INSTANT ENERGY ROLLS

 

IN A MODERN DAY WORLD; SWEET CRAVINGS & HEALTH CAN MEET OFTEN!

It feels good to see around in the food world; the innovations that keeps happening. I am myself not that innovative but looking at them, I derive inspirations & ideas! Spending my life majorly in Kolkata; sweets did not get cooked at home; desserts were in the making, in form of payesh & pithe-puli. Kolkata sells end varieties of sweets at every nook & corner; hence Bengali Homes in Kolkata need not spend hours doing a roshogolla or sandesh. At least, our home did not! It is after landing into this tropical island, I have learnt to prepare sandesh & roshogolla. The sole BENGALI STYLE SWEET shop here does not attract me much; though when I am to buy, I buy from there. Almost all the Indian Restaurants & Eateries sell Jilipi, Amriti & Golapjam; also some Southern Indian speciality sweets. Mustafa Centre gets air flown frozen non-Bengali kinds of sweets which I stopped buying for years now.  Bengalis of West Bengal is fond of freshly made COTTAGE CHEESE / PANEER made sweets more than  other varieties. Kolkata definitely has cut down on the sugar level, yet I cannot have more than one, even my most favourite variety. I have learnt the short cut avenues to quick & yummy sweets. Besides jalebi & gulabjamun, I do not like too much of sweetness in a sweet. I add so little sugar to the homemade roshogollas that the man revolts. Our son likes all mumma made sweets. How to make my readers believe how much I enjoyed these INSTANTLY MADE LIGHTLY SWEET ROLLS; even the man ate two of them quietly. Cristine would like too! How do you like their name; INSTANT ENERGY ROLLS?

I CAN GUESS WHY JILIPI / JALEBI; PANTUA / GULABJAMUN ARE SO UNIVERSAL!

How many times I have read about the origin of gulabjamun & jalebi sweets; but I manage to forget about their history of origin and find them Kolkata's very own muse; if not pedigreed muses. Jilipi & Pantua are common man's sweet company; gulab jamun may have a class. Who of you Bengali or Indian readers are reading this, do not get into debates; I do not like it, neither I am well read enough to get into it! Both of them definitely are a gift of the muslim world. In Turkey itself; I was giggling getting to eat "helva" and a semolina sweet in syrup which was very much like our pantua; way less fried and softer. We were so fast moving in the tour that I got no chance to research more about their food. I ate local churros there too. May be a decade back I would have savoured churros; now they are too sweet to my tooth. Even Jilipi / the spiral fried doughnut in syrup & gulab jamun / fried dough balls in syrup are not something I can have regular, neither I am allowed to. Yes, I would want a plain sour yogurt with either of the two often but I am a foodie soul who is in prison. Moreover, it feels sad when I think of my son, if he is getting to eat Indian sweets or not. He is a student; he would not visit often a lavish Indian restaurant and have the sweets. It is both funny and fearful to hear he stocks pudding in his dorm room. His mumma never fed him frozen and packaged food or desserts other than ice-cream. How his health would turn who knows! I am trapped midway! I cannot have too many sweet stuffs in a big amount; neither allowed to; I cannot completely do away with sweets in this home. Its few years, I have taken a shift from making traditional sweets and got to prepare FUSION SWEETS; which are way less of work but serves my purpose. 

WHAT IS THIS INSTANT ENERGY ROLLS?

This definitely is a hired idea; may be the northern part of India got influenced from the western world's energy bars or may be they were already into having nuts and seeds; some parts of South Asia are into expensive nuts and seeds. We are from the eastern part of India; we spend on quality hilsa, prawn, aar maach, mutton, bhetki fish fillets. Having walnuts & cashews regular, in general was not our thing. These days, we have learnt to. Even a decade back, I did not give it a think to have pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. This island has taught me. Because we have switched to brown sugar, I do not use white sugar regular, even my God Family's food offers changed; they get a combination of roasted dry fruits & seeds, besides fresh fruits on some days. Now, raisins too are not okay for me regular; the son left home, I make less of snacks for us. What you see in the picture is a box of raisins, cashew nuts and pumpkin seeds already offered to my God Family over a month. I used all the ideas derived and these VEGETARIAN INSTANT ROLLS were made using only 1 tbsp of honey!

INGREDIENTS :

CASHEW NUT : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

RAISIN : 1/4 TEA CUP

PUMPKIN SEED : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

HONEY : 1 TBSP

GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 2 TSP

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1/2 TSP

ROSE ESSENCE OR GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : A LITTLE OF [I FORGOT]

PROCEDURE :

In a heated skillet, dry roast the cashew nuts & pumpkin seeds for 2-3 minutes at minimal heat!

Take all the ingredients; roasted cashews & pumpkin seeds, raisins, ghee, honey, crushed black pepper in a blender. 

Pulse for few seconds, then blend to a powder, which would turn sticky.

You may want to taste the mixture at this stage, your salivary glands would not let you behave decent; but you have to.

I love the natural oil that the cashews release. Preparing your desired shapes is not a big deal.

Having them fresh gives you the best taste; if you refrigerate; take out an hour before consuming!