Baisakhi 2023: Healthy recipes for the foodie in you
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For farmers, Baisakhi is the arrival of a new harvesting season. For others, it is a time to indulge in yummy foods. There are some key dishes that people in north India eat during this festival. Turns out, they are not just delicious but are also packed with nutrients that are needed by our body. Read on to find out the health benefits of Baisakhi foods and how to make them at home.
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HealthShots connected with Deepti Khatuja, Head Clinical Nutritionist, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram to know more about healthy Baisakhi recipes.
Baisakhi dishes are nutritious. Image courtesy: Adobe Stock
1. Meethe peeley chawal
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Meethe peeley chawal or sweet rice is one of the many delicacies that is prepared during Baisakhi. Rice is cooked with dry fruits along with spices like cardamom, cloves, and cumin powder, says Khatuja. Saffron is high in antioxidants, so it does more than just brightening things up. Nuts are also part of the ingredients and are good sources of proteins, omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants.
Ingredients
Method
Rinse basmati rice in water 3 to 4 times and then soak it in water.
Boil rice by using 2 cups water in a pan over medium flame until almost cooked for approximately 8 to 10 minutes.
Transfer it to colander and drain water then keep them aside until required.
Take a pan that has a heavy base and a lid. Add ghee to it and heat it over low flame.
Add cloves, cinnamon and green cardamom, and then saut for a few seconds.
Add sugar and 1/4 cup water, and then stir and cook for a minute.
Add saffron mixture thats dissolved and cardamom powder.
Stir and cook until sugar gets dissolves.
After sugar dissolves, bring mixture to a boil over medium flame, and when it starts boiling, add cooked rice.
Gently mix until each rice grain is covered with sugar and saffron mixture.
Reduce flame to low and cover it with a lid. Cook until almost all moisture goes away.
Turn off flame and let it stay for 7 to 8 minutes.
Remove the lid and add almonds, cashew nuts, raisins and pistachios. Mix well and transfer sweetened yellow rice to a serving bowl.
2. Kada prasad
Kada prasad, which you may know as aata halwa, is a traditional dish. It is made from wheat flour which is rich in fibre, fat and protein. Eating foods containing wheat flour provides energy that you need to get through the day.
Ingredients
1/2 cup atta or wheat flour
1.5 cups hot water
1/2 cup ghee clarified butter
1/2 cup sugar
Dry the roast whole wheat flour in a pan for about 2 to 3 minutes.
Add ghee once the rawness of wheat flour goes away.
Mix well and keep stirring on a low flame.
Boil water then add sugar to it separately in a pan. Add this to a pan and stir until water gets nicely absorbed. Stir until it comes together and you get a halwa consistency.
Keep stirring until ghee comes out then serve warm.
Have a healthy Baisakhi with sarso ka saag and makki ki roti! Image courtesy: Adobe Stock
3. Sarso ka saag
Think of Punjabi food, and sarso ka saag and makke ki roti will pop up in your mind. The expert says that sarso ka saag is a hearty dish that has lots of phenols and flavonoids. It is loaded with dietary fibre, protein, vitamin K, manganese, calcium, vitamin B6 and vitamin C.
Ingredients
1 bunch mustard greens (sarso)
bunch bathua leaves
bunch spinach leaves (palak)
1 cup chopped radish leaves
3 to 4 inches white radish root
1 cup fenugreek leaves (chopped)
1 cup chopped onions or 2 medium sized onions
1.5 cups chopped tomatoes or 3 medium-sized tomatoes
2 inches ginger (chopped)
7 to 8 pieces of garlic (medium sized, chopped)
teaspoon of red chili powder
2 to 3 pinches asafoetida or teaspoon asafoetida powder (hing)
2 to 3 cups water or add as required
2 tablespoons of maize flour or fine cornmeal
Salt as required
Tempering saag for 3 servings
cup finely chopped onions or 1 small to medium-sized onion
1 to 2 tablespoons oil or ghee
2 cups cooked saag or as required
Method
Chop all the greens then wash or rinse them under running water.
Add all the ingredients that are mentioned in the sarso ka saag ingredients list except for maize flour.
Cover the pan you are using and cook for a few minutes on medium-high heat.
While cooking in a pan, cover and let the greens cook till they are tender.
Pour the greens with the stock and maize flour in a blender and then blend till its all smooth.
Pour the pureed greens in another pan.
Simmer for almost half an hour on a low heat, stirring at intervals.
Tempering for sarso da saag
Heat oil in a small pan.
Add the chopped onions and then saut them till they turn light brown.
Add the prepared saag then stir and simmer for a few minutes.
Stir occasionally when the saag is simmering and once its all done, serve it hot.
4. Pindi chole
Pindi chole is yet another savoury traditional dish that has spices mixed with a thick paste of chickpea or chole. As a rich source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, chickpeas offer health benefits such as aiding weight management and improving digestion.
Ingredients
250 grams dried white chickpeas or 1.25 cups dried chickpeas
3 cups water
For cooking chickpeas
Rinse and then soak chickpeas for 8 to 9 hours or keep them overnight.
Boil the soaked chickpeas using water, whole spices, tea bag and black salt in a pressure cooker.
You could tie all the spices in a muslin and then add them to the chickpeas.
Drain all the water from the cooked chickpeas then remove the spices as well as tea bag.
For making pindi chole
Heat oil in a pan and saut the crushed ginger-garlic paste.
Saut until the raw smell of ginger and garlic fade away.
Add coriander powder, dry mango powder, garam masala powder, chana masala powder and red chilli powder.
Mix well and saut the ground spice powders, but make sure not to burn them.
Add the cooked chickpeas and then mix it with the masala.
Add salt and adjust the seasoning by adding more salt or powdered spices.
Let the chickpeas cook in the masala on a low heat, but stir at intervals.
Add lemon juice to the chickpeas and mix it well or you can serve lemon wedges with pindi chana.
Just watch the portion while eating these dishes and enjoying the festival.
Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 4:42 am