Mung Bean/Moong Dal Halwa for ICC – Aspartame Free /Sugar Free & Low Cal

This year for past few weeks starting (from the last week of December) there are too many parties and eating out.  With the ICC challenge to be posted for the 15th, i thought of trying out this delicious Indian sweet with Xylitol for Bhogi. I had to combine both the recipes from Srivalli as using xylitol will give a dry texture to the end product so added 1/4 cup milk. Xylitol is a natural sweetener manufactured from the Birch tree bark, which is vegan looks like sugar and has only 1/3 calories as sugar and the best of all doesn’t cause cavities like refined sugar. Xylitol and Stevia another herb are the kind of natural sweetner available in the market, do more research and check out for yourself .

If you are going to use Natura, Equal etc which are artificial sweeteners, the white sugar is way better than these dangerous chemicals. So don't use them. The artificial sweetener contain a dangerous chemical called aspartame about which i will post later.



Ingredients



Split Yellow Moong Dal(Mung Bean) – 1 cup

Ghee (clarified butter) – 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp

Khoa/Mawa(Thickened unsweetened milk ) – 1/2 cup

Xylitol – 3/4 cup Milk – 1/4 cup

Saffron – few strands

 Toasted nuts – 1 tbsp for garnishing



Method



1) Soak Moong Dal overnight in water.



2) Next day rinse the mung dal few times with enough water.



3) Drain the water completely from the mung bean and grind this into a fine paste using as little water as possible.



4) Heat the milk add xylitol, saffron and once the xylitol dissolves, add the khoa and keep this paste ready.



5) Heat 1/4 cup of the ghee(1/2 the quantity) once it is hot and melted, simmer the stove into minimum and add the grind mung bean paste little by little stirring continuously with a egg beater as this part is very tricky because the mung bean will stick to the bottom of the vessel if not taken care. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of ghee and keep stirring till the mung bean gets cooked and the color of the bean paste changes color to slight brown.



6) Now add the khoa paste to the bean mixture and stir till everything combines and well cooked and the halwa starts leaving the side.



 7) Switch off and a tsp of ghee, toasted nuts and serve warm.

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Modakam & Panchakhadya for ICC-August

Know what you Eat - A modak is a vegan sweet dumpling popular in Central and South India. The sweet filling is made of fresh coconut and jaggery while the shell is of rice floor. The dumpling can be fried or steamed. Modak has a special importance in the worship of the Hindu elephant god, Ganesh as it is believed to be his favorite food.

This posting is for ICC Festival Special August Challenge . This modak recipe from Mints is almost similar to what we make, the only difference being the addition of poppy seeds instead of Bengal gram and Black Sesame seeds. It just turned out great.

Ingredients

Freshly grated Coconut -2 cups

Jaggery grated - 1 cup

Poppy seeds - 1 tbsp

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Water - 1 tbsp

For the outer cover

Rice flour - 1 cup

Water - 1 1/4 cup

Salt - pinch

Oil - 1 tbsp

Method

1) Take a pan that has tight fitting lid. Start boiling water in that pan, add salt and oil.

2) When water starts boiling, lower the heat and slowely add rice flour little by little, mixing vigourously with a heavy spoon.

3) Now close the lid and take the pot off the heat. Let the covered pot cool down for 15 minutes or so. Then with wet hands, mix the dough properly. It will warm so be careful and use cold water to keep your hands from burning but do not use too much water.

4) When the dough cools down let us prepare the filling, roastt poppy seeds in a small skillet and let it cool down. Grind it coarsely and keep it aside.

5) In a heavy bottom pan mix all the ingredients for stuffing except poppy seed powder and let it sit for 15 min. Now start heating the mixture over medium heat. In about 10-12 minutes, the mixture starts boiling and stuffing will turn yellowish brown and will be sticky.

6) Take the pan off the heat, add poppy seeds powder and mix well. Set it aside to cool down.

7) Make about 20 balls of the dough and 20 parts of the stuffing. Start making small circles with the dough ball on a oiled paper/aluminum foil. Keep one part of stuffing in the middle of the puri and gather the dough gently to make shape like modak. You will have to handle the dough very gently. Follow the step to make remaining modaks.

8) Now dip each modak in cold water and put it in the oiled steamer. Put the steamer on boiling water and cover it. Let the modaks steam for 20 minutes on medium to high heat. Take the steamer off the vessel and let it sit for 5 minutes before removing modak from steamer.

Panchakhadya

Ingredients

Grated dry coconut - 1 cup

Powdered Sugar - 4-5 tbsp(I used raw brown sugar)
Poppy Sedds - 2 tbsp
Dried dates - 4-5 dried dates

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Coarsely powdered mixed nuts (almonds,cashews, pistachios) - 4-5 tbsp
Pinch of nutmeg powder

Method

1. Dry roast grated coconut on a very light heat and set aside
2. Dry roast poppy seeds and grind them coarsely after cooling them for 5 minutes
3. Take the seeds off the dried dates and grind them coarsely as well.
4. Mix all these ingredients and nuts powder, cardamom, nutmeg, powdered sugar together and offer to Ganesha as prasad.

The other dishes i made for this Occassion is already posted and available here.

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Sweet Appam but not so sinful

Know what you Eat - Brown Rice Flour, Oats, Whole Wheat all are rich in dietary fiber. High fiber foods reduces cholestrol in the digestive system that would otherwise end in the blood stream. Bananas are good source of Vitamic B6 and C, Potassium and dietary fiber. Potassium gives you instant energy to the body. Coconut is fruit rich in protein and helps to keep your soft wrinkle free.

My mom makes these appams during lot of festivals and each time depending on the occassion the ingredients will vary. Sometimes it will be rice and little bit of urad dal or wheat flour alone. Normally it will be fried or shallow fried in the appam pan. But i didn't want to do either because i made this for a quick after school snack, so less time and wanted all the nutrition. I combined Oats, brown rice flour and wheat flour and it did taste very nice.

Cooking Time - 15 mins
Preparation Time -10 mins
Serves - Makes around 20

Ingredients

Brown Rice Flour - 3/4 cup
Oats Flour - 3/4 cup
Whole wheat flour - 3/4 cup
Jaggery powder - 1/2 cup or to taste
Banana - 1
Elaichi powder - pinch
Coconut(Small Chopped pieces not grated) - 2 heaped table spoons
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Water
Oil/Ghee(Clarified butter) - 4 tsps

Method

1) Add little bit of water to the jaggery and heat it till all the jaggery dissolves. Switch off and let this cool for few minutes.
2) Meanwhile slice the banana and make a puree and add it to the jaggery.
3) Add elaichi powder, salt and the coconut pieces to the dissolved jaggery.
4) Now combine all the three flours and add the jaggery mixture to this and add enough water to make idli batter consistency.
5) Heat the appam pan and add drops of oil in each of them and then pour the batter. Cover it and let it cook till one side is completely cooked.
6) Now turn it and leave till the other side is cooked.
7) Enjoy these nutritious guilt free snack.

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Beetroot Halwa

Nutritional Info - Beets get their garnet color from antioxidants called betalains, which help your body detoxify potentially cancer causing substances.

Cooking Time - 20 min

Preparation Time - 20 min

Serves - 4 to 6

Ingredients

Beets - 3

Jaggery powder - 1/2 cup or to taste

Milk - 1/2 cup

Elaichi powder - 1/2 tsp

Ghee - 2 tsp

Nuts and raisins roasted to golden in ghee to garnish.

Method of Preparation

1) Wash and pressure cook beets till they soften, this way it will easier to grate the beets and the halwa can be done in a jiffy.

2) Once the beets are completely cooled, peel and grate the beets.

3) Heat a tsp of ghee and add the grated beets and saute by stirring thoroughly for 5 minutes.

4) Now add the milk to the grated beets and cook till all the milk evaporates by stirring the beets once in a while.

5) After the milk evaporates add the jaggery, tsp of ghee, elaichi powder and leave it till the halwa leaves the sides.

6) Switch off and garnish with nuts and raisins

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Cracked Wheat Kesari

Nutritional Info - Cracked wheat is made from whole wheat berries, it carries a great deal of nutrition and fiber since it includes the fiber and nutrient rich outer bran and germ of the wheat.

Cooking Time - 15-20 min

Preparation Time - 5-10 min

Serves - About 4

Ingredients

Cracked Wheat - 1cup

Saffron - few strands

Elaichi Powder - 1/4 tsp

Jaggery - 1 1/2 cup

Water – as required

Garnishing

Ghee - 1 tbsp Nuts (cashew or Badam)

Method of Preparation

1) Dry roast Cracked wheat till it is slightly roasted and you get a good aroma.

2) Add water and Saffron strands and let the cracked wheat completely get cooked.

3) Now add jaggery to the cooked Cracked wheat and keep stirring till it leaves the sides.

4) Now add elaichi powder and the toasted nuts.

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