Bengali Style Gajar Halwa

Gajar Ka Halwa in Bengali Style

Today I will share a recipe which do not need any introduction, because it is one of the most authentic and traditionally followed recipe, which is prepared in every Indian household in special occasions such as Diwali, Rakshabanadhan, Dussehra, Teej and overall the grand festivals in India. I am talking about ‘Gajar Ka Halwa’ a special sweet delight for every occasion. With just two more days to the special occasion of Rakshabandhan, here I present to you a super tasty and healthy recipe of Gajar Ka Halwa, as it is a special sweet delight and a dessert very close to my heart and also loved by my brother.

Hence, this year I prepared this easy and tasty recipe of Gajar Ka Halwa, which is also known as ‘Carrot Halwa’ made with minimal ingredients available at home as the current situation of the global lockdown has hit hard to supply and demands. We wait for this day to one of the most respected and awaited festivals of India  Raksha Bandhan, a special day for the siblings and a day to treat the brothers with their favourite dishes. Gajar Ka Halwa is very popular recipe for the festive season. We also prepare other sweet desserts and other main dishes during this time. The festive vibes bring positivity and smile in everyone’s face along with beautiful, colorful Rakhis and traditional sweets everything becomes so much joyous.

Rakshabandhan is a special day for all the brothers and sisters, as they share a special bond of love and togetherness. We are four brother and sisters, every year we used to celebrate this festival with great joy and happiness. However, with time, our preferences and values changed over the years. This day of the year gets quite difficult for me and my siblings as we have been shuffling off wih time and places, and not been together sometimes over the past seven years now. And this year too, we sisters aren’t together to tie Rakhi to our one and only brother. Even then, we celebrate the day virtually by calling up several times a day and with advanced technology it has become so easy to bring us all together when we are staying far away.

Every year we sisters used to go shopping till late nights to buy Rakhi for our little brother, who is now a grown up boy:) The markets get so vibrantly bright with colorful dazzling rakhis all around. After we buy and get back home, we used to hide the rakhis so that it doesn’t come to the sight of our brother until the next morning, when we get fresh and wear traditional clothes to tie rakhi in his hand. Well that brings a lot of memory now, which is somewhere fading away with time, although our bond is so strong that we love and could do anything for each other. Coming to the recipe of the dessert I prepared is because ‘Gajar Ka Halwa’ is one such dessert loved by everyone in my family and that is why I find different reasons to prepare this traditional delight with a little twist and turn.

Gajar Ka Halwa is a carrot based sweet delight made mainly using carrots, milk, ghee, sugar and lot of dry fruits. This traditional Indian dessert is very popular and mainly prepared during the festive season and most importantly in the winter season as well. This Gajorer Halowa recipe is prepared keeping the health factor in mind, as I have used low calorie ingredients and the rest of it such as ghee and sugar in sufficient amounts. Therefore, this dessert is not only healthy, but very much delicious. Head on to the full recipe with step-wise instructions and pictures, with a quick recipe video given below:

Carrot Halwa Recipe | Gajar Ka Halwa | Gajorer Halowa in Bengali Style

[Veg]

Author: Paromita.P

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes                                                           

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes (approx)

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients:

1. Dry Fruits – half cup each
2. Bay leaf- 2
3. Elaichi (cardamom)- 4
4. Ghee (clarified butter)- 2 tbsp
5. Oil – 2 tbsp (optional)
6. Carrot- 4
7. Milk- 1.5 litre
8. Sugar – 2 cups (as per taste)

Tips:You can skip using bay leaf in order to prepare the basic Gajar ka Halwa.

Method:

How to prepare ‘Bengali Style Gajar Halwa’ with step by step pictures and instructions-

1. Peel and grate the carrots into fine slices.
   
2. This is how the grated carrot would look like.
   
3. Roughly chop the almonds and keep aside.
   
4. Heat a cooking wok, add 1 tbsp ghee and oil into it.
   
5. Slightly fry the dry fruits in low flame.
   
6. Dry fruits are fried till golden brown as shown in the pic. Keep them aside.
   
7. In the same wok, add 1 tbsp ghee, bay leaf and grated carrot.
   
8. Now pour in the milk, mix well and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
   
9. Once carrots are cooked add sugar and mix well. (add sugar depending upon the sweetness preferred)
   
10. Add half a cup of milk at this point, simmer in milk with cardamom until milk is evaporated.
    
11. Lastly add the fried dry fruits and stir continuously until liquid texture evaporates completely.
    
12. End product would appear to look as shown in the pic. Carrot retains its original colour.
    

Carrot Halwa Recipe Video

We Indians simply love different varieties of delicious foods and we strive hard to prepare every kind of delicacies during every festivals to make the occasion more joyous and enjoyable. Prepare this mouthwatering ‘Bengali Style Gajar Halwa’ in this upcoming festivals and tell me how you liked it. Hope this festive season brings us good health and lot of happiness. Stay Happy and Blessed. Enjoy cooking, serving and eating!!

Paromita Pramanick ©2020. All Rights Reserved.

Chia Seeds Lemonade

Chia Seeds Lemonade

A refreshing lemonade and a healthy drink with chia seeds is a perfect balance in your diet during the summer season. Chia seeds have many benefits and very good for digestion, it is loaded with anti-oxidants, consists of omega 3 and full of fiber, potassium, minerals and calcium. On this blog post today, I will be sharing a very quick and easy Lemonade drink with chia seeds and for this you would just need four key ingredients. This refreshing ‘Chia Seeds Lemonade’ is absolutely a best way to beat the heat in a healthy way.

Chia seeds are a treasure of goodness with many benefits, the tiny seeds are organic, vegan and gluten free. These dry seeds are easy to store in room temperature. It takes just about 10-15 minutes to swell in or plump up on the surface of water. Slightly slimy, forming a gel like, non-sticky, it floats on the upper level of the glass, however, easily dissolves in juice or any summer drinks. It can be eaten raw, swallowed without any inconvenience and leaves a crunchy texture when chewed. ChiaSeeds can be used in smoothies, baking, beverages or pudding etc. and can be the best substitute for any healthy foods, especially for the vegetarians.

Chia Seeds

Chia Seeds Lemonade takes about five minutes to prepare, you can either soak the chia seeds before an hour or anywhere between 10-15 minutes prior to making the drink. This quick and easy healthy beverage is make using chia seeds, sugar, salt and lemon as the main ingredients in it. You can even skip the sugar and use honey or sugarfree solvents to keep it more healthier. Chia Seeds Lemonade is very good to keep the body hydrated in the hot summers and there will be no harm in drinking this powerful and healthy beverage even twice a day.

It is a good idea to include chia seeds in your daily diet, wherein you can always opt in for a very small amount of the seeds to consume in the beginning if you aren’t used to it and then slowly when you get habitual of its intake, it will be incredibly good to have it regularly either as a food or a drink, in the mornings or in the evenings. This Chia Seeds Lemonade can be a great option for a healthy diet with lemons which contains a lot of health factors and with the added bonus of chia seeds.

Chia Seeds Lemonade🍋🍋

[Veg]                 

Author: Paromita.P

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes                                                           

Cooking Time: 0 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes (approx)

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Indian/ fusion

Yields: Two glass

Ingredients:

1. Chia seeds- 1 tbsp
2. Sugar- 1 tbsp
3. Lemon- 2
4. Salt- to taste (1 tsp)
5. Ice cubes- 4 to 5 cubes
6. Drinking water- 2 glass

Tips: You can even skip sugar and use honey or sugar-free solvents to keep the drink much more healthier.

Method:

How to prepare ‘Chia Seeds Lemonade’ with step by step pictures and instructions-

1. Soak chia seeds for atleast half an hour before making the drink.
   
2. Take a glass of normal drinking water, add sugar and stir it well.
   
3. Cut lemons into slightly thin slices.
   
4. Now add salt and dissolve in the water.
   
5. Pour 2 tbsp of the fresh squeezed lemon juice and mix well.
   
6. Add chia seeds and mix well.
   
   
   
7. Finally add a few ice cubes. (or you can skip, add cold water directly while making the drink)
   

Chia Seeds Lemonade healthy refreshing drink is easy to make within five minutes. You would love the delicious drink for that little bit of extra chew of chia seeds with every sips you take. Chia seeds  are basically organic plant based foods, which contains dietary fibre, protein, omega-3 and antioxidants. Chia Seeds are highly nutritious, act as a coolant, good in reducing the summer heat. It also helps to reverse dehydration, high cholesterol and heart disease. Easy drinks, great taste and nutritious, prepare this Chia Seeds Lemonade and tell me how you liked it. Till then enjoy cooking, serving and eating!!

Chia Seeds (when Dry)

Chia Seeds (after soaking in water)

Paromita Pramanick ©2020. All Rights Reserved.

Besan Ladoo with Rose

Rose Besan Ladoo | Besan Ladoo with Rose

Today I will be sharing a fusion version of traditional Besan Ladoo recipe, using only four main ingredients in my version of the recipe. Homemade Besan Ke Ladoo are purely desirable during the festivals in India. Besan ke ladoo is mainly prepared during Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali and Holi. I will be sharing this Besan Ladoo in a healthy way, which is gluten free and absolutely fit to control cholesterol and diabetes.

Traditionally Besan Ladoo’s are prepared using ghee (clarified butter), besan (gram flour) and sugar as the key ingredients. However, in my recipe today, I’ve used only four ingredients with no added sugar, or any other preservatives. Ingredients such as date palm jaggery (known as Nolen Gur in Bengali) is one of the best substitute to sugar which is absolutely healthy and also good for sugar patients. Though it might have a mild sweetness in the ladoos, but it is worth using in the recipe keeping the health factor in mind.

 

I’ve named this Besan Ladoo recipe as ‘Rose Besan ladoo’ or ‘Besan Ladoo with Rose’ because basically I've used fresh ‘rose petals’ in my recipe. Therefore, these rose flavoured besan ke ladoos look extremely divine and gorgeous, also tastes very much delightful giving a subtle sense of rose to the tastebuds. The rose petals are thoroughly rinsed and patted dry with a clean cloth.  Half of the petals are made into paste and the other half petals are slightly chopped. The paste of rose petals are being used in the recipe while cooking and I used the dehydrated chopped rose petals for garnishing.

 

Preparing Ladoos are super easy and most of the recipes doesn’t even require too many ingredients for cooking. This low fat, super easy and healthy Ladoo making is done without any expertise or master in cooking. One who is a new cook can also make these ladoos without any supervision. Therefore, with only four ingredients in my recipe it becomes very easy cooking. The jaggery giving the ladoos perfectly brown texture, the rose giving a mild aroma and the cardamom gives a strong flavor to the Besan Ladoo.

Head on this healthy ‘Rose Besan Ladoo’ recipe with no added preservatives, no added sugar, no food colour and also exception of ghee. Please find the full recipe instructions in detail below:

Rose Besan Ladoo | Besan Ladoo with Rose

[Veg]

Author: Paromita.P

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Making Ladoos: 10 minutes (depends)

Total Time: 25 minutes (approx)

Course: Sweet

Cuisine: Indian/Fusion

Yields: 6 ladoos

Ingredients:

1. Besan (Gram Flour)- 50 grams
2. Rose Petals- out of 2 flowers
3. Jaggery (Date Palm)- 100 grams
4. Elaichi (Cardamom)- 10

Method:

How to prepare ‘Rose Besan Ladoo’ with step by step pictures and instructions-

1. Finely crush the elaichis, also make a paste of half of the rose petals and another half into tiny pieces.
   
2. Heat a pan, put besan and slightly roast for 2 minutes on medium flame.
   
3. Put jaggery, followed by a very little amount of water (say ¹/4 cup)
   
4. Keep stirring and mixing on low flame until jaggery melts.
   
5. Now add rose petals paste and crushed elaichi powder.
   
6. Stir it well, now the mixture content would become too sticky.
   
7. Switch off the flame and let the ladoo mixture cool down (rest it for about 5-10 minutes)
8. Now wet your palm slightly with water/ghee, take a little portion from the mixture and roll it over using both palms giving them round shape.
   
9. Lastly, roll the ladoo on rose petal pieces on a plate with light motion.
   

Tips: Keeping my recipe too simple and healthy, however, to avoid the ladoo mixture sticking in the pan, you can add 2 tbsp ghee in the very beginning while roasting besan.

This 'Rose Besan Ladoo' can be stored in a refrigerator for atleast a week or two. It can also be stored in an airtight container in room temperature for 3-4 days, however to avoid any moisture due to rose petals and zero added ghee it is best preserved in the fridge.

I'm happy to share my version of the traditional ‘Besan Ladoo’ with every readers I have on my page today. Thank you for taking your time. Do prepare this ‘ Rose Besan Ladoo’ in the upcoming festivals and tell me how you liked it. Till then enjoy cooking, serving and eating!!

Paromita Pramanick ©2020. All Rights Reserved.