Savour Homemade Delights on Holi (With: Forgotten joys of Homemade Gujiyas, Mathhis)

New Delhi, March 3 (IANS) What's a Holi without some 'mithai'? But be a little cautious and try cooking some healthier sweets in your home kitchen, suggests Indian masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor, as he gives out some easy recipes:

Gujiya

Ingredients:

For the filling

Khoya/mawa: 500 gm

Sugarfree natura diet sugar: Six tablespoons

Desiccated coconut: 3¼ tsps

Cashewnuts (blanched and chopped): 15 nos

Almonds (blanched and chopped): 15 nos

Raisins: 20 nos

Green cardamom or nutmeg powder: ½ tsp

For the outer covering

Refined flour (maida): Four cups

Salt: ½ tsp

Ghee: Five tbsps + to deep fry

Gujiya mould

Method

* Mash the khoya and roast it in a deep pan on medium heat till pink. Take off the heat and let it cool.

* Add all the other filling ingredients to the khoya and keep aside.

* To prepare the covering, sieve flour and salt and rub in five tablespoons of ghee.

* Add enough water and knead into a firm dough. Cover it with a moist cloth and keep aside for 15 minutes.

* Divide the dough into small balls and roll each ball into a small puri of four inches diameter.

* Spread a puri on a greased gujiya mould and fill a tablespoon of the filling mixture on one side.

* Moisten the edges of the puri and fold one side of the mould over the other. Press the edges and remove the excess dough and reuse.

* Prepare all the gujiyas and spread on a damp cloth.

* Heat sufficient ghee in a deep pan and deep-fry the gujiyas, in batches on medium heat, till golden brown.

* Drain on to an absorbent paper. Cool and store in an airtight tin.

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Kesari Malai Peda:

Ingredients:

Four cups of milk

A few strands of saffron

A pinch of citric acid

Two teaspoons of cornflour, dissolved in two tablespoons of milk

¼ tsp green cardamom powder

10 teaspoons Sugar Free Natura Diet Sugar

Eight almonds, chopped

Method:

* Bring milk to a boil in a deep pan and simmer till it reduces to half its original quantity. Add saffron and mix well.

* Mix citric acid in two teaspoons of water and add to the thickened milk.

* Add dissolved cornflour and stir continuously till the mixture thickens.

* Add green cardamom powder and mix well.

* Take pan off the heat and stir in Sugar Free Natura Diet Sugar and set aside to cool.

* Divide the mixture into eight equal portions and shape them into round pedas.

* Sprinkle almonds over the pedas and serve.

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Mathhi:

Ingredients:

Two cups of refined flour

Salt to taste

½ tsp carom seeds

One tbsp dried fenugreek leaves

Five tbsp Nutralite Table Spread

Oil for deep frying

Method:

* Place the flour in a bowl and add the salt, carom seeds and dried fenugreek leaves and mix well.

* Add five tablespoons of Nutralite Table Spread and mix well. Add sufficient cold water and knead into hard dough. Cover and rest the dough for 15 minutes.

* Divide the dough into 24 equal balls and flatten them slightly. Roll each ball thinly into small puri and fold in half and then fold again to make a triangle. Stick a clove at one corner making it appear like a paan.

* Heat sufficient oil in a kadai. Slide in the mathhis, a few at a time, and deep fry on medium heat till golden and crisp.

* You can also make these in round shapes. Lightly prick them with a fork so that the mathhis do not rise like puris.

* Drain on absorbent paper. Cool completely. Store in airtight tins.

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Thandai:

Ingredients:

Full cream milk: 1½ litres

A few strands of saffron

Sugar Free Natura Diet Sugar: Five tbsp

Almonds, blanched and peeled: 25 nos

Cashewnuts, soaked: 20 nos

Pistachios, blanched and peeled: 30 nos

Melon seeds (magaz), soaked: Three tbsp

Poppy seeds (khuskhus), soaked: Three tbsp

Green cardamoms: 8 to 10 nos

Rose petals, dried: 20-25 nos

Cinnamon: 1-inch stick

Peppercorns: 8-10 nos

Method:

* Bring milk to a boil in a pan. Add saffron and simmer.

* Grind together almonds, cashewnuts, pistachios, melon seeds and poppy seeds with a little milk to a fine paste.

* Add this paste to the milk and mix well. Simmer for three to four minutes.

* Grind green cardamoms, dried rose petals, cinnamon and peppercorns to a fine powder.

* Add this to the milk and mix well. Add sugarfree natura Diet Sugar and mix.

* Chill the milk and serve.