Eid-ul-Fitr comes with money and a lot more calories. You’re probably stuffing yourself down with all the deliciousness that your family/friends have cooked. But, take a chill-pill, slow down on those sweets and make yourself realize that these desserts are filled (to the brim) with sugar. Remember, you have a couple more days of dawaatsand you wouldn’t want your favorite kurtato get tight, right? So, instead of indulging on unhealthy and sugary desserts, start cooking up these mediocre-healthy desserts.
Sheer Khurma (the healthy way) recipe
Serves: 2-3 people
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 600 ml of milk
- 15 dry dates (soaked in water overnight)
- 10 raisins (optional)
- ½ cup of vermicelli (seviyan)
- 2 tsp. cardamom powder
- ½ tsp. of saffron
- 2 tbsp. of chopped almonds and pistachios
- 1 ½ tbsp. of butter
Method:
- After soaking the dates overnight, drain them. Cut them into small pieces and remove the seeds.
- Now, add the dates and 200ml milk on medium heat. Let the milk simmer down and reduce till it enough to coat the dates properly.
- Take a bigger pot, and put the rest of the 400ml milk on the boil. Keep stirring using a wooden spoon in between so that the milk doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Once the boil comes, reduce the heat from medium to low and let it simmer.
- Remove about 3 tbsp. milk in a small bowl, add saffron strands and mix well.
- Take a frying pan, heat the butter and roast the vermicelli for about 1 minute. While roasting, add cardamom powder.
- Add the vermicelli, raisins, and date milk to the bigger milk pot with the boiled milk. Mix well, and cook for some time till the vermicelli is soft and cooked throughout.
- Taste it, if it needs more sweetness then add a little bit of stevia.
- Add the saffron milk, half of the dry fruits and a little bit of cardamom powder. Now, mix well till everything is combined properly.
- Put the Sheer Kurmain a serving bowl and garnish with dry fruits.
Sugar-less yummy-full Kheer recipe
Serves: 4 people
Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 700 ml of milk + ½ cup warm milk
- 12 seedless dates
- ¼ cup of finely chopped walnuts
- ¼ cup of peeled and finely chopped almonds
- 10 raisins (optional)
- 1 tbsp. ghee
- ½ tsp. cardamom powder
- ½ tsp. saffron
Method:
- Soak dates, walnuts, and almonds in the ½ cup of warm milk for about half an hour.
- Take your grinder and grind these soaked dry-fruits with the milk. Do not make the mixture runny.
- Now in another pan add the ghee and fry raisins and some almonds. Remove on a plate after a few seconds and do not let them burn.
- In a saucepan, add the 700ml of milk and put it on high heat till a boil comes. After that keep it on low heat and add saffron strands.
- Mix it using a wooden spoon.
- Turn off the heat and add the nut ground paste, fried nuts, and raisins. Add the cardamom powder as well.
- Mix well, and chill it.
- Add to a serving tray, garnish with a few more nuts and serve.
The Best Sugar-Free Chocolate Cake
Serves: 5 people
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 30-35 minutes
Ingredients:
- ½ cup melted coconut oil
- ½ cup melted butter
- 1 ½ cup chopped sugar-free chocolate
- 2 tsp. vanilla essence
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup coconut sugar/stevia
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder + 2 tbsps.
Method:
- The first step is to preheat the oven and line a 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper and set it aside.
- Now, take a large bowl and add coconut oil and melted butter to it. Then add chopped chocolate to the same bowl. Melt these ingredients in the microwave (40 seconds) and whisk till it is smooth and silky.
- Add the vanilla essence, salt, coffee powder, and Coconut Sugar/Stevia at this point.
- Now, add the eggs one at a time and make sure to mix it well after each addition.
- At this point, add the cocoa powder and mix it using a spatula.
- Transfer the batter to the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes till a nice crust has formed.
- Let the cake cool for 20 minutes before removing it from the baking pan.
- Dust with cocoa powder, slice and serve.
This Eid
Guest Post Credits: Asma Qadri
