Raksha Bandhan is observed annually on the last day of the Shravan month. This festival celebrates the beautiful bond of love and trust between a brother and sister. A sister ties a holy thread on her brother’s wrist and feeds him, sweets while wishing for his long life. In return, the brother vows to protect the sister from harm. A long life can be achieved through a healthy standard of living. Indian festivals are also incomplete without delicious lip-smacking sweets. So here are some healthy dessert recipes you can make for your siblings.

What you need to know:

Healthy Dry Fruit Balls
Low-Calorie Laddoos
Chana Dal Halwa

Healthy Dry Fruit Balls

Ingredients:
½ cup Almond
½ cup Pistachio
½ cup Cashews
2-teaspoon poppy seeds
1 cup of dates without seeds
1-tablespoon of ghee

Method:

Chop the dry fruits and dry roast them.
Mash the dates in a mixer.
Heat a pan, add ghee and roast the dates.
Mix half of the ghee-roasted dates with the dry roasted dry fruits, and keep it aside.
Now take the other half ghee roasted dates and roll them into small balls.
Spread the dry fruit mix and roll the date balls over them.
Wrap the dry fruit balls into a cling foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil. Spread a few poppy seeds and roll the balls over them. This delicious and healthy dessert recipe can be stored for 15 days.

Low-Calorie Laddoos

Ingredients:
15 roasted almonds
15 roasted cashews
50-gram Makhana (heat in the microwave until crisp and crunchy)
10 cardamom pods
½ cup grated coconut (roast till color changes to light brown)
½ cup solid or 50-gram jaggery

Method:

Grind cashews, almonds, makhanas, along with cardamom into a powder.
Add coconut powder to the mixture and put it into a bowl.
Keep aside a few makhanas and roasted almonds and crush them into medium pieces.
Mix the crushed pieces of makhanas and almonds with jaggery.
Add 1 spoon of ghee to the powder and shape them into laddoos.

Chana Dal Halwa

Ingredients:
For the Halwa:
2-3 heaped tablespoons of ghee
2-cups of soaked chana dal paste
⅓ cup of toasted sesame seeds
½ tablespoon cardamom powder
¼ tablespoon of black pepper powder

For jaggery syrup:
1-cup jaggery
I-cup water

For garnishing:
2-3 sliced and roasted almonds
2-3 sliced and roasted pistachio
Fresh rose petals

Method:

In a wok, heat some ghee and add soaked chana dal paste. Keep sauteing on low flame for about fifteen minutes. Cook until it turns golden brown.
In a separate pan, take white sesame seeds and dry roast them. Wait for it to cool down. Transfer it into a grinder jar and grind it into fine powder.
Add powdered sesame seeds into the wok and mix well with the preparation. Add some jaggery syrup into it and blend it very well.
To prepare this jaggery syrup, take a shallow pan, add jaggery water and let it melt on low heat. Keep stirring it until the jaggery melts completely.
Cook it until it thickens, and the ghee leaves the sides of the pan. Add cardamom powder and black pepper powder. Mix it well. The halwa is ready.
In yet another pan, add the chopped dry fruits and toss well. After you transfer the halwa into a serving bowl, garnish it with the roasted nuts and serve hot.

This Raksha Bandhan, #StayHealthyStayProtected with the Activ Living Community.

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