Beetroot Suji Halwa: Rava Halwa With Beetroot

Happy New Year!!

A goodbye to 2016. A year with more downs and less ups. A year that gave more bad memories then good. A year that wasn’t that fulfilling. A year that made me fight. A year that made me strong. Yes, 2016 wasn’t the best year for us. It gave us less smiles and more frowns but like always it taught us to be a fighter. And with this new fighter in me, I welcome 2017.

So, dear 2017-please be little polite to us. Give us stress and problems, lessons to learn but give us good health to battle with it. Shower on us your love mother nature. Bestow on us little laughs, cuddles and memories. Be a great year 2017.

I promise to spare sometime and read a book. I promise to play with camera atleast once a week. I promise to call my friends and family. I promise to take a nap. I promise to take it easy. I promise to find happiness. I promise to not let die the child in me. I am ready for you 2017.

As always, here is a sweet recipe to begin a new year. Beetroot Suji Halwa. Infact, Beetroot Suji (rava) Halva. To be honest, I don’t know if the recipe already exist on internet/blogging world or not, coz I never googled it. One day I and friend were discussing, she wanted to make sure that her 2 year old daughter eats beetroot-and it was then when this Beetroot Halwa with Sooji was invented.

The steps are similar to plain Suji Ka Halwa. Beetroot brings on lovely pink (red velvet cake kind) colour and its healthy nutrients (ofcourse). So when I made this halwa and served it to two kids-they both loved it. Ah! Those happy mothers!. Such a blessing.

So this halwa is a good looking and nutrients loaded twist to good old Suji ka Halwa. Serve with ice cream to make a class statement in parties. 

Ingredients:

1 cup suji/rava/semolina

2 tablespoons ghee

1 medium size beetroot

1 cup hot boiling water

¼ cup sugar

2 green cardmoms/elaychi

Chopped nuts (optional)

Method:

Peal the beetroot .Grate the beetroot through a fine grater. I used a fine cheese grater.

In a heavy bottom pan, on a slow heat, dry roast the suji till you see the change in the colour and aroma is noticeable.

Next mix in the ghee and keep mixing till ghee is separated and suji becomes more fragrant. Also throw in the cardamom. Mix for 1 minute.

Add in beetroot. Mix for 30 seconds.

Add sugar and mix again. Mix till sugar crystals are not visible.

Finally add in the water and stir. You will notice that suji has fluffed up. Keep mixing till you see ghee on sides and halva is not sticking to the pan.

Garnish with nuts. Serve hot.

Notes:

Do not rush, make sure that you do the whole process on slow flame. If you are in hurry, you can dry roast the suji beforehand.

Feel free to add pistachios, almonds or any nuts of your choice.

Beetroot Lassi: Chukander Ki Lassi: Beet Smoothie: Summer Cooler

So, here I made another summer cooler.

Oh it is pink.

Refreshing and beautiful.

I made us Beetroot Lassi.

Roasted Beetroot Lassi.

You must know by now that I am addicted to roasting fruits and veggies. This is the best thing one can do in the kitchen. When you roast a fruit or a vegetable, it brings out its natural sweetness which gives a dish a fresh dimension.

And BTW this below pic is my first attempt on capturing steam :) Do you like it? Please comment :)

Check out more roasted summer recipes:

Roasted Orange Lemonade

Roasted Pomegranate Lemonade

Roasted Kiwi Raita

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

So what is lassi? In simple words it is a smoothie made with yogurt/curd (dahi) as a base. To it you can add fruits or make it plain with just sugar and water. I have prepared low fat (sugar free) strawberry lassi before and the world famous mango lassi too. But this is the first time I ever experimented with vegetable lassi and I am so glad that it happened. Lassi which is made with beetroot, ah! I mean look at the colour, isn’t it gorgeous and summery?

You can use plain beet as well, however I truly recommend to burn or smoke beetroot, it will bring a pleasant taste and you will be hooked- I bet! You can simply roast the beet directly on the hob, or you can grill in the oven at 200C for 10 minutes. Hob method is quick and easy-so you decide :)

After that you need to do is just blend in milk, yogurt, beetroot, sugar and water for few seconds and the lassi is ready. Oh yeah, I added rose water for aroma, you can add cardamom (elyachi) too. So yup that’s it. Serve it with or without ice cubes, but serve it chilled. It is summer after all. Bring on some sipping :)

Ingredients:

1 small beetroot/chukandar

1 cup yogurt/dahi

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons milk

4-5 ice cubes

1 teaspoon rose water

Method:

Peal the beetroot. Wash and roast it on fire till you see burnt spots on the skin. Let it cool.

In the blender blend everything together for 30 seconds.

Sieve the blended lassi through a fine sieve. This step is optional, but it gives nice smooth texture to lassi.

Serve chilled.

Notes: If using oven, cover the beetroot with foil. Grill at 200C for 10 minutes.

You might need to add more sugar depending on sourness of yogurt.

For thinner lassi, use 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup yogurt.
You can use low, skimmed or full fat yogurt.

Serving suggestions:

For a party, serve in fancy wine glasses. Garnish with rose petals or chopped nuts.

It is filling too, you can give it your kids as an evening snack, or have it as post-workout or gym snack.