Bhai Dooj 2022: Mumbaikars, try these easy-to-make healthy dessert recipes from Andhra to surprise your diet conscious brother

The widely celebrated five-day festival of Diwali is coming to an end. But, we have another festival to look forward to — Bhai Dooj. Celebrated on the second lunar day of Shukla Paksha in the month of Kartika, this year Bhai Dooj or Bhau Beej, Bhatra Dwitiya, Bhai Dwitiya and Bhathru Dwithiya will be celebrated on October 26, 2022.

The day celebrates the precious and strong bond between brothers and sisters. And this year, when you host your brother at home, try and cook something special for him, especially if your brother is calorie conscious and follows a strict diet. We bring to you two healthy sweet recipes by noted chef Suraj Kumar Sahoo of Novotel Vijayawada Varun, which are not only a healthy replacement of mass-produced festive delicacies but you can also prepare them at home in no time.

World Food Day: Chef Massimo Bottura says, ‘I take recipes as a starting point from which I begin the path of creation’Anjeer Kaju RollIngredients:• 300 gms anjeer (dry fig)• 200 gms cashew nut• 100 gms pista• 400 gms sugar• 50 gms dates• 1 gm saffron• 50 gms ghee• 50 gms posto (poppy seeds)Method: Soak the cashew nuts for 2 hours and strain. Grind to a fine thick paste. Add sugar and mix thoroughly.

Heat a non-stick kadhai and cook this sugar cashew mixture in slow flame by adding little ghee for 15 minutes. The consistency of the mixture will be thick dough. Keep aside for cooling to handle later.

Soak the anjeer for 1 hour and make a rough paste. In the same non-stick pan, heat the remaining ghee and add the anjeer paste. Cook slowly till 10-12 minutes till the mixture looks like a soft dough.

Take out and keep it aside for cooling. Dry roast the pista and make fine powder. Now divide the cashew nut dough into half.

In one half add the pista powder and mix thoroughly to get the pista cashew nut dough which we will use for stuffing. Soak the saffron in 1 tbsp of warm water. Add the saffron mixture to rest of the cashew nut dough and mix properly.

For assembling the dessert, take a rolling pin and board. Baste some ghee on top of the board to make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the board when rolling. Take the cashew nut and saffron mix dough.

Roll like a long cylindrical shape. Now take the anjeer mix dough and roll it like a roti using a rolling pin. Repeat the same thing with pista cashew dough on top of anjeer sheet.

At last place the saffron cashew roll in one side of the sheet. Gently roll the sheet to get the desired roll shape. Now spread the poppy seed on top of any working table and roll the final anjeer dessert to get a coating.

Keep the dessert in freezer for few hours until its hard enough to cut. Take out and cut the dessert into roundels. Garnish with chopped pistachio or almond.

Gond aur Gulkand ke LadduIngredients:• 200 gms Gond (acacia gum)• 300 gms whole wheat flour• 250 gms sugar• 250 gms ghee• 50 gms almond• 50 gms pista• 50 gms cashew nut• 50 gms dates• 50 gms gulkand• 25 gms cardamom powderMethod: Take 50 grams of ghee in a non-stick pan and heat. Add all the nuts except dates and shallow fry in slow flame until light brown. Cool and coarsely crush the nuts in a blender and keep it aside.

Heat rest of the ghee into the kadhai and add gond to it. Make sure gond grains are getting immersed in the ghee. Or else the gond will not puff.

Mix gently till gond gets puffed. Now strain the fried gond and cool. Take a non-stick pan.

Heat the same strained ghee and add whole wheat flour and cook on slow to medium flame until golden brown. The flour will release an aromatic smell. Keep it aside for cooling.

Add sugar and green cardamom powder to it and mix properly. Rough chop the dates and add gulkand to it. Mix and keep it for stuffing.

For making laddu, take a large mixing bowl. Put the whole wheat mixture, coarsely chopped nuts and fried gond into it. Gently mix all the ingredients together to get a binding texture.

You also can add some hot ghee while mixing to get the perfect texture. Now take around 30 grams of mixture and shape like a laddu by stuffing the gulkand mixture in center. Garnish with crushed gond and chopped almond.

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