Like every other Indian festival, food brings people together even during Diwali. There is a repertoire of traditional delicacies that have been handed down for generations and are prepared during the festival. Tweaking these age-old recipes to make them healthier are a few fitness enthusiasts in the city. Ditch the snacks laden with sugar and refined flour and switch to delicacies that are made from wheat and millet flours.
- Traditional methi mathri which is made with refined flour and deep-fried given a healthy twist by using wheat flour.
- Ingredients
- 1.5 cups wheat flour
- 1/2 cup gram flour
- 2 tablespoon kasuri methi
- Red chilli powder
- Pinch turmeric powder
- 3/4 teaspoon ajwain
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- Ghee or Olive oil
- Salt
- Method
- Mix wheat flour and along with the gram flour
- Add all the above-mentioned spices to the mixture
- Add to this ghee or olive oil as per the requirement and knead the mixture into a dough using little water.
- Now make small balls of dough and shape them into mathris
- Bake these in a preheated oven for 18- 20 minutes.
- The baked mathris can be stored up to a month.
- (The recipe is by Usha Goyal)
For several years, Usha Goyal has associated Diwali with the aroma of snacks wafting through her house. The smell of freshly fried chakali or mathri (flaky biscuits made from refined flour ) rings in the festive mood. However, three years ago when she decided to follow the ‘no-fried-food’ policy, her recipes had to change. “Without making an exception for Diwali, I decided to experiment with the snacks and make them healthier. I began by baking the snacks rather than having it deep-fried. I switched to baking my mathris and chakalis in a preheated oven. There is not much of a difference in the taste and the calorie count of these baked dishes are way less than the fried ones ,” says the baker who runs Siripuram-based Munch-a-Treat.
This Diwali she is busy dishing out flavoured nuts, traditional Diwali snacks and sweets, all tweaked to make them healthier. Under her supervision, matris and nipattus (a deep-fried snack made with rice flour, fried gram, peanuts and spice powders) get a nutritional makeover. “With each passing year, I have seen a significant increase in the number of people who are switching to healthier alternatives. ‘No whites’ is the trend this year as patrons are ditching refined flour and white sugar,” she says. Refined flour is largely substituted with wheat or jowar flour. Rather than using white sugar or white salt, Usha prefers to add brown sugar and rock salt to her food.
For those who are gluten-allergic, Anuradha Kancherala, a 50-year-old YouTuber who runs a channel called Mini Millet Mania, has a trick. She says that wheat flour or the refined flour can be substituted by millet flours. “For those who prefer gluten-free food, they can substitute the wheat flour with bajra or use ragi. This increases the nutritional value of the dish,” she says.