Dry fruits and nuts ladoo

"Good things come in small packages"  This stands true, when you look at  the goodness of Nuts.  Nature has provided us with these beautiful nutritional powerhouses, fully packed with heart-friendly fats, protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber and Omega 3 fatty acids.  It's the vegetarian's  main source of protein.  It helps us feel full and suppress the appetite. But, not all the nuts are made equal, each one has its own goodness, amount of calories and protein content.

Health benefits:Walnuts provide the richest source of antioxidants, purifies body from within and making your skin glow, flushing out all the toxins.
Almonds are the ones with the most fiber content, richest source of Vitamin E, which  is good for skin . Cashews are a rich source of iron, zinc and magnesium. It delivers oxygen to all the cells of our body, thereby preventing chances of anemia. Pistachios are dieters choice because of the low calories. These are rich in antioxidant gamma-tocopherol, potassium and Vitamin B6.

How much do we need ? 
A handful is enough to take you overboard. Nuts are good when taken in limited quantities. This limit also extends to the value of daily nutritional intake.  Aren't we glad that nuts can make us healthy, wealthy and wise?.

Bad nuts:
Nuts can be bad for health  if it is coated with sugar, salt or chocolate. Nuts in raw form has more nutritional value. Nuts can cause allergies in some people and can prove fatal.

This recipe is all natural no additives or preservatives.  Can be stored upto a week or two in an air-tight container.


Ingredients
Nuts: roasted and chopped  100 grs each
Almonds
Cashews
Walnuts
Pistachios
Shredded/ desiccated Coconut
Poppy seeds / khus khus
Can use whatever is available in the market like Macadamia nuts, Brazilian nuts, Hazel nuts, Pecans, Sunflower seeds, melon seeds etc.
Dry fruits: chopped  100 grs each
Dates
Figs
Raisins


Jaggery- 1cup or Edible gum - 2 tbsp
Ghee or Melted butter -3 tbsp
Cardamom pwd  for flavouring -1/4 tsp

Method:

Roast the nuts in 1 tsp ghee till brown, and in a blender pulse coarsely.

Chop dates, figs and raisins

Dry roast coconut and  poppy seeds till brown.

If using the edible gum: roast gum with little ghee and blend till smooth. Mix all the ingredients well and roll the mixture to balls with greased palms.

If using jaggery: To a heavy bottom pan, add grated jaggery and 2 tbsp. water and melt on a low heat. Filter this to remove impurities. Add 1 tbsp. Ghee to the jaggery and begin to boil it till it reaches a soft ball consistency. You can drop a spoon of this syrup in a bowl  of water. when you see the syrup can be rolled to a soft ball. Switch off the heat. pour it over the nuts and stir well. Wait for few mins until it is easy to handle and roll it into balls.

Go Nuts Go !!