Recipe: Sugar Free Saffron Suji Halwa

Sooji halwa is one of the popular Indian desserts regular at our homes, especially during festive seasons. Across the country there are a variety of halwa recipes that have been developed and modified keeping the local taste in mind. The recipe I am sharing below is a special one, using saffron (kesar) to add a dash of exoticness to the otherwise simple preparation method. This recipe is used for special occasions like festivals and religious ceremonies, while at other times, we make a simple version without adding saffron.

Recipe: Sugar Free Saffron Sooji Halwa

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Cooking Time: 20 mins

Serves: 5 

INGREDIENTS:

Sooji/rawa(Semolina): 2 cups
Ghee (clarified butter): 2 big serving spoons or half a cup
Sugar Free: 4 small spoons or as required
Cardamom powder: 1 tablespoon
Water: 4 cups
Almonds: 10-12 (copped into sliced)
Cashew-nuts: 10-12 (chopped into slices)
Raisins: 10-12 pieces
Saffron: a full pinch (roughly 20-30 strands)

About Sugar Free Natura Powder

Sugar Free Natura Powder Concentrate contains Sucralose - a sugar derivative, which guarantees the sweetness of sugar without the calories. It is ideal for all fitness seekers, diabetics and weight conscious. Each level spoon (0.5g) of powder concentrate is equivalent in sweetness to 1 teaspoon (5g) of sugar and gives 2 calories instead of 20 calories given by 5g of sugar. 

PREPARATION METHOD:

1. Heat a broad pan or kadhai and add sooji to it.

2. Roast the sooji till it turns a little fluffy and whole kitchen smells of roasted semolina. This step takes around 12-15 minutes on a low flame. Keep on stirring after every few minutes. 

3. After you have roasted the sooji for around 10-12 minutes, turn the flame off and let the sooji cool. 

4. Warm some water and add saffron to it. Let the saffron soak in water for 15-20 mins.

5. Now heat ghee in another pan and add the sliced dry fruits to the ghee and roast till they become golden brown.

6. Once the dry fruits turn golden brown add the sooji to the pan. Keep stirring the sooji so the ghee gets uniformly mixed and no dry lumps are left.

7. Keep stirring the sooji mixture on low to medium flame for 3-4 minutes and then add crushed cardamom to the mixture. You can also add the cardamom peel, as these add more fragrance to the halwa.

8. Continue frying the sooji on medium flame for about 12-15 minutes. Keep the heat to low or medium do the sooji mixture does not get burnt or starts sticking to the pan.

9. Meanwhile take the measured water in another and warm it up a little.

10. Add this warm water to the sooji mixture slowly. Keep on mixing when you are adding it to the sooji ghee mixture. This is how it looks once you have added water.

11. Stir the sooji mixture for 4-5 minutes and then add 2-3 level spoons of Sugar Free Natura (or as per taste) to the mixture. 

12. Now add the saffron too, along with the water it was soaked in. 

13. Once the water is added, mix the sooji well so that no lumps are formed.
14. Let the mixture cook for 5-6 minutes and gradually the sooji absorbs the water and thickens up. This is how it looks like.

This saffron sooji halwa is now ready to be served. If you want to experiment with flavours, you can also add fruits like banana, mango and apple. The fruits give their own flavours to the halwa and also make the halwa more nutritious. Also you can substitute water with milk to give it a more rich taste. You can also add other varieties of dry fruits like pine nuts

This post is a part of  SugarFree Dessert Challenge campaign in association with Indiblogger.

Guilt Free Delights and Latte Art at Longitude, Le Meridien

Latte art never fails to fascinate me. Sometimes when I look at the beautiful patterns intricately etched on the coffee foam, I wonder if they are for real or work of some photo-shop expert. So when I got an invite from Le Meridien to come over to sample some of their guilt free delights and admire the works of their latte art experts at Longitude, their coffee house, I looked forward to the event.

 I am not a coffee person, and only opt for a cup when there's no tea available, so have never really had a chance to try coffee with latte art. So it was a pleasant surprise to get a coffee cup with an image of India Gate intricately etched on the top! Okay so this was for real, no photo-shopping tricks here! The baristas of Le Meridien are such experts at their art that when one of the invitees demanded the Taj Mahal on their coffee, it took them just minutes to recreate the monument on the coffee cup!

While I marvelled at the patterns of Qutub Minar and Taj Mahal, in just a few minutes Lord Buddha appeared right in front,

his calm face etched on a cup of coffee. Neat! While the interesting patterns kept the invitees hooked to the coffee counter,

an array of desserts pulled us back to our tables. Introduced as guilt free delights, these sugarless desserts

not just looked tempting, but were also a delight for the taste buds. 

What followed was pure indulgence - with options like Blueberry Cheesecake, Mocha and Milk Chocolate Cake,

Fresh Fruit Flan Cake, and Orange Raspberry Delight Cake, who wouldn't want to indulge! In all it was a delightful evening with delightful combination of arty coffee, tempting desserts and great conversations!

Moong Dal Halwa (Recipe by Chef Kunal Kapoor)

So here is the Moong Dal Halwa recipe from the cook-off event mentioned in the last post. Since the cook-off event was sponsored by Canola Oil, this halwa too was cooked in canola oil.

Moong Dal Halwa

Serves: 10
Preparation Time: 10 mins (requires overnight soaking)
Cooking time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Moong Dal: 375 gms
Sooji: 62.5gms
Canola oil: 500ml
Sugar: 375gms
Water: 375ml
Green Cardamom Powder: 1.5 tsp
Pista sliced: 5 table spoons

Method

1. Soak the moong dal in sufficient water overnight. Drain all the water completely and grind it to a fine paste.

2. Heat canola oil and sooji in a karaahi. On slow flame cook sooji till it turns brown. Now add the moong daal paste. On medium heat cook the paste till it is thick and finally oozes out the oil.

3. Remove the karaahi from flame and transfer the fried paste to a metallic strainer/sieve. Let the excess oil drain out. While the oil drains out, mix water, sugar and cardamom powder and bring it to a boil, and then remove from flame.

4. Place the moong dal paste back in karaahi and start the fire. Heat it and add the sugar syrup carefully. Now cook till all the water is absorbed and there are no lumps. If you see any lumps just add little water and reduce it again.

5. For a twist in taste, you can flavour the halwa with fruits - orange or banana. Garnish with pista slivers.

Photo courtesy : Mrs Deeba Rajpal