Fruit and Vegetable Infused sweets for the Festive Season

 Festive season is all about fun frolic and family. After a lull due to pandemic, this season does promise to be lively with people celebrating with their closest friends and family in small and exclusive groups. When we are with family and friends for a fun time, can food be far behind? This festive season, it is the time to experiment with the culinary expertise acquired during the pandemic for a special spread during celebrations. The last few months have been about taking care of our health and eating right. Continue to keep the right health quotient high, incorporating seasonal fruits and vegetables in for festive cooking. Roll up your sleeves and create some mouth-watering sweets with out of the box fruits and vegetables! Yes, vegetable-based sweets too. The fruits and veggies make for great low guilt sweets. Seasonal vegetables and fruits are easily accessible and these sweets are quick to make besides being easy on the palate.

Before starting the prep, ensure that the vegetables and fruits are soaked in a 100% natural action vegetable and fruit wash like ITC’s Nimwash and washed before use, to ensure that you are eating germ-free and pesticide free food. Celebrity Chef, Kunal Kapoor also feels that adding vegetables and fruits can add a healthy twist to otherwise regular sweets. “It is very important to note that the first step of every recipe is to wash the fruits and vegetables with a product like Nimwash. This not just makes the dish safe to be eaten but also lets you focus on cooking a nutritious and scrumptious dish, with germ and pesticide free produce.”

Wondering how you could use fruits and vegetables to make interesting desserts? The below list will tantalise your taste buds and help in taking you through a delicious culinary journey:

•Apple Kheer: Usually Kheer is made with rice, milk and sugar as the main ingredients, but an alternative to rice is Apples. All you have to do is boil the milk till it becomes half its original quantity and add sugar. Then, choose ripe apples, peel them, grate them and cook them on a low flame till all of the water evaporates. Once the cooked apples cool down, add them to the milk and mix well. Garnish them with a few slivers of almonds and your Apple kheer is ready to be eaten! You can also add cardamom to the milk while its boiling for an enhanced flavour.

•Bottlegourd Halwa: We have all heard of carrot halwa or gajar ka halwa, but do you know that bottlegourd halwa is equally delicious? Just peel and grate the bottlegourd, taste it to ensure it isn’t bitter. Cook it in on the stove with ghee and sauté it till the water evaporates. Add milk, sugar and keep stirring till both the milk and bottle gourd come together and there is no liquid. It is optional to add cardamom

•Beetroot Laddoos: These beautifully coloured laddoos are a treat that everybody enjoys. Grate some coconut and mix it with rava, cook it in ghee till it turns golden. Next, boil and grate a few beets. Mix the beets with the desiccated coconut. Add sugar and milk to the mixture and combine it well. Make small balls out of the mixture and voila! Your laddoos are ready

If you are looking for a quicker fix to your sweet cravings, try making the quintessential custard- fruity, creamy and the perfect way to satisfy your sweet tooth!