I love raisins, because they are packed with energy. Not only this, they are rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Usually raisins are sweet in taste and high in sugar and calories. They are beneficial to our health when eaten in moderation. They can aid digestion, boost iron levels, and keep your bones strong.
Raisins are a good source of essential nutrients, minerals, and energy in the form of calories and natural sugar. So we should add them in our daily diet.
Raisins can be a helpful and beneficial addition to the diet, when we eat them in moderation.
How to use Raisins?
Question: 1. How to Use Raisins for daily diet?
Answer: 1. There are many ways to use raisins; such as baked goods, trail mix, and granola, smoothies, Kadah Prasad or Halwa.
Question: 2. How I use Raisins?
Answer: 2. I use raisins a lot. Actually for my whole life my iron was very low. Since I started to use raisins for last 4 years and morning green juice, my iron is good and overall health improved a lot. I made so many changes in my daily diet. How I use Raising? I soak raisins in water before I use for anything, which help them to activate and also their impurities go. I use Raisins in my Pennies; such as Roasted Chana Pennies, Atta Pennies, besan Gur Pinni, Halwa, smoothies. Believe me they make the pennies more tasty and nutritious. Even when we put raisins, Natural sugar in raisins also help to put less sugar. I use jaggery in Pennies.
Question: 3. How to Make your own Sun Dried Raisins?
Answer: 3. Answer is below
- If you don’t have your own homegrown grapes, then you can buy
- Remove their large stems.
- Wash them in cool water nicely
- Place them on a basket with the whole, and set the basket outside on a dry, sunny day. Be careful, if you’ve rain often as we’ve have here in Canada, then bring the basket inside and when it is sunny, again put outside
- Rotate the grapes to ensure for sun exposure.
- In just two or three days, you’ll have your own raisins, which is really cool.
Recipes to try with Raisins
- Tasty Trail Mix: Trail mix is one of the best ways to incorporate raisins into your diet, because the nuts add in extra protein and healthy fat content. This is the easiest way to use raisins and some other dry fruits, because there’s no cooking required. You can also add Pumpkin seeds, Poppy seeds, Charmaz etc. How to Make? Wash and grate one apple, put some whole grain flour. Mix the both ingredients properly and add some raisins after soaking them at least for half an hour. Also add pumpkin seeds and 1/2 spoon Desi Ghee. Jaggery powder according to the taste and mix everything to make a dough. Apply some ghee in the oven tray to grease and spread this mixture evenly and apply some shredded coconut and put this tray in the oven for 20 minutes to bake. It will be really beautiful and healthy trail mix that will be ready to enjoy and get the benefits of these all dry fruits include raisins
- Dry fruits Penni: Roast whole grain flour in very low flame with little Deshi Ghee until it is golden brown. In little deshi ghee fry raisins for seconds that were soaked and then dried in the room temperature and also any other dry fruits; such as-Khaskhas, Pumpkin seeds. Put this all in the roasted flour. Now make Chasni. How to make chasni? Pour some water according to the quantity of your roasted flour in the sauce pan and now jaggery according to the taste and quantity. Let it melt and became one tar chasni. Then add to the mixture and start making Pennies. You can eat them with milk or Indian chai tea.
- Oatmeal raisin muffins: Take one bowl whole grain oats. Washed and soaked raisins, green cardamom(seeds only). Put some dates and dry apricots. Wash and grate carrot. Mix everything together and put 1/2 spoon deshi ghee. Grease oven muffin tray and put this mixture and bake for 20 minutes. Enjoy your Raisin Carrot muffins.
Health Benefits of Raisins
- Helps in Digestion: Raisins can help to keep the digestive system healthy, because raisins contain helpful soluble fibers, which give the body to the stool and help it pass through the intestines easier. This may help improve digestion and promote regularity.
- Cure Anemia: Raisins help to prevent anemia, because they contain good amounts of iron, copper, and vitamins that are essential for making red blood cells and carrying oxygen throughout the body. I can tell with my own experience that they really help to cure anemia, because since I am eating them in Pennies and some other dishes, I never had anemia deficiency, which I used to have until the age of 52 years old. Raisins contain iron, which benefits cardiovascular health.
- Carrot, Raisins, Beets & Sweet Potato Salad: Steam your Sweet potato, Carrot and Beets in pressure cooker for 3 whistles. Open the cooker and peel three of them and chop in small sizes. Put some washed and soaked raisins for one hour. Grate some fresh coconut and enjoy your Salad in Breakfast or lunch. It is very tasty and nutritious food.
How to Make Raisins Oven Pastry Cake?
Ingredients Used in Raisins Pastry Cake
- Whole grain flour
- Grated Ash Gourd
- Jaggery Powder
- Green Cardamom or Choti Elachi
- 1/2 spoon Desi Ghee(Clarified Butter)
- Raisins soaked and washed
- Coconut flakes
- Bowl to mix all Ingredients
Preparation to make Raisins Pastry Cake
- In a big bowl, first of all put grated ash gourd
- To make a thick dough according to the quantity of grated Safed Petha, add slowly flour and mix it with it
- Now add 1/2 spoon of Desi Ghee
- Add one pinch of green cardamom
- Now add jaggery powder
- Mix every thing nicely to make dough
- Grease your oven tray with desi ghee or any cooking oil
- Add the mixture and spread evenly
- At the top, put 2 spoons of coconut flakes and spread
- Now put raisins every where and press nicely with the spoon
- When your tray is ready, put in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes to bake
- When the Cake is ready serve it hot with the Chai Tea.
- Have a fun and enjoy your Raisins Pastry Oven Cake.
How to Make Atta Penni with Raisins?
Atta Pennies are not only tasty, but they are so easy to make.
Ingredients you need to make atta pennies are:
- Whole grain flour
- Raisins
- Jaggery
- Pumpkin seeds
- Poppy seeds
- Charmaz
- Soak raisins in water for half an hour and then dry for some couple of minutes in the room temperature
- In very little desi ghee roast flour until it become brown. It depends on, how much you want to make pennies, so that much flour you can roast
- Now in very little ghee fry raisins for 2 minutes
- Grind your pumpkin seeds, charmaz and Poppy seeds(Khaskhas)
- Mix everything together
- Now make the chasni(syrup) with Gur(Jaggery) according to the quantity of your Roasted atta. Make one tar chasni and then mix it with other mixture.
- Start making pennies from the mixture and you can enjoy it with Chai Tea or Milk.