Sweets and Savories For Diwali by Liz Canham

Entertaining family and friends is a large part of Diwali, so every home needs to be prepared to provide tasty nibbles for guests at a moment's notice। Diwali is a time of celebration and apart from the oil lights and candles which decorate homes, the puja and the prayers, special sweets, savouries and snacks are central to the festival. Sweets "mithai", of which the Indians are inordinately fond, are given as presents".

Sweets and Savories For Diwali
By Liz Canham

Entertaining family and friends is a large part of Diwali, so every home needs to be prepared to provide tasty nibbles for guests at a moment's notice.

Diwali is a time of celebration and apart from the oil lights and candles which decorate homes, the puja and the prayers, special sweets, savories and snacks are central to the festival.

Sweets "mithai", of which the Indians are inordinately fond, are given as presents". These sweets are made with a combination of any of paneer (similar to cottage cheese), semolina, chickpea flour, thickened milk, wheat flour, coconut, grated carrots and spiced with any of cardamom, nutmeg or cinnamon with nuts and raisins added for texture. Here's a favourite.

Kalakand

Ingredients:

500g paneer
1 tin condensed milk
2 heaped tbsp full cream milk powder
Flavourings to taste
1 silver leaf (optional)

Mash the paneer coarsely with a fork and add the milk powder and condensed milk. Mix well.
Heat the mixture in a thick bottomed pan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

Remove from the heat and spread onto a greased baking tray. Sprinkle cardamom powder or slivers of almonds or pistachio nuts on the top. Top with the silver leaf if using. Cool and cut into squares.

Makes: 15-20 pieces
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Sweet and savoury snacks are consumed at home and might include pooris (deep fried bread, which puffs up almost to a sphere, made with cumin and green chillies or with sugar and cardamom), samosas (pastry triangles stuffed with spicy peas and potato), half-moon shaped pastries, filled with coconut, nuts, raisins and spices. Here's a taste of both sweet and savoury.

Besan Laddus

Ingredients:

250g Gram flour (besan)
300g Powdered sugar
400g Ghee or butter
3tsp Cardamom powder
2tsp Almonds, chopped
2tsp Pistachio nuts, chopped

Method

Heat the ghee or butter in a frying pan. Add the gram flour and stir well to mix. Fry on a low heat until it is pale brown and the flour is cooked. Allow to cool.
Add the powdered sugar, cardamom powder, chopped almonds and pistachios to the flour mixture and form into small balls with your hands.

Murukku
Ingredients

90g rice flour
120g cup white gram flour
1 tsp Sesame seeds
½ tsp Cumin seeds
½ tsp Chilli powder
½ tsp Asafoetida
3 tbsp Oil
Salt
Oil for frying

Method

Mix the flours together and add the spices, seeds and salt. Rub in the oil and add water to make a thick dough. Twist the dough into circular shapes.

Heat the oil until a pinch of the dough dropped in, rises to the top with bubbles around it.

Fry until golden brown, turning occasionally and drain on kitchen paper.

Cool and store in an airtight container.

Another favourite snack, which is quick and easy to prepare for guests is Masala Cashew Nuts

Just deep fry large cashew nuts in ghee or oil, drain on absorbent paper and sprinkle with a mixture of salt, red chilli powder and garam masala. Be sure not to try to fry too many at a time or the ghee may initially bubble up too fiercely then cool too quickly, leaving the nuts very greasy.

Liz Canham:

As well as a love of Asian cooking as you can see in her Asian Food and Cookery website, Liz seeks to help newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liz_Canham

The Food Guide Pyramid

The Food Guide Pyramid is one way for people to understand how to eat healthy. A rainbow of colored, vertical stripes represents the five food groups plus fats and oils. Here's what the colors stand for:

• orange — grains
• green — vegetables
• red — fruits
• yellow — fats and oils
• blue — milk and dairy products
• purple — meat, beans, fish, and nuts

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) changed the pyramid in 2005 because they wanted to do a better job of telling Americans how to be healthy. The agency later released a special version for kids. Notice the girl climbing the staircase up the side of the pyramid? That's a way of showing kids how important it is to exercise and be active every day. In other words, play a lot! The steps are also a way of saying that you can make changes little by little to be healthier. One step at a time, get it?

The Pyramid Speaks

Let's look at some of the other messages this new symbol is trying to send:

Eat a variety of foods. A balanced diet is one that includes all the food groups. In other words, have foods from every color, every day.

Eat less of some foods, and more of others. You can see that the bands for meat and protein (purple) and oils (yellow) are skinnier than the others. That's because you need less of those kinds of foods than you do of fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy foods.

You also can see the bands start out wider and get thinner as they approach the top. That's designed to show you that not all foods are created equal, even within a healthy food group like fruit. For instance, apple pie would be in that thin part of the fruit band because it has a lot of added sugar and fat. A whole apple — crunch! — would be down in the wide part because you can eat more of those within a healthy diet.

Make it personal. Through the USDA's MyPyramid website, people can get personalized recommendations about the mix of foods they need to eat and how much they should be eating. There is a kids' version of the website available too.

How Much Do I Need to Eat?

Everyone wants to know how much they should eat to stay healthy. It's a tricky question, though. It depends on your age, whether you're a girl or a boy, and how active you are. Kids who are more active burn more calories, so they need more calories. But we can give you some estimates for how much you need of each food group.

Grains

Grains are measured out in ounce equivalents. What the heck are they? Ounce equivalents are just another way of showing a serving size.

Here are ounce equivalents for common grain foods. An ounce equivalent equals:

• 1 slice of bread
• ½ cup of cooked cereal, like oatmeal
• ½ cup of rice or pasta
• 1 cup of cold cereal

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 4–5 ounce equivalents each day.
* 9- to 13-year-old girls need 5 ounce equivalents each day.
* 9- to 13-year-old boys need 6 ounce equivalents each day.

And one last thing about grains: Try make at least half of your grain servings whole grains, such as 100% whole-wheat bread, brown rice, and oatmeal.

Vegetables

Of course, you need your vegetables, especially those dark green and orange ones. But how much is enough? Vegetable servings are measured in cups.

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 1½ cups of veggies each day.
* 9- to 13-year-old girls need 2 cups of veggies each day.
* 9- to 13-year-old boys need 2½ cups of veggies each day.

Fruits

Sweet, juicy fruit is definitely part of a healthy diet. Here's how much you need:

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 1–1½ cups of fruit each day.
* 9- to 13-year-olds need 1½ cups of fruit each day.

Milk and Other Calcium-Rich Foods

Calcium builds strong bones to last a lifetime, so you need these foods in your diet.

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 2 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.
* 9- to 13-year-olds need 3 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.

If you want something other than milk, you can substitute yogurt, cheese, or calcium-fortified orange juice — just to name a few.

Meats, Beans, Fish, and Nuts

These foods contain iron and lots of other important nutrients. Like grains, these foods are measured in ounce equivalents.

An ounce equivalent of this group would be:

• 1 ounce of meat, poultry, or fish
• ¼ cup cooked dry beans
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
• ½ ounce (about a small handful) of nuts or seeds

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 3–4 ounce equivalents each day.
* 9- to 13-year-olds need 5 ounce equivalents each day.

Whoa! That's a lot to swallow. The good news is that your mom, dad, and the other grown-ups in your life will help you eat what you need to stay healthy. There's more good news — you don't have to become a perfect eater overnight. Just remember those stairs climbing up the side of the new pyramid and take it one step at a time.

Food as a source of energy and life. Healthy eating recipes.

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