Moong dal Halwa

My friend Pushpa Sriram is an awesome cook and makes delicious sweets and she shared this with me, one of her mother's recipe, a halwa made with moong dal which is very nutritous:

Ingredients :  1 Cup Moongdal ; 

                       1 cup sugar; 

                       1 cup ghee; 

                       1/2 cup milk; cardamom  powdered for taste; a pinch of clove powder; 

                       a pinch of nutmeg powder;

                       saffron few strands. 

                       Khova - optional

Garnishing:  slivered almonds, pistas, roasted cashew and raisins.

Soak moong dal for 4 hours. Soak saffron in a little warm milk. Drain water from

soaked moongdal and wash it well.  It has to be washed well many times so that

the raw smell goes away. Grind the soaked moongdal coarsly without adding

water. Heat 1/2 cup of ghee in nonstick pan or heavy bottomed dekchi, add the

ground moong dal, and roast on low heat.  Be careful not to allow to form lumps.

If required add a little milk to make it easier. The moong dal has to be roasted on

low heat. It takes time and patience, keep adding ghee slowly little by little and

as the ghee starts separating, add the sugar and a little more milk and cook well

to halva consistency and add khova (2-3 spoons) .  

Add cardomom powder, clove powder, nutmeg powder and soaked saffron and mix well. 

When cooked well to golden colour remove from flame. Garnish with almonds, pistas, 

cashew and raisins. 

This can be stored in fridge and when heating for serving add little milk and heat, so it 

does not dry out. If required sugar can be increased to suit your taste.

Fruit salad with Sweet Yoghurt

This is a healthy fat-free fruit salad that old and young alike would love.

Peel and chop fresh fruits of your choice and keep in a bowl in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. ( I have used apples,oranges, seedless grapes, and bananas)

Take fresh homemade sweet curd in a large bowl and add sugar to taste and beat well till the sugar is dissolved add a pinch of salt also while mixing.

When the chopped fruits in the bowl is cooled add to the curd above and gently mix. Add honey on top as a decoration if desired. Serve when cool as a dessert. You can also skip sugar and add only honey for sweetness.