Super Healthy Pinnis
Traditional pinnis are made with chapati or wholemeal flour and powdered milk. My super healthy version is packed full of goodness with buckwheat flour (gluten-free), cold milled flaxseeds high in Omega 3, coconut oil and coconut sugar, nuts (almonds, cashew and pistachios) and a seed mix including pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.
Makes 14
Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 30 minute Total time: 45 minutes
Suitable for: Vegetarians and vegans and those on a gluten-free diet .
Serve as a snack with a cup of masala chai or as a sweet after a meal.
Super Healthy Pinnis
Ingredients:
125g buckwheat flour
125g cold milled flaxseed
65g coconut oil plus 1 teaspoon for frying the sultanas
10g desiccated coconut
25g each of almonds, sliced and cashew nuts, sliced
20g each of pistachios, sliced and mixed seeds (a mix of pumpkin, sunflower, sesame)
10g sultanas
For the syrup:
125g coconut sugar
75ml water
½ teaspoon of crushed cardamom seeds
Method:
Melt the coconut oil. Add the buckwheat flour and the desiccated coconut and stir to combine with the coconut oil. Mix thoroughly.
Allow the flour and coconut to cook on gentle heat (low to medium) stirring occasionally until the flour turns a light brown in colour and the aroma of cooked flour is evident (about 8 minutes).
Melt a teaspoon of coconut oil in a small frying pan, add the sultanas and turn up the heat to medium/high. Stir the sultanas and when they ‘puff’ up remove the pan from the heat and keep aside.
Add the flaxseed, stir and cook gently for a further 5 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat, add the nuts, seeds and sultanas and put aside.
Make the syrup: Mix the water, sugar and crushed cardamoms in a separate pan.
Dissolve the sugar, turn down the heat to simmering point.
Boil gently on medium (to high heat, more towards the medium setting), stirring occasionally until a syrup of 1 thread consistency forms (about 5 minutes).
To test consistency, place a drop of the syrup onto a plate and allow it to cool for 15 - 30 seconds. Scoop the drop with your fore finger and, using your thumb gently pull it about half to once centimetre away from the finger, a thread should form in-between. This is known as ‘thread consistency’. The mixture should form one thin ‘threads’
Once the syrup is ready take if off the heat and add the dry pinni mixture prepared earlier to the syrup and combine evenly.
Transfer the contents onto a plate and once cool enough to handle (a couple of minutes at most) make the pinnis.
Take 40g of the mixture at a time and knead it it in the palm of one hand using the fingers of the other hand to form a ball and keep aside. Repeat the process with the remaining mixture OR
To make a Healthy Barfi, place the mixture in a c. 7.5 inch square tin. Press down the mixture to cover the base evenly and cut into diamond shaped barfi’s. Allow to cool.
Garnish with sliced pistachios.
Serve as a snack with a cup of hot chai or as a dessert at the end of a meal. Store in an airtight container.