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Indian winter snacks Delicious treats to warm your soul
When we look around the world we got different taste in cuisine, culture and heritage according to season and region where Indian is known for its diversity in food in from different area. In this blog we will talk about Indian winter snacks where your soul feels warm and your mood get light.
Why winter snacks are special in India
Seasonal ingredient: Nature know are need and it care about are body, so it provides us ingredient like carrots, fresh peas, Methi (fenugreek), sesame, jaggery, and millets that keeps our body warm according to season.
Warming food for body: In winter our body need to produce more heat, so nature provide us ingredients like sesame seeds (Til), nuts, edible gum (Gond), jaggery, ghee and bajra that keeps our body naturally warmth and full of energy.
Top popular Indian winter snacks
Winter is known for its delicious snacks and cuisine which is not only keep our body warm, but our taste bud igniting after tasting the delicious snacks like Gajjar ka halwa, Shakar Kandi chaat, Til ka Ladoo, mix nuts Ladoo with Gond. Here I will talk about popular recipes.
Gajar ka Halwa
It is delicious snacks that made with juicy carrots, milk, ghee and roasted nuts like almond, pistachio and cashew.
Ingredients
- Red carrots – 1 kg
- Full cream milk – 1 litre
- Ghee – 5 tsp
- Sugar – 1 medium size bowl
- Cardamom powder –½ tsp
- Chopped nuts – 1 small bowl nuts
- Dry Raisins –2 tsp
Instruction
- Peeled and grated carrot don’t forget to wash it properly before peeling.
- In a kadhai pour milk and mix grated carrot and cook them together and stirring for 40 min until carrot absorbed the milk.
- Now, add ghee and sugar mix it until sugar release water and halwa becomes thick.
- Sprinkle cardamom powder, nuts and raisins.
- Cook until nuts become properly absorbed in halwa.
- You can also add roasted almonds in breakable form for garnishing.
Pakoras (fritters)
it is simple and perfect winter snacks with tea.
Ingredients
- Besan – 1 cup
- Rice flour – 2tsp
- Carom seeds – 1 tsp
- Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Salt – according to taste
- Coriander – 2 tsp chopped
- Onion – 4 medium sizes with medium chopped
- Mustard oil or groundnut oil – for deep frying
- Water – as per batter smoothness
Instruction
- Mix besan, chopped onion, carom seeds, salt, coriander, rice flour, red chilli and turmeric powder with water to prepare batter.
- Heat the oil and dip the small portion of batter and fry it until it becomes golden brown and crisp.
- Serve it hot with tomato cutup and Indian masala chai.
Roasted makhana
- Super crunchy and healthy digestive winter snacks. disturbance and regulate the menstrual cycles.
- Support egg fertility and ovulation.
Ingredients
- Makhana – 2 cups
- Desi ghee- 2 tsp
- Black pepper powder- ¼ tsp
- Rock salt – to taste
- Chaat masala – 1 tsp
- Lemon juice – 2 tsp
Instructions
- Heat a pan spread ghee and pour makhana to toss it for golden in colour
- Mix black pepper and salt toss it in low flame don’t roast it too much.
- Sprinkle chaat masala and lemon juice.
- Serve it with any herbal tea.
Sarso ka saag with Makki ki roti
This is famous Punjabi’s winter special cuisine which is healthy and power pack food in winter.
For Saros ka saag
Ingredients
- Sarso (mustard greens): 500 g
- Spinach: 250 g
- Bathua – 150 g
- Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
- Onion – 1 medium and chopped
- Tomato – 1 medium and chopped
- Ginger – 1 inch peeled
- Garlic – 4 –5 cloves
- Green chilies – 2
- Makki ka atta – 3 –4 tsp
- Ghee or mustard oil – 3 –4 tsp
- Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
- Garam masala – ½ tsp
- Salt – to taste – to taste
Instruction
- Wash and roughly chopped all greens and pour in pressure cooker with green chilies, ginger, garlic, and little water for 3-4 whistles.
- After cooking for long time add Makki atta to make it thicken keep it aside until prepare tadka.
- In Kadhai spread ghee add cumin and onion sauté for golden brown after pour tomatoes pieces, red chili and garam masala powder. Cook till masala release oil.
- Mix both masala and saag mixture and now eat it with hot Makki ki roti.
For Makki ki roti
Ingredients
- Makki ki atta – 2 cups
- Warm water – as per need
- Salt – a pinch
- Ghee – for roasting
Instruction
- Mix Makki ki atta with salt, and gradually add water to make soft dough
- Take a small portion for dough and roll it in circular sheet.
- Cook on hot pan till golden brown from both sides.
- Serve hot with sarso ka saag butter maar k.
Moong dal Chilla
This is most favourite Indian winter snacks which is full of protein and crunch the keep your body energetic and warm.
Ingredients
- Yellow moong dal – 1 cup
- Green chili – 2
- Ginger – 1 inch peeled
- Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
- Salt – to taste
- Turmeric – ¼ tsp
- Coriander leaves – 2 tsp (chopped)
- Tomato – 1 medium (chopped)
- Onion – 1 medium (chopped)
- Capsicum – 1 small (chopped)
- Mustard oil – for roasting
- Cheese – 50 g
- Water – as per need
Instruction
- Soak moong dal for 3 to 4 hrs then blend it with ginger and chilies.
- Add chopped veggies, cumin seeds, salt into batter you can also grate some cheese.
- Now heat a pan pour batter roast it from both sides.
- Serve it coriander chutney and curd.
Vegetable soup
Ingredients
- Use butter for tadka in medium size kadhai add garlic, cumin seeds, ginger and onion, sauté for 2-3 min.
- Add all veggies and fry it for 10 min.
- Add water, salt and pepper cook in medium flame for 20 min until veggies become soft.
- Serve hot with butter
Other Winter special sweets and snacks
- Til Ladoo
- Gond ke Ladoo
- Besan Ladoo
- Dry Fruit Ladoo
- Gajak
- Til Patti
- Jaggery Patti
- Gajar ka Halwa
- Moong Dal Halwa
- Badam halwa
Tips for enjoying Winter snacks in a healthy way
When we think how we will enjoy all the winter snacks and sweet without upsetting our body health. Like we eat sweet, but it will not increase the weight and insulin level in our body which is unhealthy for our body. So here you need to follow such tips where you can manage your craving for sweet and snacks without sacrificing your taste and health.
Tip no. 1
Portion control and balanced diet: in winter our body naturally crave for more food so we need to control our crave and hunger control by consuming small amount so sugar and carbs can take time to digest. Simply just take small plate and serve it small eat slow and small portion.
Tip no. 2
Pairing snacks with herbal Teas: when we enjoy winter snacks like pakoras, samosa, gajak, and roasted peanuts we always have crave it take it with some drinks, but we choose soft drink like cola, Pepsi and fizzy drinks that not even contain harmful preservative it also contain contaminated sugar that slows down our digestion. Instead of sugary soft drink we can take traditional winter snacks with herbal teas and masala teas.
Conclusion
- Winter is full of green veggies and health friendly nuts that keep our body warm naturally.
- Snacks with Indian comfort food for cold weather is more suitable option other then any traditional sweets for winter. Because it contains nutritional benefits with freshness of green vegetable that keep our body health and nourish our soul.
- Popular Indian winter snacks like gajjar ka halwa, moong dal halwa, gajak and dry fruits Ladoo provide our body nutrients that require more in winter.
- We have mentioned all recipes of homemade Indian winter snacks that full of powerful nutrients benefits.
Because traditional winter snacks like gajjar ka halwa,til Ladoo and dry fruits Ladoo use warming ingredients like ghee, jaggery and sesame which is rich in antioxidants that keep our body naturally warmth.
Yes, gajjar ka halwa contain nuts, ghee, milk and jaggery which is rich in nutrients provide energy and keep our body warm, but you should use moderate ghee and natural sweet to avoid obesity.
It will give more benefits when it consumes with herbal tea, masala chai and turmeric milk.
Jagger is rich in iron and keeps the body warms and boost the immune, digestion.
Yes, if we consume snacks in moderation and snacks like roasted Channa and makhana keep the body metabolism high and help in weight management.
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