Mindful Eating- The goodness of wheat and richness of almonds ...for that perfect bite.
Wishing
you all a happy festive season.
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.
THE WHAT?
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.
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
This laddoo is my fav laddoo. But I do not prepare it for the obvious reasons :P
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDeleteI know.Eating in moderation is the key. Being a nutritionist myself, I would only suggest that eat everything but in moderation. Its the excess which is damaging.And not to forget that diet has to be always complemented with physical work out of any kind. :)