Lohri Special | Winter Energy Balls | Dry Fruits & Seeds Ladoo | No Sugar No Jaggery

Whether you call them healthy laddu, energy bites or protein bites these little balls are full of protein and a perfect treat to enjoy for your evening hunger pangs. This dry fruit, seeds, and nuts laddu are super versatile and you can add or substitute any ingredients available in your pantry. This is a no sugar or jaggery recipe. These dry fruit, seeds, and nuts ladoo are super healthy. They are so easy to make and are sweetened naturally with dates and raisins.

Lohri Special

When you need toasted nuts for a recipe generally do – Skillet toasting. Skillet toasting is great for producing small batches of toasted nuts, but the results are uneven and you can burn them if you get distracted. But you can toast nuts and seeds – Microwave Method. It’s so easy and only takes a few minutes. Just spread nuts and seeds on a microwave-safe plate and in an even layer. The trick also works for coconut powder, sesame seeds, or other seeds of your choice. Then cooks the nuts on full power for three minutes. Every minute pauses the process to mix up the nuts so that they toast evenly.

Winter Energy Balls

Packed with nutrients, good fats, and fiber, these energy balls are made with dates, raisins, and various nuts. There is no exact recipe to make dry fruits laddu or these energy balls. The proportions of the nuts and dry fruits can vary according to your choice. Just make sure the dates and raisins are a little extra. Since the dates, raisins have cohesive and sticky properties that help in binding the laddu. There is no need to add any sugar to the recipe. The sweetness of the dates and raisins makes make the laddu sweet – a little extra sweet.

No Sugar No Jaggery

Use pitted dates. If the dates have seeds, then remove the seeds and chop them. These ladoos can also be gift wrapped and sent to your family or friends during any festival or Lohri.

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Ingredients:
Dry Fruits
Almond slices – 1/2 cup
Walnuts – 1/4 cup
Pistachios – 1/4 cup
Cashews – 1/4 cup
Seeds
Sesame seeds – 1/2 cup
Pumpkin seeds – 1/4 cup
Melon seeds – 1/4 cup
Flax Seeds – 1/8 cup

Dessicated coconut – 1/2 cup
Rava – 1/2 cup
Roasted peanuts – 1/2 cup (store bought)
Chopped Dates – 15
Raisins – 1/2 cup
Dried apricot – 1/2 cup
Fennel seeds – 1/8 cup
Homemade ghee – 1 tbsp
Himalayan pink salt – 1/4 tsp

Method :

1. Heat a pan and add dessicated coconut. Roast till crispy on low heat. Transfer them into separate bowl.
2. Add 1 tsp of ghee in a same pan and roast all dry fruits (mentioned above) on low heat.
3. Add 1 tsp of ghee in a same pan add flax seeds, pumpkin seeds and melon seeds. Roast them on low heat for 2-3 minutes. Keep it aside.
4. Then roast sesame seeds for 3-5 minutes so low heat and keep it separate from other roasted nuts and seeds.
5. Add chopped dates with raisins and cook for 3-4 minutes till they starts caramelised. Keep it aside.
6. Now roast fennel seeds for few seconds and mix with roasted sesame seeds.
7. At last roast rava till golden brown and mix with all roasted nuts and seeds. Now add dried apricot with little himalayan pink salt.
8. Then transfer all roasted dates, raisins, nuts, seeds with roasted rava (excluded roasted sesame seeds & fennel seeds ) into a food processor. Grind them into a coarse mixture.
9. Now mix roasted sesame seeds & fennel seeds into coarse mixture. Mix all ingredients well.
10. Grease your hands with little ghee. Make small/medium laddus.
11. Store them in an airtight container. Serve as needed.

Thirsty Thursday | Gur Wali Chai | Tea With Jaggery | Healthy Winter Beverage | No Sugar Tea

In India, chai is more than just a cup of tea to start the day. Especially, in winter, starting your day with chai is a blissful experience. We have different types of chai staring from masala chai, ginger tea, cardamom chai, and sweeten tea generally sugar is used but in gur wali chai jaggery is used instead of sugar.

Gur Wali Chai

Jaggery is a sweetener that’s becoming popular as a “healthy” replacement for sugar. Jaggery is a kind of unrefined sugar. Raw, concentrated sugarcane juice is boiled until it becomes solid and can be formed into blocks. It has a slight bitterness of molasses and the richness of caramel. It is also a good source of magnesium, potassium, iron, selenium & also contains a moderate amount of calcium, phosphorus & zinc, it also helps in the purification of blood. The color can range from light golden to dark brown. This is important, since the color and texture are used to grade the jaggery.

Gur Or Jaggery

A healthier alternative to white refined sugar, jaggery can be used in many Indian desserts leaving a distinct flavor. In Winters, it keeps the body warm, helps treat cold, coughs, and controls the temperature of the body. You can use jaggery in many recipes like chutney, cakes, a sweet recipe like halwa, many more.

Healthy Winter Beverage

Jaggery is a natural sweetener is being recognized as a healthier replacement for sugar. Gur wali chai is healthier compared to tea made with sugar. You will love it if you are a Tea Lover like ME :).

No Sugar Tea

Gur Wali Chai | Tea With Jaggery | Healthy Winter Beverage | No Sugar Tea

Ingredients :
For 2 Cups 
Water – 1 & 1/2 cups
Milk – 3/4 cup
Tea powder – 1 tsp
Roasted fennel powder – 1/2 tsp
Grated ginger – 1/2 inch
Crushed Black pepper powder – 2
Crushed jaggery – 1 medium piece or 4 tbsp

Method :

1. Heat water in a saucepan and allow it to boil.
2. Add tea powder, roasted fennel powder, crushed black pepper with ginger. Boil it for 2-3 minutes.
3. Now add milk and simmer for 3 minutes. Switch off the flame.
4. Add crushed jaggery and mix well. Filter prepared chai into cups.
5. Gur wali chai is ready to serve.

Tips:

1. Adjust jaggery according to your taste.
2. Don’t add jaggery while boiling otherwise chai or tea may curdle. The acidity in the jaggery will curdle chai.

Eggless Whole Wheat Jaggery Cake or Atta Gur Ka Cake | Healthy Cake | No Sugar Tea Time Cake

I have been baking for the last ten years & still, it gives me joy and the opportunity to try out something new and fresh. Baking is about mixing the right ingredients in the right amount and bake at the right temperature for the correct duration. And with experience, you understand how certain ingredients mix well with others and you can be creative with your baking.

Eggless Whole Wheat Jaggery Cake

Baking mainly includes ingredients like maida, eggs, and sugar which can hamper your toned waistline. Here is a solution. You can substitute for maida, whole milk, margarine, butter, sugar, whole eggs. Maida or all-purpose flour can be replaced with whole wheat flour. Since whole wheat flour is light, add only half the required amount.

Atta Gur Ka Cake

Substitute margarine and butter with applesauce or prune puree. Refined sugar has no nutritional value replace it with honey, jaggery, brown, raw, or Demerara sugar to sweeten the goodies.

Jaggery or Gur

This whole wheat jaggery cake is a healthier take on the classic pound cake. This delightful cake is moist, light, and airy and a perfect companion for your evening tea. This delicious cake is egg-free, sugar-free, and refined flour-free yet turns out fluffy and moist. It contains simple ingredients and is easy to make.

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Ingredients :
Whole Wheat Flour – 1 cup + 1 tsp
Greek yogurt – 3/4 cup
Grated Jaggery – 3/4 cup
Refined Oil – 1/4 cup
Baking Soda – 1 tsp
Chopped Walnuts & Cashews – 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup
Flax Seeds and Sesame Seeds – 2 tbsp each
Fennel  – 1 tbsp
A pinch of Himalayan pink salt

Healthy Cake

Method :

1. In a bowl add chopped dry fruits (1/2 cup), fennel, flax seeds, sesame seeds, salt with 1 tsp of flour. Mix them well.
2. In a same bowl sieve dry Ingredients – whole wheat flour, baking soda.
3. Wet Ingredients: Grind milk, jaggery, oil in a mixer and make a smooth paste.
4. Now mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Cake batter is ready to bake.
5. Now tab the cake pan on a countertop to release any large air bubbles.
6. Now pour prepared cake batter into the pan. Sprinkle fennel, flax seeds, sesame seeds, few cashews and walnuts over batter and with help of spatula press them gently.
7. Put cake pan into the preheated pressure cooker and bake it for 1 hour.

Pressure Cooker Cake

Tips:

1. Adjust jaggery according to your taste.
2. If Baking in Oven: Bake in the preheated oven at 180 deg Celsius or around 360 Fahrenheit for about 60 minutes. The baking time may vary. So keep checking the cake after 40 to 45 minutes.

Healthy Baking

Pressure Cooker Method :
Grease the baking tin with oil and dust it by sprinkling whole wheat flour over greased surface evenly. Pour the mixture into the greased baking tin.

Important Notes:

• Use a baking tin of 6 inches in diameter, so that it can easily get into the pressure cooker.
• Use a 5-liter pressure cooker. It should be big enough to hold the baking pan.
• Baking Tin should be made of Aluminium.
• If baking tin comes into direct contact with the base of the pressure cooker, it can burn ( overbake ) the cake. So use pressure cooker container which has big holes in it or any aluminum small stand.
• No gasket and whistle are needed. Remove them before baking.
• Don’t add water to the pressure cooker.

How to Bake In A Pressure Cooker?

1. Heat the pressure cooker on high heat for 2 minutes.
2. Use sea salt or sand as a layer inside a cooker. Put a steel stand on a layer of salt or sand. Now put the cake tin containing the cake batter ( Do not put water inside the pressure cooker).
3. Close the pressure cooker lid and do not put the whistle on the lid. Remove the gasket (rubber ring) from the lid. Lower the flame after 2 minutes.
4. Let it bake for 60 minutes on low flame. After 60 minutes check cake with a knife, if the mixture does not stick, it means the cake is done. If batter still sticks to knife then again bake for another 10 minutes. Do not open the lid immediately.
5. Eggless Pressure Cooker Cake is ready.

Tea Time Cake

Sooji Gur Ka Halwa (Semolina Jaggery Pudding) – Healthy Dessert – No Sugar Dessert

Sooji Gur Ka Halwa is a delicious sweet dish made with ghee, sooji or semolina, jaggery flavored with fennel seeds and lots of dry fruits. It is a traditional North Indian dish, it is mostly prepared during Winters, as jaggery and ghee lend warmth to the body.

Healthy Winter Dessert

By adding jaggery this dessert becomes more nutritious and healthier. The benefits of jaggery include its ability to cleanse your body, sweeten your food in a healthy manner, and provide good amounts of minerals. I already shared Whole Wheat Halwa With Jaggery – Wholesome Dessert and Atta Sooji Halwa (Semolina Whole Wheat Flour Pudding) recipes on my blog.

Sooji Gur Ka Halwa (Semolina Jaggery Pudding) – Healthy Dessert

Ingredients:
Sooji or Semolina – 1 cup
Grated Jaggery – 3/4 cup
Water – 2 cups
Ghee – 5 tbsp + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Fennel seeds – 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
A pinch of salt
Chopped dry fruits – 1/2 cup

Sooji Gur Halwa

Method :

1. Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a deep non-stick kadai. Roast all chopped dry for a minute and keep them aside.
2. Heat 5 tbsp of ghee in a deep non-stick kadai and roast sooji till the color turns brown.
3. Boil water in another pan and add jaggery, a pinch of salt. Boil water until jaggery dissolves completely.
4. Sieve the boiled jaggery water and add in the roasted sooji. Mix it quickly and make sure there are no lumps.
5. Cook for another minute on low flame, stirring continuously.
6. Keep on stirring until the whole mixture starts thickening and starts to leave the edge of the kadai.
7. Add fennel seeds, cardamom powder, remaining 1 tbsp of ghee and mix well.
8. Garnish with chopped dry fruits and serve hot.

 

Whole Wheat Halwa With Jaggery – Wholesome Dessert

Whole Wheat Halwa With Jaggery – Wholesome Dessert

This yummy dessert is made with whole wheat flour and jaggery or gur. Jaggery is loaded with antioxidants and minerals such as zinc and selenium, which in turn help prevent free-radical damage and also boost resistance against infections. It also helps increase the total count of hemoglobin in the blood. You can add white sugar or brown sugar too.

Jaggery or Gur

Whole Wheat Halwa With Jaggery – Wholesome Dessert

Ingredients :
Whole Wheat Flour  – 3/4 cup
Powder Jaggery – 3/4 cup
Water – 1 & 1/2 cup
Ghee – 5 tbsp + 1 tbsp
Roasted Fennel Powder – 1/2 tsp
Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
A pinch of salt
Sliced almonds for Pistachios

Whole Wheat Dessert

Method :

1. Heat 5 tbsp of ghee in a deep non-stick kadai and roast whole wheat flour till the color turns dark.
2. Boil water in another pan and add jaggery with a pinch of salt. Boil water until jaggery dissolves completely.
3. Sieve the boiled jaggery water and add in the roasted wheat flour. Mix it quickly and make sure there are no lumps.
4. Cook for another minute on low flame, stirring continuously.
5. Keep on stirring until the whole mixture starts thickening and starts to leave the edge of the kadai.
6. Add roasted fennel powder, cardamom powder, remaining 1 tbsp of ghee and mix well.
7. Garnish with sliced pistachios and serve hot.

No Sugar

Tips:
Adjust Jaggery according to your taste.

Sarso Ka Saag – Winter Recipe

Green leafy vegetables like palak (spinach), mustard greens (sarso), methi leaves (fenugreek leaves) these all are winter vegetables. These vegetables are loaded with vitamins and minerals. Sarso Ka Saag – It is a famous recipe from North India made with the combination of these green vegetables. I grew up in Chandigarh – Sarso ka saag teh Makki ki roti with homemade white butter is my all-time favorite meal in winters.

Sarso Ka Saag

Sarso Ka Saag – Winter Recipe

Ingredients:

Green Leafy Vegetable
Mustard leaves – 250 gms
Spinach – 200 gms
Fenugreek Leaves – 100 gms

Masala Ingredients
Finely chopped onion – 1 big
Finely chopped tomato – 2 big
Finely chopped garlic  – 2 tbsp
Finely chopped ginger – 1 inch
Finely chopped green chili – 1
Maize flour – 3 tbsp
Mustard oil – 2 tbsp
Cumin – 1 tsp
Red chili powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Clean all green leafy vegetables, remove stalk and separate the leaves from it. Wash the leaves thoroughly with water, drain out the excess water and chop the leaves finely.
2. Now add all chopped green leafy vegetables in a pressure cooker with 1/2 cup of water. Close the lid and cook until one whistle. After it simmers once, turns off the flame and let the steam escape on its own.
3. Heat mustard oil in a pan on low flame and add cumin. Allow it to crackle.
4. Then add chopped onions and sauté on a medium flame until translucent. Now add ginger, garlic, green chili and cook for 5 minutes on the medium-low flame.
5. Add coriander powder, red chili powder, tomato puree and cook until masala leaves oil.
6. At this stage add maize flour and stir constantly to roast.
7. Open the lid of pressure cooker and mash the boiled green leafy vegetables with a ladle or spoon.
8. Now add mashed green leafy vegetables and salt into the cooked masala. Mix them well.
9. Now add 1 cup water and cook on low flame for 10 to 12 minutes. Do stir the sabzi after every 1 to 2 minutes.
10. Garnish with homemade white butter and serve.

Winter Special