Eat Healthy with Millets, Palm Jaggery and Cold Pressed Oils
You don’t have to feel guilty indulging in these delicious deserts. By replacing traditional ingridients with healthier alternatives, you can satify your sweet tooth the right way!
Happy Baisakhi/Bihu/Ugadi/Gudi Padwa/Vishu/Tamil Puththandu to all !! The festival is celebrated in many parts of our country and I am sharing two excellent dessert dishes for the upcoming festival.
It is believed that phirni hailed from ancient Persia or Middle East and it’s the Mughals who both invented and introduced it to India. The Mughal Empire relished the regal milk-based dish and made it popular. In this recipe I have replaced basmati rice with millet, but that in anyway did not change the richness of the dish. Try these exotic varieties of phirnis and enjoy with family and friends.
Aval/Poha/Avalakki is made into a sweet dish either by adding sugar or Jaggery and offered as prasad during puja. It is a very simple dish and can be made easily. Any millet flakes / poha/ aval can be used for this recipe.
One of my friend Priya Ramanujam shared a recipe of halwa using cooked rice and sugar. It was very tempting! So, immediately I tried the recipe with millet and a few variations. I have tried the same recipe with different sweeteners like jaggery, palm jaggery and palm candy sugar. All came out very well and tasted too good. Try this easy recipe for Diwali and surprise your family!
Susiyan/sugiyan/suyyam is a sweet bonda made with Chana dal, jaggery and coconut as filling and dipped in a batter, then deep fried. The batter is prepared with rice or maida. This is a traditional sweet made for Saraswati Pooja or Mahanavami during Navaratri. The batter can be fermented for an hour before frying.
Chakkarai Pongal or sweet pongal is a very popular offering in temples as well as in homes during festivals. Generally rice and moong dal are cooked and jaggery syrup is added for the sweetness. In this recipe, I have used Poha/aval which is very versatile. If cooked moong dal is ready, this pongal can be made within ten minutes. Try this delicious recipe using millet Aval for this Navaratri festival.
