for 3-4 minutes. Grease your palms with ghee and shape the laddoos.
Khajoor barfi (yields 8 pieces)
Ingredients: Around 200 gm of seedless dates; 50 gm of khoya; 2-3 tbsps of honey; 1 tbsp of desiccated coconut; ¼ cup of slivered cashews and almonds; 1 cup of milk; ½ tsp of cardamom powder and 2-3 tbsps of ghee.
Method: Soak the dates in milk for an hour or 2 before blending it into a coarse paste. Heat ghee in a kadhai, add the date mixture, and sauté till it starts leaving oil. Now, add honey, khoya and coconut to the mixture and sauté for 2-3 minutes, before adding the cardamom powder. Take the mixture off heat and transfer it to a greased tray. Spread the mixture evenly, garnish with almond and cashew slivers, and let it set before cutting it into barfis.
Anjeer barfi (yields 8 pieces)
Ingredients: Around 200 gm of dried anjeer or figs; 20 pieces of dates (chopped); 250 gm of chopped mixed nuts; ½ tsp of cardamom powder; 1-2 tbsp of ghee and ½ cup of milk.
Method: Chop up the figs and soak them in warm milk for an hour, before grinding them. Heat the ghee in a pan, and cook the fig paste and chopped dates, till the mixture turns into a sticky dough. Dry roast the chopped nuts till they get some colour. Now, add the roasted nuts into the dates and figs mixture and mix well. Spread this evenly on a greased plate. Cut the barfis and serve.
(The author is co-founder, Salebhai.com)