Tag: sweets

Win over the Festive Cravings!

Festive season is here and so are all the food delicacies. The mouth-watering sweets, lovely chocolate packs, attractive sweet shops, decorated foodie stuff is all around and resisting all this is a big challenge. Heart says have it all, have what you want and Head says No! Not a good idea to have it all. This constant fight between head and heart is ruining all the joy of festivities. Sweets being so attractive are hard to resist. We are just some days away from the grand finale of the festive season; Diwali, which I already burning bright with all the lighty lights in Indian homes and fireworks will add all the more to it. What is synonymous with this festival is sugar high mithai boxes, all laden up in homes, piled up before and after exchanges. Diwali marks the high point of mithai season and with the beginning of this festive season, bingeing on ghee-laden foods like laddoos, jalebis, pedas, samosas and bhajias is natural and is going to be regular affair. I know its no fun in always saying ‘no’. Then, the problem lies in how to avoid these delicacies. When even the determined, most health conscious, strong-willed people can’t resist these temptation, how will you particularly, when you just love munching on all this. Well, Don’t you worry, these small ways will let you manage your diet schedule and will make you resist the festive cravings, when all you can see is sweets around you.

Sharing… is good: Share your stuff with someone else and don’t indulge in the temptation alone and munch on handful of sweets all by yourself. Its better you should share it and in a way it will split up the calorie load. Many studies have proved that we relish something delicious only till the first two bites of it, after that its gluttony. So, bearing this fact, sharing is good in all ways.

Gauge your fat intake: Keep a check on your overall oil, butter, cheese intake, how you are taking them in, in what amount and watch it and be cautious. Be mindful, like if you want to eat some fried food, better to cut the oily food and added fat intake from the rest of your day. Rather, as an alternative, Saute veggies and bake them or steam them. Also, you can consider eliminating tadka from your dal, though its difficult, but its worth doing. Overall, just try to keep the calories balanced by cutting down on the excess oil by opting for healthy alternatives.

Hit the gym: Exercise and Exercise, workout and nothing else will watch your weight better. Be regular and then just stop worrying about the temptations. In order to maintain same body shape and size, you must go to gym regularly. If you are having those sweet ladoos or pedas or that vada pav, make sure you put that extra effort in gym to cut down the extra calories, you acquired. Though, its not going to completely compensate for your food impulses and stimulus , but still you won’t add a lot weight to your body.

Moderation is always better: Don’t munch on it with an attitude, ‘All or nothing’. Rather, limit yourself to one or two high calorie food items a day and save that taste for your whole day. Watch your eating patterns closely and don’t cheat as you will be cheating on yourself only. Never eat like there’s no tomorrow and be in control even as you enjoy food and don’t let your cravings overcome your mindfulness.

Think like yummy food isn’t going to extinct: Remember this and don’t be disheartened. There will be tomorrow when you can have another piece of sweet laden food items. When its enough for today, its means enough. Don’t give excuses to yourself. Keep in mind that yummy sweets, goodies will always be around, all year round.

Watch your protein intake: Proteins are important. You know, Deficiency of protein increase the cravings for desserts and other delicacies. Better ensure that you have your protein tank full so that you can have better controlled willpower. Pulses, egg whites, peanuts, paneer, tofu, chicken and fish are good sources of proteins and their intake should be proper in order to avoid temptations.

Choose your outfit for the season or go shopping: When you feel that uncontrollable urge for sweets you are seeing on your table, try to avoid it by not recognizing and take your mind off like by trying a new outfit for the festive season or go for some shopping. However, girls will like the idea more but it works for anyone. So, just give it a try.

Apart from all these ways, the best one, you have heard often is to exercise regularly. If you want to enjoy this festive at the fullest and don’t even want to gain those extra kilos around your waistline and hips, you just need to check your intake, eat mindfully in moderation and follow your regular exercise regimen. Moreover, the festivities are never all about food. There are other aspects to. The sole purpose and focal point of any celebration is not just food and bingeing on different varieties. Rather, the main motive is to spread joy and happiness and share it everyone.

October 8, 2014
Sweets – Yummy treats for You!!

My college is situated at this awesome place. Remember, I told you about all the lip-smacking biriyani food joints near my college? Well, Park Circus also has its neat share of ‘misti r dokan’, i.e., sweet shops.

To name a few – Jugols’ , Mithai and a tiny sweet shop near Mahadevi Birla Girl’s School which serves soft hot white rasgullas that melt in the mouth. I remember walking to Jugols’ in the sultry heat in my first year (back then I was a regular customer) of college just to satisfy my taste buds.

Kolkata or Calcutta, as I still prefer to call it, is home to century old sweet shops. The ownerships may have changed hands but the love of sweets of the customers never ceased (and might I add, it never will).

Putiram’s ‘Rosomadhuri ‘, Mithai’s ‘Misti Doi’, Ganguram’s ‘Chomchom ‘, Balaram Mullick and Radharam Mullik’s ‘Mango Chanar Brulee ‘, Bancharam’s ‘Raj Bhog‘, Bhim Chandra Nag’s ‘Pranhara‘, are by far the popular choices of the ‘misti-loving’ denizens.

How to make your own sweets and woo your loved ones?

Plain and simple – follow these super easy recipes and you will be good to go.

Malai Chomchom

Ingredients: 1 cheese cloth

For channa – ½ gallon whole milk, 1 large fresh lemon squeezed and filtered to make juice (use more if lemons are small size)

For syrup- 5 cups drinking water,2 cups sugar

For malai – ½ gallon whole milk, 1 tsp cardamom powder

For garnish- Sliced pistachios

Directions: Heat ½ gallon of whole milk in a heavy bottomed nonstick container in medium high heat. Stir occasionally to make sure milk does not burn at bottom or spill. When milk starts to boil put lemon juice (freshly squeezed) slowly into the boiling milk with constant gentle stirring. As milk starts to cuddle and gets separated from the whey (greenish transparent water) in about 2-3 minutes remove the vessel from heat and pour it in a cheese cloth spread over a strainer. Note: if the whey is not transparent then add a little more lemon juice and stir gently until whey is clear and transparent. Wash the chhana under cold water nicely to remove lemon flavor. As the chhana cools down bring the edges of the cloth up and tie it together. Squeeze out as much water as possible. In order to dry the chhana even further hang this chhana in cloth above the sink or keep a plate over it with some heavy object on top. Keep it this way for about 30 minutes. Then knead the dry chhana using the heel of your palm on a flat clean surface for about 7-8 minutes until it becomes a soft smooth dough and your palm becomes oily. Divide the dough into 12-14 equal parts. Take each part and roll it with both palms gently to make a smooth ball and then roll one way to give it a cylindrical shape – and voila a chomchom! Likewise do all the chom-choms. Place all the rolls on a plate and cover them with a damp cloth on top or with another plate so that they don’t dry out.

For the syrup, take 5 cups of water and boil it in a wide vessel. Add 2 cups of sugar to it when water starts boiling. Wait until sugar dissolves completely. Add about 7-8 chomchoms one by one into the boiling water. Don’t put too many at the same time as the chom-choms need room to expand. Keep the heat in medium high and cover the vessel tightly. Let it cook for 25 minutes. Do not open the lid in between. After 25 minutes switch off the heat and let it cool (covered) for another 10-15 minutes. Repeat the steps to make next batch of chom-choms. For preparing the Malai, boil ½ gallon of whole milk in medium flame, stirring occasionally to prevent it from getting burnt at the bottom, until it thickens and becomes creamy. This will take some 20-30 mins. Add cardamom powder to it and mix well. Switch off the heat. Take the chom-choms out of the syrup and drop them into the warm malai one at a time. Kepp them in the syrup for 20 minutes. Take out the malai wrapped chom-choms carefully and lay them into a plate. Garnish with pistachio.

Pranhara

Ingredients: 4 Cups whole milk, 4 tablespoons white vinegar or strained lemon juice, ½ Cup sugar, 1 Cup dry powdered milk, 3-4 tablespoons butter, 3-4 drops of rose water

Directions: Line a colander or sieve with a large piece of cheesecloth that has been folded 3-4 times. Place the lined colander or sieve over a large bowl or sink. Boil milk in a large thick-bottomed saucepan over medium high heat. Stir occasionally, scraping the pan bottom, to avoid scorching. Mix vinegar with 4 tablespoon of water and add to boiling milk. Look out for curd-mass to separate from greenish water. As curds rise and come to the surface stop the stove. Run a spatula along the bottom of the pan occasionally to free up any stuck curds. Gently begin to ladle curds into the prepared sieve or colander. Wrap the cloth around the cheese and rinse under a running water without pressing the cheese. Gather the edges of the cloth, tie or fasten into a knot and allow to cool and drain for 2 hour minimum.

Heat butter in a nonstick pan over medium low heat. Once butter melts, add the dry powdered milk. Stir constantly to form a coarse dust and until slightly golden and aromatic. Set aside. Knead the cheese on a clean surface with your heel of the hand by pressing it across the surface until smooth and fluffy and no trace of grains. Knead about 5-6 minutes. Collect all the cheese and divide them into two parts. Mix sugar and cheese dust(Set aside some for garnish) with one part cheese and cook in low heat stirring constantly, scrapping the pan bottom. Use a thick bottomed or non-stick pan. Cook until the mixture is very sticky and a mass pulls away from the bottom and sides of the pan. Remove from heat. Let cool. Mix the rose water, second portion of the cheese and knead till smooth. Divide into smaller bite size balls. Garnish with cheese dust.

Recipe Courtesy – withaspin.com, bengaligourmet.com

Image Courtesy – peekncook.com, withaspin.com, hungryangmo.com

June 15, 2014
Beauty of the feast!

World consists of human divided by infinitesimal differences by region, religion, nation, race, caste, color, creed and what not. Things like globalization would be impossible to think of if we would not have been able to find the common binding factor among the differences. India here very well stands for its world known diversity which had stood as one against the tests of time. Apart of being multicultural from the very roots of it, Indians tend to employ these differences to propagate brotherhood among them. Sharing of cultural elements like native food, religious practices, festivals and language has only helped us to bind together. Thinking of food, how many of us really look for what’s in the platter is more than just a meal?

Every culture has their own essence and it can very well be witnessed by their local cuisine. As the saying by Adelle davis goes “We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.” holds true when we think of food more than mere nutrition provider. Nowadays food has become an art, there are nutritionists and health inspectors their careers based on the quality of food served to masses. People like Tarla Dalal and Sanjeev Kapoor are superheroes of kitchens in India as they redefined the culinary art altogether and who can miss Masterchef series? They all prove that food is a serious deal and as fine and detailed the fine arts are, same is for the food or culinary arts.

Beauty of food is celebrated in every cuisine around the world like Chinese and Indian food are tangy and spicy where Italian cuisine is comparatively less zesty and prefer involving more of herbs. If we come to think of it, whenever we go to a new place and one of the first things that we look for is food available there. It makes a whole lot of impact on how we perceive that place for the rest of the time. I think that most would agree to the fact that we tend to look for our native flavors in the new region, so goes with the food. How much ever we buy pizzas and subs it won’t suffice the appetite of an Indian living overseas finding tikkas and kebabs.

Food does so much more than calming the hunger; it crosses boundaries of region and religion. In India especially during festivals which occur more than Sundays in the whole year, we have a pre-planned menu set for each one. The cooking of all the sweets gives the real pleasure of an occasion for the mothers in the household and children’s by making sure to consume every bit of them. The sharing of sweets signifies sharing part of happiness that had come with the festivals.

For a culture rich country like ours, food holds more meaning and there are regulations and provisions regarding cuisines in any religion, state e.t.c. Like in a Brahmin household usage of onion and garlic is avoided and in Christianity communion involves having bread and wine (or other substitutes) to represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ. When a dietary practice is preserved by religious dogma it is given additional force, and if observed it tends to promote a balanced diet! It may be one of the reasons behind many of our grandma’s and grandpa’s resistance against diseases and allergies.

Food has many nutrients and a person should contain just the right amount for their age in their meals. Leafy vegetables as we all are very familiar of carries infinite benefits like building up one’s resistance to diseases, helping in one’s “weight management program” more like dieting? They are also known to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. Like in all seriousness, vegetables no matter how much we despised them as kids do have a hand over pizzas!

Talking about pizzas, who doesn’t like having a large size ordered along with coke on a Friday? The fact that we had become conscious about our fast food intake is because of the general awareness regarding cholesterol related diseases like obesity, hypertension e.t.c.

Fast foods are source of saturated fats also known as “Bad fats” and are often linked with diseases like cardiovascular and coronary heart diseases as well as stroke. Nowadays many healthy choices regarding even the basic in groceries like flour and edible oils are available in the market. Once in a month or few weeks surrendering to the craving for fast foods is okay I guess, but the fact doesn’t change that dieting and refraining from them is the solution for the above problems. Yes! Exercise! Obesity is another much discussed disorder caused by the negligence of the individual’s choice of meals, caution should be taken where something can appeal to the taste buds doesn’t necessarily goes well with the rest of body. Moreover the skipping of meals in order to “diet” is a pointless thought as we can see an obvious difference visible between men who had his meals and who didn’t, the stark lethargy and dreariness is hard to miss. In the other words, skipping meals over a period of time without regarding with a nutritionist would only make you look like a zombie strolling in workplace out of the series “Walking Dead”!

June 13, 2014