Friday, January 15, 2010

Mung Bean/Moong Dal Halwa for ICC – Aspartame Free /Sugar Free & Low Cal

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This blog is celebrating Pongar/Sankranti in two ways as there are two authors from different parts of India.
One is from Gujarat and another from a region where this festival is celebrated for three days
Bhogi, Pongal and Kanu, yeah from Tamil Nadu. Back home there are lot of festivities and
lot of  food. We try to celebrate the same way here in a slightly healthier style.

This year for past few weeks starting (from the last week of December) there are
too many parties and eating out. Too much of food, carb and sugar in the past few weeks,
another thing is  i have made Mung Dal Halwa earlier which i have  already posted during
Deepavali which is almost similar to this.  With the ICC challenge to be posted for the 15th, 
i thought of trying out this delicious Indian sweet with Xylitol for Bhogi.

 I had to combine both the recipes  from Srivalli as using xylitol will give a dry texture
 to the end product so added 1/4 cup milk. Xylitol is a natural sweetener manufactured
 from the Birch tree bark,  which is vegan looks like sugar and has only 1/3 calories
 as sugar and the best of all doesn’t cause cavities like refined sugar. Xylitol and Stevia
 another herb are the kind of natural sweetner available in the market, do more research
and check out for yourself . If you are going to use Natura, Equal etc which are
artificial sweeteners, the white sugar is way better than these dangerous chemicals.
 So don't use them. The artificial sweetener contain a dangerous chemical called
 aspartame about which i will post later.

Ingredients

Split Yellow Moong Dal(Mung Bean) – 1 cup
Ghee (clarified butter) – 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp
Khoa/Mawa(Thickened unsweetened milk ) – 1/2 cup
Xylitol – 3/4 cup
Milk – 1/4 cup
Saffron – few strands
Toasted nuts – 1 tbsp for garnishing

Method

1) Soak Moong Dal overnight in water.
2) Next day rinse the mung dal few times with enough water.
3) Drain the water completely from the mung bean and grind this into a fine paste
using as little water as possible.
4) Heat the milk add xylitol, saffron and once the xylitol dissolves, add the khoa and
keep this paste ready.
5) Heat 1/4 cup of the ghee(1/2 the quantity) once it is hot and melted, simmer the stove
into minimum and add the grind mung bean paste little by little stirring continuously with
a egg beater as this part is very tricky because the mung bean will stick to the bottom of
the vessel if not taken care. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of ghee and keep stirring till
the mung bean gets cooked and the color of the bean paste changes color to slight brown.
6) Now add the khoa paste to the bean mixture and stir till everything combines and well
cooked and the halwa starts leaving the side.
7) Switch off and a tsp of ghee, toasted nuts and serve warm.

40 comments:

PJ said...

I am drooling over the picture of your mung dal halwa.. so perfect for the season! I have been intrigued by Xylitol now, I'll try looking for it in my natural health food store.

Shri said...

Looks irresistible!

Nandinis food said...

It's looking good and it's alluring!

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious!

Ash said...

Totally perfect..... Yummy too.... What's happening around in BLOGGYWOOD???? I c lots of moong halwas around... all mouthwatering...
Splendid!!!!!

Ash...
(http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

chef and her kitchen said...

I love ur healthy touch for everything dear..keep going....yummy halwa

Cham said...

Guilt free festival sweet! Happy Sakkranti to both of u guys :)

Anu Nandu said...

Looks delicious - and a healthy one - I agree with you that the carb and sweets load these past couple of months has been enormous - I have to get myself to not crave a dessert after each meal again.

Pari Vasisht said...

Looks perfect and I make this with sugar free natura, have made only once like that but tastes good and I am less guilty :)

Unknown said...

Moong dal fever all over theblog world!? Looks tasty

Priya Narasimhan said...

such an yummy looking dish..so nice to see you both sharing such lovely recipes..

Katy ~ said...

I love coming here and looking at your food. This looks delicious. I would certainly enjoy a sample of this.

s said...

awesome pic....it looks simply irresistible!!

Rachana said...

Looks irresistible :) simply wow!

Padma said...

Looks so perfect and delicious. Never knew about xylitol. Will definitely try out after getting some xylitol and let u know.

Anonymous said...

Hi. You are so right that it is much healthier to use regular sugar over artificial sugars...glad you brought this up.

Priya Suresh said...

Such a guilt free halwa..looks tempting..

Pavani said...

Looks delicious.. Have to look for the natural sweeteners you mentioned in the store.

Angie's Recipes said...

This mung bean dessert looks so delicious!

Siddhi Shirsat said...

wow the halwa luks soooooo tempting n rich...ur efforts r worth for ICC...
hey u hv got a nice space with yummy recipes... i am following ur blog so that i can keep track of all the wonderfull recipes posted by u

Hayley said...

hi
wow, mouthwatering, havent tried it before without sugar, will do next week

cheers

lata raja said...

Ok I am copying down this recipe:) Girls you rock!

Unknown said...

Looks delicious and I am sure tastes as good.

Madhuram said...

The more and more recipes I see here with Xylitol the more I'm interested in getting it. Can't wait to use it. Thank you very much for introducing this sweetener to us.

Pravs said...

Its good to see a sweet recipe you can have guilty free :)i am new to xylitol. True i have heard of the danger of having aspartame.

SE said...

I believe..using too much of anything is not good for health..everything in moderate is ok..I agree with you on the equal and other stuff !!..halwa looks good..

Devon said...

Indian food is one of my favorites, and it looks like I will learn a lot more reading this blog. Now I have to practice making it.

Unknown said...

Love the way you have made this dish healthy!

Veggie Hut said...

very very tempting!

awesome blog!

Cheers

Jyoti

p.s: do visit mine at
www.theveggiehut.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Thanks all for your comments, really appreciate it.

Unknown said...

love your version..looks delciious...

Rohini said...

Perfect sweet to binge without having to worry about the calories!! Yum yum, I am drooling over the pics ;)

Tina said...

Mouthwatering halwa

Oraphan said...

This looks and sounds absolutely healthy and delicious! Pongar celebration sounds so wonderful, thank you for sharing such a great recipe!

sahiti said...

It seems that 'NATURA' doesn't contain aspertame,but sucralose which is a derivitive of sugar.Is this harmful too?

Deepa G Joshi said...

ohh this pic is so goood..love it..

Mythreyi Dilip said...

Oh such a tempting halwa, look at the glossy texture. Yummy:)

Spice said...

looks like it's time for making moong dal halwa....it's on most of the blogs...healthy change with xylitol

my kitchen said...

Never tried a sweet with out sugar,looks attractive & delicious

Unknown said...

very yummy.
Joint Replacement India

 
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