Winter season in India is my favourite one because it has so much to offer and my favorite part is the variety of yummy and healthy desserts (halwas and ladoos).
I often prepare dry fruits ladoo, easy to prepare and digest in this season, let’s get warm and cozy with these comfort foods.
Here are some of my family’s favourite picks along with there recipes:-
1.Til-gud ki chikki
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup white sesame seeds (til)
- 1 cup chopped jaggery (gur)
- 2 tablespoons dried coconut slices
- 2 tsps coconut oil + for greasing
- ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder
- 2-3 tablespoons toasted peanuts
Method:
1. Dry-roast white sesame seeds and in a non-stick pan till light golden brown. Transfer in a bowl. Similarly, dry-roast dried coconut slices and transfer in another bowl.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons coconut oil in another non-stick pan. Add jaggery and cook till it melts. Add cardamom powder, roasted sesame seeds, peanuts and roasted coconut and mix well.
3. Grease a barfi tray with some coconut oil, put the jaggery-sesame seeds mixture and level it out. Keep aside till it semi-sets.
4. Make marks of ½ inch squares and keep aside till it sets completely.
5. Demould, cut into squares and serve
2. Panjiri recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- ½ cup + 4 tsps ghee
- 2 tbsps white sesame seeds
- ¼ cup gum resin (gondh)
- 1½ tbsps kamar khas
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup cashew nuts
- ½ cup lotus seeds (makhana)
- A large pinch of ginger (sonth) powder
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
Method:
1. Heat ½ cup ghee in a non-stick pan, add whole wheat flour and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes or till fragrant and turns slightly brown. Sautéing in between.
2. Meanwhile, dry roast white sesame seeds in another pan till slightly roasted. Transfer them on a plate and set aside.
3. Heat 2 tsps ghee in the same pan and add gum resin and roast for 1 minute or till they puff up. Transfer on a large plate and set aside.
4. Heat 1 tsp ghee in the same pan, add kamar khas and sauté till they turn crisp. Transfer onto the same large plate.
5. Heat remaining ghee in a the same pan, add almonds and sauté on medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Coarsely grind in a mortar and pestle. Transfer into a bowl and set aside.
6. Add cashew nuts in the same pan and sauté till slightly golden brown. Coarsely grind in a mortar and pestle and transfer into another bowl and set aside.
7. Add lotus seeds in the same pan and roast till crisp. Transfer into another bowl and set aside.
8. Transfer the whole wheat mixture into a large bowl, add the roasted sesame seeds, almonds, cashew nuts and slightly crush lotus seeds with hands and add into the bowl.
9. Add the kamar khas, crush the gum resin slightly with hands and add into the same bowl. Add dried ginger powder and powdered sugar and mix well.
10. Store in an air tight container and serve as required.
3. Atta Pinni
Ingredients:
- 2 cup Flax seeds/ Alsi
- 1 cup Wheat flour
- 1 cup Chickpeas flour
- 1/2 cup Jaggery / Brown Sugar
- 1 cup clarified butter/ Ghee
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds and melon seeds
- 1/4 cup cashews
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup chia seeds (optional)
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 2 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
Method:
1. Add ghee/clarified butter in pan. Add wheat flour and gram flour in pan and roast the flour until it acquires light golden brown colour.
2. As the flours turns aromatic add jaggery or brown sugar. Let everything mix well together. Take it off the heat and let it sit on the side
3. Pour some more ghee in separate pan and add poppyseeds, sesame seeds and fennel seeds. Roast until they are aromatic. Keep it on the side.
4. Now add flex seed powder in the same pan and dry roast until it’s aromatic. Keep it aside.
5. Dry roast all the dry fruits and let it cool down. Now mix everything together and add chia seeds. Let it cool down a bit.
6. Grind all the mixture into a fine powder. Grease your palms with ghee to bind the mixture into medium size pinni/ladoo.
7. Make sure that the mixture is warm while binding or else it will become difficult to make the ladoos, after the mixture cools down completely. Store it in airtight jar.
4. Gajar ka halwa
Ingredients:
- 1 kg Carrots
- 1 litre Milk
- 1 teaspoon Cardamom seeds
- 3/4 cup Water
- 450 grams Sugar
- 3 tablespoons Ghee
- 2 tablespoons Raisins
- 2 tablespoons Almonds
- 2 tablespoons Pistachios
Method:
- Wash and grate the carrots. Soak the raisins in water for 30 minutes. Blanch and shred the nuts.
- Put the water to boil, when it starts boiling add the grated carrots. Cook for 5-7 minutes.
- Add the milk. Cook on a low flame for 1 hour stirring occasionally. Add sugar, mix well and cook till the sugar has dissolved and all the milk has been absorbed.
- Add ghee and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the slightly crushed cardamoms and the raisins. Mix well.
- Remove the gajjar halwa from heat and arrange in a serving dish. Garnish with almonds and pistachios.
- Serve cold, hot or at room temperature.
5. Badam halwa
Ingredients
- Badam/almonds – 1 cup
- Milk- ¾ cup
- Sugar – ¾ cup
- Homemade Ghee – ¼ cup
- Saffron – 3 to 4 strands
- Cardamom – 1
Method:
- Measure and Soak almonds in water for 4 hours. Then peel the skin and keep it ready.
- In a big mixie jar, take peeled almonds, sugar, saffron and cardamom. Finally add milk to it. Grind everything to a coarse paste. Set aside. In a thick bottomed pan, add 2 tablespoon of ghee and melt it.
- Add the ground coarse almonds paste. Keep stirring it continuously.
- Now the halwa starts liquidized. Keep stirring it and add the remaining 2 tablespoon of ghee little by little.
- When the halwa forms a whole mass and doesn’t stick to the pan, its done. Switch off the flame once done. You can also check the halwa consistency as below: take a tiny portion of halwa,cool it down a bit, form a ball. the ball should should be soft neither sticky nor wet, That is the correct consistency for badam halwa.
6. Dry fruit laddu
Ingredients
- ¼ cup ghee
- 1 cup badam, chopped
- ½ cup cashew, chopped
- ¼ cup pistachios, chopped
- ½ cup raisins
- 6 anjeer, chopped
- 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 3 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 2 tbsp sesame
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 cup dry coconut, grated
- 350 grams dates, pitted
Method:
- Firstly, in a pan heat 1 tsp ghee. roast 1 cup badam, ½ cup cashew and ¼ cup pistachios.
- Roast until the nuts turn crunchy. keep aside.
- In the same pan heat 1 tsp ghee, add ½ cup raisins and 6 anjeer.
- Dry roast 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds, 3 tbsp sunflower seeds, 2 tbsp sesame, 1 tbsp poppy seeds, and 1 cup dry coconut.
- Roast until the seeds turn crunchy. keep aside.
- Mix all the roasted nuts and seeds well. keep aside.
- In a large kadai heat 2 tbsp ghee. add 350 grams dates and cook on low flame.
- After 5 minutes, the dates turn soft and mushy. mash the dates until it turns paste texture.
- Now add in roasted nuts and mix well.
- Mix until everything is well combined.
- Cool slightly, and start shaping into ladoo.
- Finally, dry fruits ladoo is ready to enjoy for up to a month.
7. Beetroot halwa
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 4 cup beetroot, grated
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- 6 cashew / kaju, chopped
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
For Instant Mawa/Khoy
- 1 tsp ghee
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ cup milk powder
Method:
- Firstly, in a large kadai heat 2 tbsp ghee and add 4 cup beetroot.
- Saute for 2-4 minutes or until beetroot shrink slightly.
- Now add 1 cup milk and stir well.
- Cover and boil for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Cook until water evaporates completely and beetroot is cooked completely.
- Further, add ¼ cup sugar and stir well.
- After cooking for 5 minutes, ghee separates from halwa.
- Add ½ cup mawa or khova.
- Also, add 6 cashew / kaju and ¼ tsp cardamom powder. Mix well.
- Finally, enjoy beetroot halwa topped with more khova and dry fruits.
Do try these out and tell me which one is your favourite in comments!
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