Well, its diwali time : time for fun, celebrations, gifts, bursting crackers and of course gobbling up lots of sweets and namkeens. What did you say just now? You are very calorie conscious. Come on, that should not stop you from eating and feasting on such a bright and colourful festival like Diwali. Not to worry. There is always a solution for every thing. Sweets are the most common and the best way of celebrating any festival. This DIWALI, do something different. Make your own sweets and desserts at home. You can serve this to anyone that comes to your house on that day and of course you can also feast and have a great time by eating and gobbling , without feeling guilty.
5 Low Calorie Desserts for Diwali
Ras Malai
- Good for: Diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, healthy bones, women's health
- Health factor: Low sugar, low fat, low salt, high calcium, high protein, high minerals
- Preparation time: 10 minutes
- Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients for 20 pieces
- 1 litre milk
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 1 cup water
- 10 almonds
- 1/2 cup sugar or sugar-free Natura powder
Method:
- Boil 1/2 l milk. Add vinegar, till paneer is separated. Switch off the gas and cover the paneer for a minute with a lid.
- Strain the water away, but be careful of not pressing the paneer too hard. Add cornflour to it. Beat till it becomes a soft dough and make small balls out of it.
- In a pressure cooker, add water and sugar-free powder. Let it boil.
- Put the paneer balls in and cover with the lid. Pressure cook till one whistle.
- Take the remaining milk in a kadai and boil it. Keep stirring the milk. Simmer on low flame for 15 minutes.
- Let it cool. Add the paneer balls to the milk and add sugar-free Natura powder. Decorate with chopped almonds.
- Serve cold.
Badam Phirni
- Good for: Diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, weight loss, post-menopausal health, gastrointestinal health, healthy bones, women's health
- Health factor: Low sugar, low fat, high calcium, high protein
- Preparation time: 30 minutes
- Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients for 4
- 5 tbsps rice (red rice)
- 5 cups skimmed milk
- 8-10 almonds, blanched and crushed
- 4 tbsps grated jaggery (gur)
- 1/2 tsp green cardamom (elaichi) powder
- 1 tsp rose water
- 4-6 blanched, silvered pistachios
Method:
- Soak the rice in water for half and hour. Remove the water and grind the rice and make a smooth paste.
- Dilute the rice paste in half a cup of water. Set it aside for few minutes. Boil milk in a non-stick saucepan.
- Add the diluted rice mixture to the milk. Reduce heat before doing that.
- Cook on a medium flame for about few minutes till the mixture thickens, stirring continuously.
- Add jaggery, crushed almonds and green cardamom powder.
- Reduce heat and cook till jaggery has completely dissolved.
- Remove from heat and mix with rose water.
- Garnish with pistachios.
- Chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.
Jowar Laddoos
- Good for: Diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, weight loss
- Health factor: Low sugar, low fat, low cholesterol, high fibre, high calcium, high protein, high vitamins, high iron, high mineral
- Preparation time: 10 minutes
- Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients for 10 to 15 laddoos
- 1 cup besan
- 2 cups sorghum (jowar) flour
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 5-6 cloves (laung)
- 1-2 tsps cardamom (elaichi) powder
- 4 tsps vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup almonds (badam)
Method:
- Put a little oil in a pan and roast half the portion of almonds. Set aside.
- Pour 1/2 cup of water in 3/4 cup of nature free sugar or brown sugar. Allow it to boil till you have one-thread consistency.
- Remove from flame. Pour all the ingredients (besan, jowar, cloves and green cardamom powder) in the hot sugar syrup. Mix well and allow it to cool for one hour.
- Now make small round balls out of the mixture. Garnish with the rest of the almonds and serve!
Bran muffins
- Good for: Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, weight loss, gastrointestinal health
- Health factor: Low fat, low cholesterol, high fibre, high protein, high iron
- Preparation time: 10 minutes
- Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients for 10-15 Muffins
- 1 cup wheat bran
- 1/2 cup oat bran
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon (dalchini)
- 1/2 cup sugarfree apple sauce
- 1/2 cup dry milk powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup sweetener
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Grease a standard-size muffin pan or line cups.
- Mix dry ingredients (wheat and oat bran, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, milk powder, baking powder, sweetener and nutmeg) in a large bowl and set aside.
- Combine wet ingredients (eggs, applesauce and vanilla essence) in a small bowl and pour into dry ingredients and mix with a spatula.
- Fill muffin cups with batter.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
- Cool muffins in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then carefully remove from pan and serve warm, or let cool on a wire rack.
Pineapple Halwa
- Good for: Hypertension, thyroid problems, gastrointestinal health
- Health factor: Low fat, low cholesterol, high calcium, high protein, high vitamins, high minerals
- Preparation time: 15 minutes
- Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients for 4 servings:
- 1.5 cups pineapple
- 1/4 cup grated low-fat khoya (mawa)
- 1/2 cup low-fat milk
- 1.2 tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder
- A few saffron (kesar) strands, soaked in 1 tbsp low-fat milk
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 2-3 almonds
- 2 tbsps Sugarfree
Method:
- In a non-stick pan, heat ghee and add the pineapple and sugarfree. Let it cook for around 10 minutes on a low flame, stirring continuously. Now add the low-fat khoya and low-fat milk, stir well.
- On a low flame, mix the ingredients well and let cook for till the mixture thickens.
- Remove from flame, add the saffron milk and cardamom powder and mix gently. Cover with a lid for 5 minutes.
- Serve hot or chilled, garnished with grated almond.
Source: Rediff.com
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