Festive season calls for celebrations, spending time with your loved ones and most importantly indulging in lip-smacking dishes and your favorite treats.

The celebratory vibe of the season leaves us with a tendency to overindulge in foods that are high in salt, saturated fat and sugar which can increase the risk of heart diseases. But that doesn’t mean you need to give up on delicious feasts altogether.

Making a conscious effort to include heart-healthy ingredients in your meals can go a long way in changing your eating habits and maintaining your health. Every meal can be made heart-healthy with small changes like adding oats, walnuts, and flax seeds.

Using multi-source cooking oils helps achieve the right balance of fatty acids like MUFA & PUFA to maintain heart health as they are healthier type of fats. Multi-source oil have 2 oils in 1 which means they have a good balance of fatty acids.

They also provide a variety of nutrients and other health benefits like improved nutritional value, control cholesterol levels. Adding multi-source oils to your pantry can give a whole new dimension to a healthy diet this festive season.

Ahead of big celebrations like Navaratri, Durga Puja and Dussehra, Chef Kunal Kapur brings you his favourite dishes, from his kitchen to yours!

1.) Samak ki Tikki

Preparation time: 20 min, cooking time: 10 min

Ingredients:

 1 cup Samak Rice

 1 cup Potato (boiled and mashed)

 3 tbsp Peanuts (coarsely powdered)

 1 tbsp Raisins (chopped)

 2 tsp green chillies (chopped)

 1.5tsp Ginger (grated)

 3 tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)

 1 tsp pepper powder

 1 tsp cumin seeds

 1 ½ tsp mango powder

 4 tbsp Cooking Oil

 1 ½ tsp salt

Preparation:

 Firstly, wash the rice 2-3 times with water and keep it aside

 Heat 1 tbsp Cooking Oil in a pressure cooker and then add cumin seeds. When it starts to sizzle, add green chillies, ginger and salt. Stir and add washed rice and 1 ½ cups water.

 Cook in the pressure cooker over medium flame for two whistles, when cooker cools down completely, take out the contents in a bowl, mash with a spoon and let it come down to room temperature.

 Mix it with potato and the other ingredients and make uniform round patties of this mixture.

 Grease a flat non-stick pan with 3tsp Cooking Oil and shallow fry the patties on medium flame till they become golden and crisp. Flip them to cook on both sides and then serve hot with the chutney of your choice.

2.) Paneer Mysore Bonda

It is an extremely popular snack recipe from the South Indian cuisine made with plain flour and known for its round ball-shaped soft texture. It is a popular street food, evening snack recipe served with the combination of spicy chutney with a strong coffee or masala chai to all age groups.

Ingredients:

 80g grated Paneer

 4 boiled potatoes

 1 tsp mustard seeds

 1 inch ginger

 ½ tsp garam masala

 1 chopped onion

 2 chopped green chillies

 ¼ tsp asafetida

 3 tbsp coriander

 2 tsp turmeric powder

 ½ cup water

 3 tbsp (45ml) cooking oil

 1 cup Gram Flour

 2 tsp Cumin powder

 2 tsp red chilli powder

 Salt as per taste

Preparation:

 Combine gram flour, cumin powder, red chilli powder, garam masala and salt in a wide mouth bowl. Add some water gradually and keep a smooth thick consistency, whisk it well and keep aside.

 Heat half tbsp cooking oil in a frying pan, add mustard seeds and allow it to crackle. Stir in the onions and saute until they are soft and light golden in colour.

 Add ginger, green chillies, asafetida, turmeric, salt and saute it for a minute

 Allow the potato mixture to cool down, stir in the coriander leaves and divide it into 8 portions. Shape them into round balls and keep aside, then preheat the pan and add a few drops of oil into each cavity

 Dip and coat each of the potato balls in the gram flour batter and gradually let it into the cavity. Cover the pan and allow the bonda to cook for a couple of minutes till it turns golden brown. Once it is cooked, uncover, flip the bondas to cook on the other side and then remove it from the pan

 Serve it hot along with a Chutney of your choice

3.) Ukadiche Modak

One of the most popular modak recipe made during Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Maharashtra. This is a Maharastrian modak recipe made from rice flour.

Ingredients:

For the stuffing:

 1 cup freshly grated coconut

 ½ tsp poppy seeds (khus khus)

 1 cup jaggery powder

 ½ tsp Cooking Oil

 1 tsp cardamom powder

 ¼ tsp ground nutmeg powder

For the rice flour outer covering:

 1 cup rice flour

 ¼ tsp Cooking Oil

 1 ½ cups water

 ¼ tsp salt

For garnishing:

 Few strands of saffron

 1 tsp chopped pistachios

Preparation:

 For the stuffing, heat ½ tsp oil in a pan, add poppy seeds and fry until they start crackling, then add freshly grated coconut, jaggery, cardamom and nutmeg powder. Mix well and cook the coconut jaggery mixture. Once it starts melting, turn off the flame. Keep the coconut jaggery filling aside and let it cool down.

 Now for preparing the rice flour outer covering, add water, ¼ tsp oil and salt and let the mixture come to a boil. Reduce the flame and add the rice flour gradually and mix it well and keep stirring it. Remove the pan from the stovetop and then cover it with a lid. Let it cool down to room temperature. Put the dough in a bowl, apply some water on your palm and start kneading it. If the consistency becomes too hard add a few teaspoons of warm water. Make small balls from the dough. Roll them till they are smooth and don’t have any cracks.

 Finally comes the assembling of the modak. Take a ball of rice flour dough and flatten it. Create a cavity in the centre and slowly press from the edges till it forms a cup. Start creating pleats on the sides with your index finger and thumb. Add about ½ tsp prepared coconut jaggery stuffing in the center. Get the pleats together to form a bundle, close the top by pinching and making the shape like a modak. Now place the modaks in a steamer with water on the bottom for 10 to 15 minutes till a shiny glaze appears on them. Take them out and allow them to cool. Garnish with a few strands of saffron and crushed pistachios and serve.

4.) Vegetable chop

Vegetable chop is one of the special delicacies during Durga Puja. It is a no onion no garlic recipe and is hence one of the highly demanding snack recipes during puja days. Made with a homemade bhaja masala, it is a unique cutlet/croquette recipe that was modified in Bengali kitchens during the British Raj.

Ingredients:

For vegetable chop:

 1 cup beetroot (grated)

 1 tsp green chilli (chopped)

 ½ tsp Panch Phoran (optional)

 1 tsp sugar

 1 cup carrot (grated)

 1 tsp ginger pase

 2 tbsp roasted peanut (crushed)

 2 cup potatoes (boiled and mashed)

 4 tbsp coriander leaves (chopped)

 2 tbsp Cooking oil

For the bhaja masala:

 1 tsp cumin seeds

 1 tsp dry red chilli

 1 tsp fennel seeds

 1 inch cinnamon stick

 1 bay leaf

 3 cloves

 ½ tsp coriander seeds

 1 tsp cardamom powder

For the coating:

 1 tbsp cornflour

 1 cup breadcrumbs

 3 tbsp water

 2 tbsp Cooking Oil

Preparation:

 For the bhaja masala put a pan on low flame, add cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and dry red chilli into the pan and dry roast them over medium flame for couple of minutes until a nice aroma comes up. After it cools down grind it till it becomes a powder.

 For the chop filling heat 2 tbsp Oil in another pan, add panch phoran mix and let it crackle. Add ginger paste, chopped green chillies into the pan and saute them on low flame for 2 minutes. Add grated beetroot, cook it on medium flame for 3 minutes. Add grated carrots, salt, cover the pan and cook it on medium flame for 2 minutes and then add grated carrots, salt, cover the pan and cook it on medium flame for 10 minutes until the vegetables get cooked. Add mashed potates in the pan and mix it evenly with the beetroot-carrot mixture. Saute it on medium flame for another 2 minutes and stir it in between at regular intervals. Add bhaja masala and sugar. Cook it on low flame for a minute and switch off the flame. Add chopped coriander leaves, crushed roasted peanuts into the vegetable chop mixture and mix it properly. Transfer the contents onto a plate and allow it to cool down.

 Finally for the vegetable chop preparation, take a small portion of the filling and make cylindrical shaped rolls. For the coating of vegetable shop, add cornflour, and water into a bowl and prepare a batter of moderate consistency. Dip the chops in the batter and roll them in breadcrumbs so that they get evenly coated. Keep the coated chops in refrigerator for 1 hour to set the coating. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry for around 4 minutes, rolling them on all sides until they turn golden brown and crispy. Serve hot with a chutney of your choice.

5.) Sago Vermicelli Kheer

It is an easy and quick payasam made with semiya, sago, milk, and sugar perfect for the festive season. One of the quick desserts which can be made in 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

 Sago – 70 gm

 Vermicelli – 30 gm

 Ghee – 1 tsp

 Milk – 500 gm

 Sugar – 50 gm

 Cardamom powder (optional) – ½ tsp

Preparation:

 Put the ghee in a pan, roast vermicelli in ghee until golden brown. In another pan, cook in water until they turn translucent and soft. This will take 5-6 minutes.

 Put milk in a pot, on medium-low flame.

 Add vermicelli to it and keep stirring. Once cooked through, add the sago or sabudana to the milk. Continue stirring.

 When the milk starts to thicken and turns creamy, add sugar to it.

 You can add cardamom powder at this point.

 Garnish with pistachio and saffron strands.

So, this festive season, indulge in a full course of heart healthy dishes and remember to pay close attention to your health while being in the celebratory mood.