Mindful Eating- The goodness of wheat and richness of almonds ...for that perfect bite.

Wishing you all a happy festive season.

It's festival time and the blog would look incomplete without a sweet recipe. I'm not a 'sweet's person' , but considering my family's love for sweet, I stick to this one basic sweet recipe made out of fiber based ingredients.

"Aatte Badam Laddoo" is a very basic form of sweet that I prepare, many of you would be knowing it, for those who don't know and want a quick, easy and healthy sweet preparation in their house, this one is for you.

Atta as you know is whole wheat flour containing important vitamins, minerals and protein and is packed with essential fiber (the wheat bran and the germ). It is always a better option than the refined white flour. Almond is supposed to be one of the world's healthiest nut. I got to know that almonds are no fruits, but basically seeds of the fruit of the almond tree. It is high in fat content, but good fat content-which helps grow our HDL level, lowers cholesterol and helps in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. It’s similar to having walnuts and avocados.

Ghee or clarified butter is not my favorite though from a health perspective. The amount of saturated fat and trans saturated fat along with the cholesterol levels, it has makes it an uncomfortable choice for me. That’s exactly why I go slow with these sweet preparations and don’t do it on a regular basis. We cannot pretty much do without the ghee when it comes to Indian sweets. :)

Cuisine - Indian

Preparation time – 20 mins

Cook time-25 mins

Total time-2 hours(includes the time taken in shaping the laddoos)

Recipe- Dessert

Serves - 50 medium sized Laddoos

THE WHAT?

 Ingredients (measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml)

 3 cups of whole wheat flour

 1 ½ cups of Ghee (Clarified butter)

 1 ¼ cup of granulated white sugar. You can also use brown sugar.

 1 cup of almond powder. (I prefer to make this at home by grinding almonds in the mixer).

½ spoon cardamom powder(optional)

 Raisin's/Cashewnuts slivers (Optional).

THE HOW?

•  Take a wide, deep pan and place it on medium heat. Pour the ghee and allow it melt. Once, it has melted, pour the whole wheat flour and lower the flame. For next 15-20 minutes, keep stirring the mixture well till the wheat flour turns nice brown .
• Now add one cup of almond powder and continue to stir for next 5 minutes. Take the mixture and pour it in a deep vessel and allow it to cool a 10 minutes. Now add sugar and cardamom powder.Mix it all very well.
•  You can start making the ladoos now. Take a handful of the mixture, apply pressure from both hands or one hand, whichever is comfortable with you and give it a round shape.

Things to keep in mind

• 
  Constant stirring is required when the mixture is on the flame. Don’t increase the flame otherwise you run the chance of burning the flour.
• Don’t allow the mixture to cool for too long otherwise it would be difficult to give them a nice shape. You should start once you feel it is comfortable for you to hold in your palm.
• Place the ladoos carefully on a plate and allow it to cool further. This way they will become a little hard and nice.
• Store it in an airtight container in a dry place and ENJOY.

Tips for adding your own twist

• You can also add cashew nut powder instead of almond powder if you prefer.
• You can taste the mixture post adding the sugar. If not up to your sweetness level, feel free to add more sugar.
• You can add more ghee if you like to make it rich and give it a nice glaze.

Author-Namrata