The festive season is around the corner! Everyone knows the best way to enjoy Indian festivals is with desserts. Don’t worry, you don’t have to break your diet or health routine to enjoy your festive desserts. Halwa—as we know—is the king of Indian festivals, and it is typically made with whole wheat flour. But here are a couple of recipes that use two of the most powerful (and unusual for a halwa!) ingredients for a happy gut—papaya and apples. The Apple halwa is a great recipe by chef Ranveer Brar that uses the sweetness of apples while making the dish a whole lot more fibrous and nutritious. The papaya halwa is another clever recipe that uses semi-ripe papaya, along with poppy seeds and almond powder, to give it a rich, creamy taste. Shilpa Shetty Kundra shared the recipe in her book, The Diary of Domestic Diva. Here are the recipes:
Apple Halwa:
Ingredients:
5 Large Apples
2 tbsp Ghee 3 tbsp Khoya3 tbsp Milk4 tbsp Sugar (more or less depending on the sweetness of apples) 1 tsp Cinnamon powder10 Almonds, chopped
10 Pistachios, chopped
Process:
Core the apples and grate them. Heat ghee in a kadai on medium flame. Add the apples and cook until soft, about 6-7 minutes.When they turn brown, add milk and cook on low flame for 10 minutes while stirring. Add khoya and sugar when the moisture has evaporated; cook for 5 minutes. Add cinnamon powder; cook again for 2 minutes. Add almonds and pistachios. Switch off the flame.
Serve warm or cooled.
Papaya Halwa: Serves: 5Nutritional value:345 kcal (Carbs: 31g,Protein: 0g, Fats: 25 g)
Ingredients:
1 semi-ripe medium papaya4 tbsp ghee½ tsp cardamom powder4 tbsp poppy seeds2 tbsp almond powder4 tbsp sugar4-5 pistachios, finely chopped
Process:
Soak the papaya in cold water for 10-15 minutes and grate it. Set aside.In a deep wok, heat the ghee and add the poppy seeds.After a couple of minutes, add the grated papaya and cardamom powder. Mix well.Add almond powder to this to bind the halwa.Then add the sugar. Cook for another 10 minutes.Garnish with chopped pistachios and serve.
