Sweet and short

When plates of homemade sweets would be arrayed on the table this Deepavali, keep your diet plan aside. While the aroma of ghee , the wafting scents of roasted nuts, and sizzling sounds of sweet syrup would fill the nook and corners of your home, just indulge in it, mindfully! Here are quick sweet recipes, curated with blobs of love and drizzle of creativity from the kitchens of food lovers. Bottle Gourd Sheera by Kumari G Ingredients Bottle gourd: 750 g Full-fat milk: 1.5 l Mixed dry fruits (almonds, cashews, raisins) :1/3 cup Ghee : 2 1/3 tbsp Sugar: 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups Cardamom powder: a pinch Green food colour (optional): 1/8 tsp Method Wash, peel, and grate the bottle gourd and squeeze out excess water from it. Heat two tablespoon of ghee in a large pan. Add almonds, cashews, and raisins. Fry until golden and remove from the pan. In the same pan, add the remaining ghee . Add the grated bottle gourd and roast until the raw smell goes away, stirring occasionally. Pour 1.5 litres of full-fat milk into the pan with the gourd. Mix well and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently. Let it cook until the milk thickens and reduces, and the gourd blends well. Add the sugar (1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups depending on preferred sweetness). Mix and cook again, stirring until the halwa thickens further. Add a pinch of cardamom powder. Optionally, add a drop of green food colour for appearance and mix well. When the mixture turns into halwa consistency and leaves the sides of the pan, add the fried dry fruits and blend into the halwa. Turn off the heat. Serve the hot bottle gourd halwa in bowls, and garnish with more dry fruits if desired. Kavuni Arisi Halwa by A Thenmozhi Ingredients Kavuni arisi (Black rice): 1 cup Water: 8 cups Sugar: 1 cup Grated coconut: 1/2 cup Ghee : 2 tsp Method Soak one cup of kavuni arisi in two cups of water, overnight (around 8 hours). In the morning, drain the soaked water and transfer the rice to a pressure cooker. Add three cups of water (1:3 ratio) and cook for about seven whistles. Once the pressure releases, check if the rice is soft when pressed. If not fully cooked, pressure cook for three more whistles. Transfer the cooked kavuni arisi to a bowl. Add sugar in a 1:1 ratio start with 3/4 cup and adjust sweetness with the remaining 1/4 cup if needed. Add 1/2 cup grated coconut and mix well. Finally, add two teaspoons of ghee and mix thoroughly. Your flavourful Kavuni Arisi Halwa is ready to serve. Sugar-Coated Cashew by Lavanya G Ingredients Full cashew: 1 cup Sugar: 1 cup Rice flour: 2 tsp Water (as required) Method Take a cup of full cashews and dry roast in a pan with rice flour for five minutes in low flame and keep it aside. Then take sugar in the same cup and add little water. Stir it on a medium flame till the syrup turns to a string consistency. Lower the flame and add the roasted cashew to the sugar syrup with a stir and switch off the flame. The sugar syrup will get coated to cashews. Leave it for five minutes. Separate the sugar syrup coated cashews one by one. Now your cashew sweet is ready to serve. Sitaphal Kalakand by Sarika Gupta Ingredients Full-fat-milk: 1.5 l Lime juice: 2 tbsp Water: 2 tbsp Sugar: 5 tbsp Cardamom: 5 pods Custard apple: 2, large Almonds: 10 Pistachios: 10 Method Line a strainer with a clean cheese cloth. Place the strainer on a pot. Line a 7*7 inch pan with parchment paper. Grease the pan, place the paper and grease again. Peel off the skin and lightly pound the cardamom seeds in a mortar and pestle. Sliver almonds and pistachios thinly. To make chena (fresh paneer) Boil 1 litre of milk in a saucepan. Let it cool slightly. Mix lime juice and water. Slowly add the diluted lemon juice to the milk. Keep mixing with a ladle. Stop once the milk has curdled. Strain in the cheesecloth-lined strainer. Rinse the chena with fresh water. Strain well. Grate the chena. Grate 250 grams of freshly purchased paneer. For custard apple pulp, take soft and ripe fruits. Tear them apart and remove the pulp in a tall container. Beat the pulp with an electric whisk. Pick up the seeds from the the pulp and set aside. Boil 500 ml of milk in a wide non-stick pan. Keep stirring to reduce it to less than half. Add the grated paneer and sugar and cook till very thick and crumbly. Add custard apple pulp and mix. Cook briefly until it thickens, add cardamom seeds and then pour into the prepared pan. Garnish with the slivered nuts. Press them into the kalakand. Let it cool completely. Cover the pan with cling film and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Cut into squares and serve cold. For Aam Kalakand, the same recipe can be made with chunky mango pulp. Cook the pulp (on low heat) before adding it to the milk solids and cook again. Seed & Nut Date Energy Balls by Prakriti Goenka Ingredients Soft dates ( Medjool preferred, or soaked regular dates, pitted): 1 cup Mixed nuts (almond, cashew, walnut, and pistachio): 1/2 cup Mixed seeds (chia, flax, sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame): 1/4 cup Roasted peanuts (unsalted, lightly crushed or whole): 1/8 cup Cinnamon powder (optional for flavour):1/2 tsp Vanilla extract (optional): 1 tsp Ghee (for cooking the dates):1-2 tsp Salt: a pinch METHOD Add the mixed nuts, peanuts, and seeds together. Dry roast for 3-5 minutes, until they turn golden and aromatic. Turn off the heat and let them cool. Soak dates in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain and pat dry. Pit the dates, and add them to a grinder or mixer jar and blend until you get a coarse, sticky paste. If too dry to grind, add 1-2 teaspoons of warm water. Heat 1-2 teaspoon ghee in a non-stick pan on low flame. Add the date paste. Stir continuously and cook for 5-8 minutes, until it becomes a smooth, glossy, sticky paste and leaves the sides of the pan. Turn off the heat, and leave till its warm and pliable. Grind the nuts and seeds in a food processor. Pulse until coarsely ground (do not over-blend). Once the date mixture is slightly cooled, mix in the pulsed nuts and seeds. Add cinnamon powder or any spice powder of your choice, vanilla, and salt. Mix thoroughly with a spoon or your hands (lightly greased with ghee ) until evenly combined. While the mixture is still warm, scoop small portions (about 1 tablespoon) and roll into smooth balls. Roll the balls in crushed nuts, chia seeds, or desiccated coconut for a decorative and non-sticky finish This coating is optional. Let the balls cool completely before you store them. Keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or refrigerate for up to 10 days. Dry fruit Laddus by Sarika Gupta Ingredients Almond: 1 cup Cashew nut: 1 cup Shelled pistachio: 1/3 cup Raisins: cup + 1 tbsp Sugar: cup Water: cup Honey: 2 tbsp Liquid glucose: 2 tbsp Cardamom: 20 pods Method Dry roast cardamom pods in a pan on low heat. Remove the skins and lightly crush the seeds in a mortar and pestle. Halve almonds and cashews. Now cut them again to get four pieces from each nut. In a large wok, dry roast chopped almonds, briefly. Add chopped cashew nuts and continue to roast on medium low heat for 5-6 minutes. Add shelled pistachios and continue to roast till all the nuts are crisp and lightly golden. Turn off the heat, add raisins and keep tossing for two minutes in the residual heat. Set aside. Cool the nuts in a large bowl. Make sugar syrup alongside. On medium heat, cook sugar and water in a small saucepan for 10 minutes. The syrup should be thick. Add cardamom seeds, honey and liquid glucose. Pour the syrup over the mixed nuts and mix well. Work quickly as the syrup starts to set almost immediately. Remove small portions of the mixture and roll between the palms to form laddus . Put the laddus individually in small paper cups. Store in a dry container. Note: Liquid glucose and paper cups are available at bakery supply stores or can be purchased online.