“Muh toh meetha karao” is the classic line you hear at every occasion. So how can the biggest festival in India go without sweets? From mouthwatering halwas to tempting laddoos, the Diwali sweet thali has something to satisfy every sweet tooth. That’s enough reason to ditch those stringent diets and live a little with these indulgent sweet recipes that are iDiva reader favourites this season!
Besan ke ladoo
Ingredients
½ cup ghee
2 cups of besan
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup chopped almonds & raisins
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom
Method
1) Keep the kadhai on low heat.
2) Mix the besan and ghee in the kadhai and stir constantly to avoid lumps.
3) Once slightly brown, allow to cool.
4) Add cardamom and sugar and mix thoroughly.
5) Make small balls of the mixture and serve.
Gujiya
Ingredients
Ghee or oil to fry
For the Cover
500 gms maida
6 tbsp oil / ghee
For the Filling
500-600 gms khoya
1/2 tsp green cardamom powder
25 gms chopped almonds
25 gms raisins
25 gms dried coconut (grated)
350 gms powdered sugar to taste
Method
1) Mix maida with the 6 tablespoons of oil to make a soft but tight dough. Cover with damp cloth.
2) Take khoya in a frying pan and roast it till light brown in colour. Let it cool and add dry fruits, coconut, sugar and cardamom powder. Fry for two minutes and remove from the heat. Allow it to cool.
3) Divide the dough into small balls and roll each ball into a small flat round.
4) Take the khoya mixture and put it in the rounds and seal them using some extra dough. Make sure the filling doesn’t ooze out.
5) Heat ghee in a kadhai and deep fry the gujiyas on a medium flame. Fry till golden brown in colour; then drain and remove. Store in an airtight container.
Shakkar para
Ingredients
1 cup maida
1/4 cup fine sooji
2 tblsp oil
1/2 cup water
For syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp coarsely grounded cardamom
3 tbsp coconut powder
Method
For the syrup
Put the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue stirring. Heat the syrup till its about half thread consistency. Add cardamom to the syrup and mix it well.
For the paras
1) Take maida, sooji and oil and make a stiff dough adding water slowly as needed. Cover the dough and keep aside for 15 minutes or more.
2) Make a big chapatti of the dough and prick it with a knife or fork so that they don’t puff while frying.
3) Cut the dough into several small one-inch squares (paras).
4) Heat oil in a kadhai and fry the paras till golden brown in colour. Allow them to come to room temperature and make sure they are crisp.
5) Put all the paras into the syrup and mix but make sure all of them are coated with syrup.
Monthal
Ingredients
2 cups besan (coarse)
1 cup ghee
1½ cup sugar
100gm mawa/khoya
Elaichi powder
Chopped almonds & pistas
Method
1) Fry the besan in ghee till it turns dark brown. Take it off the flame and mix in the mawa/khoya.
2) Melt the sugar in water to make a thick syrup. To check consistency, stretch a drop to 1.5 strings between your thumb and forefinger.
3) Mix the sugar syrup with the cooked besan (make sure only one of the two mixtures is hot) and cardamom powder; set in a decorative plate to cool.
4) Once the mixture has set, garnish with almond and pista and cut into bite-size squares.
Badam ka halwa
Ingredients
1 cup of wheat flour
1½ cup of blanched almonds
1 tsp cardamom powder
¼ tsp crushed kesar
1 tbsp of warm milk
8 to 10 blanched almonds finely chopped in to slivers
1¼ cup of ghee
3 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
Method
1) Take the kesar and dissolve in warm milk. Keep it aside.
2) Dry and powder the blanched almonds. Keep aside 10 almonds for garnishing.
3) Melt ghee in a pan and add some flour to it. Stir and fry mixture for a couple of minutes. Then add almond powder to the mixture and stir again. Fry the mixture till it becomes golden brown and you can smell the aroma.
4) Stir the mixture continuously. Add some water and again stir. Add some sugar too. When the ghee froths, add cardamom and kesar to the mixture and stir.
5) Serve with garnishing of chopped almonds.
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