GOND LADDOOS: POWERHOUSE OF NUTRIENTS

In our childhood, Mom gave a Gond laddoo with a glass of warm milk for breakfast all through winters. I often asked: how come you give these tasty laddoos only in winters but never in the summer.  Mother always replied: these keep you warm in the winters and make your very smart in studies.

That struck in my mind. So other day I made these Gond (edible gum) and almond, walnuts, cashews and melon seeds laddoos but I wanted to find out the benefits in detail. What amazed me that something so tasty could be such a powerhouse of nutrients.

Gond or edible gum is the sap of the thorny shrub Tragacanth.  This gum is odourless, tasteless and water soluble mixture  and it is obtained from the sap of the plant and then dried.  This has medicinal properties and often used in ailments like  cough, cold and diarrhoea.  This has long been used as a binding and thickening agent by the food and pharmaceutical industry.   It is rich in calcium and protein and is excellent for people with lung related issues, weakness and fatigue. It also helps lactating mothers.

Other than Gond or edible gum, these laddoos have almonds, walnuts, cashews and melon seeds.  All these nuts contain lot of vitamins, minerals and anti oxidants. 

Almonds contain healthy fat, protein, fibre, magnesium and vitamin E.  Almonds help with lowering blood sugar level and managing your weight.

Cashews provide us with vitamins like E, K and B6 along with copper, magnesium, zinc, iron and selenium.  Eating cashews in moderation can do wonders to your health.

Walnuts are rich in Omega3 and helps in fighting heart disease.  Walnuts contain vitamin E, folate and anti oxidants.  They have neuroprotective compounds so they support the brain health.

Melon seeds provide us with Vitamins B1,B3, B6 and folate as well as vitamin K, potassium, magnesium, copper and fibre.

Now you can imagine if all the above mentioned ingredients are  put in a laddoo with wheat flour and ghee(clarifying butter), why won’t they become a powerhouse of nutrients and minerals, which we don’t get in our day to day dishes. These laddoos should not be taken more than one per day, although their taste tempts you to go for second or third helpings. They strengthen and nourish the bone tissues and wholesome nourishment for winters.

  

Here is my simple recipe of Gond Laddoos:

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup wheat flour, 1 cup walnuts, 1 cup almonds, 1/2 cup cashews, 1/4cup melon seeds, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup ghee(clarifying butter), 1/3 cup gond(edible gum), 1/4 tsp cardamom powder(optional)

Method:

Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan, when ghee gets heated, lower the flame to sim. Fry Gond. It will pop like pop corns. Gond should always be fried on low flame otherwise it won’t cook from inside which can make stomach upset. Once all Gond is cooked, take it out in a plate. When it cools off, either crush it with pastel or grind it in a mixer.

In another pan on a low flame roast wheat flour without adding anything to it. It will take 7 to 8 minutes for it to roast well. Take it out and keep aside.

Now grind almonds in a mixer. You may leave them a bit coarse. Take these out. In the same grinder pulse walnuts, cashews and melon seeds. If you pulse it more than half a minute they will become powdery. Not that there is any harm in making it powdery. Mix all the ground nuts together.

Now in the first pan, pour rest of the ghee, heat it on medium flame. Add roasted wheat flour. Stir it for 2 minutes, add brown sugar and mix it well. Cook for two more minutes on low flame.  Now add ground nuts and crushed or ground Gond to it. Turn off the stove.  You may add cardamom powder to it. 

Let it cool off a bit, take a tbsp of mix at a time in your palm and make round ball. Make round balls of the whole mix and put them in an airtight container. Their shelf life is 2 to 4 weeks.

Note: some people like to fry nuts and then ground them. This enhances the taste but reduces the nutrient value of the nuts. 

NO BAKE ORANGE PIE

Other day I got some oranges from the market. I generally like semi sweet and sour oranges. But this batch of oranges was way too tart, more than my teeth could handle. So I decided to turn these tart oranges into a dessert.

This dessert does not need any baking so it can be made very fast.  This is not made with any whipping cream, instead I have used hung yogurt or Greek yogurt, so you can enjoy this dessert without any guilt of adding calories.

This recipe is very simple.  You can make hung yogurt, ahead of time, by putting 1 litre of plain yogurt through a fine strainer for five six hours. Make sure you put it in the refrigerator during the straining process otherwise yogurt can turn a bit sour.

Ingredients for the pie crust : 

24 semi sweet Marie biscuits, 1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil

Method for pie crust:

Powder the Marie biscuits in a grinder. Pour this powder on the base of the pie pan, drizzle the olive oil on it and press it with a spatula or your fingers. When it covers the pie pan, put it in the freezer for ten minutes. Your pie crust is ready.

Ingredients for the filling:

2 cups hung yogurt,  6 tsp honey( you may add or dercrease quantity of honey as per your taste), 1/4 cup orange juice, 1 tbsp white sugar,  orange pieces, 1/4 tsp of orange rind.

Method:

Take out the seeds from the orange pieces. In a pan put white sugar with one tsp of water. Add orange pieces. After boiling for five  seven minutes oranges will turn into sugary candy. Take them out and place them on a piece of parchment paper to cool off.

In the meanwhile, whip together hung yogurt, orange juice, orange rind and honey till mixture becomes smooth and well blended. Pour it in already prepared pie pan and freeze for a couple of hours or till it is set.

Before serving decorate with orange candied pieces. Enjoy this guilt free dessert.