Raksha Bandhan 2023 : Tie The Goodness of Walnuts This Rakhi!

Raksha Bandhan is an auspicious festival that represents the bond of love and affection between a brother and a sister. Honoring this relationship of love, laughter, silly quarrels and a life-time of togetherness, let’s celebrate this Raksha Bandhan by adding a sweet crunch of California walnuts. A dynamic nut known to contain a significant amount of plant-based omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (2.5g/28g), a handful of walnuts offers 4 grams of protein along with 2 grams of fiber making every dish all the more nourishing.

So, celebrate this beautiful bond by curating special recipes at home and make it extra special for your siblings with the added goodness of health.

Walnut Dahi Kebabs – Curated by Shumaila Chauhan

Ingredients : 1 cup hung curd (yogurt), 1/4 cup California walnuts, chopped, 4 slices bread, 1.5 tablespoons roasted gram flour, 1 tablespoon oil, plus more for frying, 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped, 1 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped, 2 small onions, finely chopped, 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder, ½ teaspoon garam masala powder, ¼ cup fresh coriander/cilantro leaves, 1-2 teaspoon green chillies, finely chopped,¼ cup grated Indian cottage cheese (paneer) (optional), Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Place a sieve over a bowl and on the sieve place the muslin cloth filled with the yogurt. Let hang overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Heat oil in a pan, and add the garlic, ginger and green chillies. Fry for a few seconds and then add the onions, and fry till translucent. Add the roasted cumin powder, garam masala and fresh coriander leaves and salt and pepper, to taste. Remove from fire.
3. Mix the onion mixture with the hung curd. Add in the chopped walnuts. Add grated paneer, if required.
4. Add in the roasted gram flour and more than half the bread crumbs, reserving some of the crumbs for the outside coating.
5. Shape the mixture into balls of desired side and roll them in the crumbs and place in a plate. You can refrigerate the shaped balls while the oil heats up for frying. Refrigerating the shaped balls for half an hour results in crispier kebabs.
6. Shallow fry the shaped balls in a non-stick pan till golden in color. Remove and place them on a paper towel lined plate. Serve with ketchup or green chutney.

Chia and Walnut ladoos – curated by Madhuri Aggarwal

Ingredients :  1 cup California walnuts,  1 cup pitted dates, 2 tablespoons chia seeds, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder optional, 1 tablespoon ghee / coconut oil

Preparation

1. Coarsely blend the seedless dates in a blender without adding any water. Set aside.
2. In a large pan heat ghee/coconut oil and toast walnuts on low flame till they are gold in colour and crunchy. Let it cool. Coarsely powder the walnuts. Transfer it back to the pan.
3. Now add 1 tablespoon chia seeds and roast for a minute.
4. Add in ground dates and mix well.
5. Continue to mix this mixture on medium flame pressing the dates with a spatula. This helps dates to mix uniformly with the walnuts and chia seeds. Sauté till the dates start releasing oil.
6. Turn off the flame and let it cool for a minute. Do not let the mixture cool completely, or it won’t shape into balls.
7. Start rolling into small ladoos, and store in an airtight container.

Walnut Milk Kheer- curated by Madhuri Aggarwal

Ingredients :  2 tablespoon basmati rice (washed and soaked for an hour), 1 tablespoon sago pearls (soaked for a couple of hours), 1 cup milk, 1 cup soaked walnuts, ½ cup condensed milk, A pinch of saffron, 1 tablespoon ghee , Cardamom powder for flavour, Few walnuts for garnishing

Preparation

1. Soak walnuts overnight and grind them in 2 cups of water. Let there be no lumps in this walnut milk.
2. Heat milk in a heavy bottom pan along with basmati rice. Keep the flame low at all times.
3. Add saffron to the milk and keep stirring the milk to avoid it from sticking to the bottom.
4. Once the milk is reduced to half and the mixture is thick, add walnut milk and sago pearls to this.
5. At this point keep stirring the kheer very gently and continuously. You do not want to break the sago by stirring it rigorously.
6. Add condensed milk and cook the kheer till it thickens.
7. Add milk as and when required to keep the consistency you like.
8. Add a pinch of cardamom powder to this
9. Heat ghee in a small pan.
10. Add walnut pieces to this and let it crisp up and turn golden.
11. Add this to the kheer and serve it hot.