What’s a festive season sans food? With the air getting colder by evenings and waft of savouries filling markets and a number of parties to attend and host, it becomes rather a tough task to choose between treats and the desire to stay (be) thin.
To help you navigate these tasty testing lanes, we get a few Chandigarh chefs share their recipes that stay high in taste and low on calories!
Oat Jaggery Cookies
(20-25 calorie per cookie)
Makes about 400 gm cookies
Ingredients
25 gm sugar, 150 gm jaggery, 1/2 cup white butter, 2 tbsp vanilla essence, ¼ tsp baking powder,1/2 tbsp baking soda,1 ¼ tbsp cinnamon powder, 1 ½ cup oats, 1 cup whole-wheat four, 1 egg, 1 cup chopped mixed Nuts and raisins (almonds, walnuts, cashews, raisins)
Preparation time: 20 minute
Method
- Beat sugar, jaggery and butter till fluffy. Add vanilla essence, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon powder. Beat and mix well.
- Add 1 ½ cup oats, 1 cup whole-wheat flour and one egg. Mix well
- Add 1 cup chopped mixed nuts. Mix to a soft dough.
- Make small balls. Flatten each ball to about 1/8”-1/4”thick like a parantha thickness.
- Bake at 200 degrees C for about 18-20 min or till brown from the bottom.
- Let it cool and serve.
- Chef Anubhav Sawhney, AJ Foods
Healthy nuts burfi (85 calories per piece)
Ingredients
- Crushed Multigrain (barley, oats, ragi, millet) 1 Cup
- Flax seeds 1 tbsp
- Sesame seeds 1 tbsp
- Pumpkin seeds 1 tbsp
- Sunflower seeds 1 tbsp
- Dates ½ cup
- Almonds chopped ¼ cup
- Walnuts chopped ¼ cup
- Clarified butter 1 tbsp
- Jaggery 1 cup
- Cardamom powder ½ tsp
- Dry condensed milk ½ Cup
Method
- Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan and roast all nuts and grains separately.
- Remove when little crunchy and brown in colour. Keep aside and let them cool.
- Heat jaggery in pan until melt and add dry condensed milk (mawa).
- Remove from fire and add all dry roasted nuts and multigrain.
- Mix properly. Sprinkle cardamom powder.
- Spread on flat surface, keeping ½ inch thickness. Allow to cool till set.
- Cut them into diamond shape or your choice of shape.
- This can be kept for month when stored in airtight container.
- Nandita Karan, Executive Chef, The Lalit Chandigarh
Pulled chicken salad with hoisin sesame vinaigrette (220 cal)
Ingredients
- Roast chicken 50 gm
- Red cabbage 30 gm
- Carrot 30 gm
- Cabbage 30 gm
- Bell pepper 30 gm
- Roasted peanuts 10gm
- Chilis 2gm
- Hoisin sauce 5ml
- Sesame oil 5ml
- Apple cider vinegar 10 ml
- Coriander sprigs for garnish
Method
- Wash all the vegetables properly and pat dry them.
- Roast the chicken breast in oven at 160-degree C for 10 minute.
- In a bowl, whisk sesame oil, apple cider vinaigrette and hoisin sauce to make a dressing.
- Once the chicken breast is cooked and cooled properly, pull the chicken breast using a fork or fingers to get strands or thread like texture.
- Fine slice all the vegetables and mix it along with pulled chicken.
- In a plate, arrange the salad and pour the dressing in the top of salad.
- Garnish with baby coriander leaves and serve.
Porcini mushroom and asparagus oats risotto (279 cal)
Ingredients
- Porcini mushroom 30 gm
- Asparagus 30 gm
- Oats 60 gm
- Onion 10 gm
- Parmesan cheese 5gm
- Olive oil 10 gm
- Thyme 2gm
- Salt to taste.
Method
- In a pan, put olive oil and add fine chop onions.
- Allow the onions to turn translucent and add mushroom and asparagus.
- Add oats.
- Toast the oats for a minute and add water gradually or vegetable stock.
- Once the oats are cooked properly, finish with parmesan cheese and thyme. Add salt to taste.
- In a plate, put cooked oats and finish with a dash of olive oil. Serve hot.
-Aaron Shanan James, Sous Chef in Radisson Chandigarh Zirakpur
Banana Froyo with kuttu crumble and seasonal fruits
Ingredient
For the froyo
- Bananas – 6
- Yoghurt – 1 kg
- Honey – 60ml
- Cream – 100ml
Method
- Hang Yoghurt overnight in a muslin bag to drain off the whey.
- Blend the bananas along with the yoghurt till the mixture is smooth
- Add honey and cream and mix well
- Put in an ice-cream maker and churn till you get a smooth froyo.
Alternatively if you don’t have an ice cream maker, put the mixture in a steel container and freeze for an hour. Take out and smash all the ice crystals. Repeat this procedure.
For the kuttu crumble
- Kuttu atta 100 gm
- Butter 50 gm
- Sugar 50 gm
Method
- Cut the butter into small cubes.
- In a bowl add atta and sugar
- Add butter and rub into the mixture till you get a grainy mixture
- Add 30 ml of ice chilled water slowly to form a paste
- Spread the paste on to baking tray and bake 180 degrees for 15 minute
- If the crumble is still wet bake at 140 for 5 minutes till you get a dry biscuit like texture. Allow to cool. Then crush the crumble. Scoop the ice-cream on to the plate top generously with the kuttu crumble and serve along with fresh fruits.
- Chef Shamsul Wahid, Group Executive Chef, Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality Pvt. Ltd
Ensure healthy snacking at Diwali parties
- An assortment of colourful baked vegetable chips made from blue potato, sweet potato and parsnip with dips on the side.
- Add mint or lemon to fresh fruit juices for keeping the drinks healthy.
- Slice and dice some seasonal fruits into a bowl with a few drops of lemon and/or red paprika.
- Roasting a few scoops of different nuts tossed in salt. —IANS
— Compiled by Mona