Homemade Holi Sweet Benefits: Holi festival is about to come and sweets are being made in most of the houses at this time. Holi celebration seems incomplete without Gujiya, Rasgullas and Laddus. Sweets available in the market often contain high amounts of adulterated mawa, artificial colors and refined sugar. Eating these sweets can cause serious harm to health. In such a situation, home made sweets can not only keep you safe during festivals. If you are planning to make something sweet in your kitchen this Holi, then some tips from a dietitian may be useful to you.

Dietician Kamini Sinha of Diet Mantra Clinic, Noida told News18. That the sweets in the market contain a lot of refined sugar, which is harmful for health. This Holi, you can use jaggery, string candy or date paste instead of sugar in your sweets. Adding finely chopped jaggery or raisins instead of sugar in the stuffing of Gujiya gives a different aroma. If you use natural sweetener like stevia, even diabetic patients will be able to enjoy the festival without any fear. This will not harm your health and you will also be able to enjoy the festival.

The dietitian said that during the festive season, synthetic and adulterated mawa starts being sold in the market. The best way to avoid this is to prepare mawa from milk at home. If you are short of time, you can also make quick sweets using fresh paneer or condensed milk. Homemade mawa retains moisture and purity, which also increases the shelf-life of the sweets. The taste of sweets made from pure milk is much better than adulterated sweets in the market.

According to experts, Gujiya or Malpua are usually made from flour, which is heavy to digest and can cause stomach related problems. This time you can replace the flour completely or in 50-50 ratio with wheat flour, semolina or ragi flour. Gujiya made from flour is not only rich in fiber, but it also keeps you energetic for a long time. Apart from this, gram flour or moong dal halwa is also an excellent and nutritious option which maintains the balance of taste and health.

Most of the Holi sweets are deep-fried in ghee or oil, due to which the calorie content in them increases a lot. Keeping your health in mind, this time you can try baked gujiya. By using oven or air-fryer you can make crispy and delicious sweets without oil. If you must fry, limit the use of pure desi ghee or use a low-cholesterol oil like rice bran oil. Remember not to heat and use the same oil again and again, as it produces harmful trans-fats.

Dietician Kamini Sinha says that never use synthetic food colors to make sweets attractive. You can give beautiful and safe color to your sweets by using saffron, turmeric or beetroot juice. Also increase the amount of dry fruits like cashews, almonds, pistachios and walnuts in your recipe. These not only increase the crunch of the sweets, but also provide essential Omega-3 and vitamins to the body. Use of spices like cardamom and nutmeg not only doubles the taste but also helps in digestion.