Category: India

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Expert Dietitian’s Guide to Ganesha’s Beloved Kheer/Payas/Payasam

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Any festival is incomplete without the regional form of Kheer/Payas/Payasam offered to Lord Ganesha. As we enter the third day of Ganesh Utsav on 21st September 2012, here’s a little detail on Kheer. There are at least 50 variants of Kheer prepared across India that I am aware of, and there may be more! 😊 However, I have ensured that my version is not too elaborate, requiring too many ingredients or long hours of cooking. Typically, Kheer is a sweet made using milk (boiled to half its quantity on a low flame) mixed with sugar/jaggery, along with vermicelli/sevainya made from wheat or rice flour. It can also be made from broken wheat/semolina or cracked rice (Govindobhog rice is the best option for rice kheer) and sometimes a mix of rice and dals/pulses (green gram/bengal gram).

Note: When milk recipes are cooked on a low flame for a longer time, the taste is certainly richer compared to short-time, high-flame cooking!

My Version of Kheer:

Ingredients:

  1. Milk – 4 cups (boil on low flame for 30 minutes; leave a small porcelain dish in the pot to prevent spilling or burning)
  2. Jaggery – 1/2 cup (grated)
  3. Milk Maid – 100 ml
  4. Broken wheat (Bansi Rava) – 1/2 cup (soak for 30 minutes before cooking)
  5. Clarified butter (Ghee) – 20 gm
  6. Dry fruits (cashews, raisins, and almonds)
  7. Cardamom and saffron for flavor and color

Method:

  1. Pressure cook the soaked broken wheat with its soaking water for 4-5 whistles.
  2. Heat a frying pan, add ghee, and fry the dry fruits until golden.
  3. Add the cooked broken wheat to the pan and mix on a low flame for a few minutes.
  4. Add grated jaggery and Milk Maid diluted with 100 ml of water. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the jaggery melts, stirring continuously.
  5. Slowly add the reduced milk, keep stirring, and allow it to boil for 5-10 minutes on a low flame.
  6. Serve lukewarm.

Nutritional Benefits:

  • Milk: Rich source of protein, calcium, and vitamin A.
  • Jaggery: Rich in iron, minerals, and fiber.
  • Milk Maid: Provides calories, protein, and fat.
  • Broken Wheat: Rich in protein, carbs, vitamin B complex, and fiber.
  • Clarified Butter: A better fat option compared to saturated fatty acids and butter.
  • Dry Fruits: Provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.
  • Cardamom and Saffron: Add flavor, natural color, antioxidants, and essential oils.

A complete food indeed! 😊 So go ahead and experiment with ingredients to make your version of a complete food Kheer.

Note: You can avoid Milk Maid if you have good quality milk, but you might need to boil the milk longer to make it creamy/thicker.

Caution: Anything in excess is dangerous!

Ganapathi Bappa Moryaa! Mangala Moorthi Moryaa!

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Why Offerings made to God are so nutritious !

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With the upcoming festivities Ganesh Utsav celebrated across several parts of India,  ( The 10 day celebrations of Lord Ganesh, the Elephant Buddha!) most of us would be busy preparing for the event and most importantly preparing foods favourite to Lord Ganesh !

Interestingly I realised that all the various foods offered to lord Ganesh are complete and wholesome foods. I shall post 10 recipes over the next days which are wholesome and nutritious foods. Let me start with Lord’s fav food “MODAK”

There are several variations to Modak that have been adopted over several parts of India. However the traditional recipe is as follows :

Make a dough with rice flour cooked in milk, allow it to cool, now make a mix of jaggery, fresh coconut grated and cardamom powder. Make small dumplings as showing in the pic and fill the dumplings with this mix and steam in pressure cooker for 10 -15 minutes and serve hot with clarified butter !

Now is this stuff really wholesome and nutritious ? Lets see :

1. Rice – rich in carbs and high biological value protein

2. Milk- protein and calcium rich

3. Jaggery – Minerals and Iron apart from calories

4. coconut rich in fiber, several essential fatty acids , vit-E and A

5. cardamom spice to add the extra flavour and antioxidants to the sweet dish

6. Cooked over steam so no fat required except for 5 gm of clarified butter again a better option compared to butter and other saturated fats

Now should we call it a complete food, yes of course , so please go ahead and take a hands on now …………… 🙂

Always remember any thing in excess is dangerous !

Ganapati Bappa Moriyaa ! Mangal Moorthi Moriyaa!