travel cravings

Passport & Plate - Nutritious beet-sweet

India | Wednesday, March 5, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
Ingredients for 18-20 pieces, are as followed:-

1. Beetroot - 3pcs
2. Oats (any brand) - 250g approx.
3. Jaggery (jaggeree)/ brown sugar - 250g (powdered)
4. Coconut Shavings - 250g
5. Almonds - 15-20 (chopped)

 

How to prepare this recipe
Method :-

Step 1 :- grate all the three beetroot and keep it aside

Step 2 :- fine blend the oats in the mixer and keep it aside ( this helps in binding)

Step 3 :- light a gas and pour the grated beetroot in a vessel (kadai to be specific) saute it for a while, til you see amount of beetroot looks less than you poured - approximately 15-20min on minimum gas lit.

Step 4 :- pour jaggery powder/ brown sugar and mix it with beetroot. Please note there should be no lumps.

Step 5 :- pour the blended oats powder in the above mixture. stir it well. switch off the gas and leave it idle for a very little time, basically till it becomes little cold.

Step 6 :- pick up the small quantity in hand and make a round ball of it.

Step 7 :- when done, with making of all the round balls (approx 18-20 balls will be made), then garnish them with coconut shavings and top them with chopped almonds in abundance.

Serve it after the meal as a sweet-dish.
"Note - people with diabetes can try it with sugar-free, but only after consulting their doctors."

 

The story behind this recipe
"The healthy sweet, which takes care of your taste-bud and health at the same time."
Waoo! what a thought isn't it? Its like you get to eat sweet dish and it doesn't affect your calories. Well this was was the basic idea behind this recipe, when it came into mine life with fluke. As far as I see myself, I am a crazy cook, I keep experimenting with mixing tastes, for example cooking fruits, mixing pickles with juice, pouring a vegetable with a cake, eating muffins with ketchup, etc. Well! Coming to the point, I generally imagine how something will taste, "this with that" and impromptu I check it.
So one fine day I was watching a show where a chef was teaching some experimental kebabs with beetroot. I got excited, collected all the ingredients and just I was about to begin a thought came, what's mine contribution to the dish? just cooking? so many blending thoughts but the taste would be like kebabs, not satisfactory! a long pause!
Suddenly a pop up, lets make beetroot balls as the taste of beetroot is sweet itself, than another question, how will it bind? If I add cornflour, it will not sound healthy, then a pop up for oats came into being and then adding jaggery or brown sugar instead of sugar.
Garnishing was the main issue, because now beetroot sweet-dish was almost ready and not lot many people are fond of beetroots and that to in a form of sweet-dish - oops!
So it should be served appealingly, thus coconut shavings and almonds came into picture to transform the salad dish into the "After the meal dish." and when mine family, friends and specially those kids liked it, who hate beetroot, I know I achieved success and went gaga...