Healthy Ramadan Recipes: Try These Chef-Special Dishes

If you’re keeping a Roza for the entire month of Ramadan, it can get difficult to make something nutritious each day for suhoor or iftar. Since Ramadan is not merely about abstaining from food and drink from dawn to sunset; it's also about maintaining a balanced diet during non-fasting hours to sustain energy, you’d require highly nutritious recipes. Apart from the traditional dishes you might already be preparing, here are some healthy recipes shared by Indian chefs. So, this Ramadan, why don’t you get creative with your iftar spread and add the healthiest dishes to it every day?

Quinoa & Millet Haleem By Chef Amandeep Singh, Executive Sous Chef At The Westin Mumbai Garden City

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup quinoa (soaked for 30 minutes)
  • ¼ cup mixed roasted whole millets
  • 500g boneless mutton, cut into small pieces
  • 1 large onion, finely sliced
  • 2 tbsp ghee
  • 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tbsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 4 cups mutton stock
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp yoghurt
  • Fresh coriander, fried onions, julienned ginger, lemon wedges (for garnish)

Instructions:

  1. Heat ghee in a deep pan, add onions, and sauté until golden brown.
  2. Add ginger-garlic paste and cook until aromatic.
  3. Add mutton, turmeric, red chilli, coriander, cumin, and garam masala, and sauté until well coated.
  4. Add yoghurt, cook for 5 minutes, then pour in the mutton stock. Cover and cook until the meat is tender.
  5. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa and oats in a separate pot with water until soft.
  6. Blend the cooked mutton mixture slightly for a smoother consistency, then mix in the quinoa and oats.
  7. Cook on low heat, stirring continuously until it reaches a thick consistency.
  8. Garnish with fried onions, coriander, ginger, and lemon wedges. Serve hot with naan or whole wheat pita.

Kaley Channe Ki Shami By Chef Swati Harsha, Head Chef At HyLo

Ingredients:

  • 250gm kala chana (soaked) 
  • 1” Ginger chopped
  • 10 Garlic Cloves
  • 2 Bay Leaves
  • 2 Black Cardamon
  • 2 Green Cardamon
  • 3 Cloves
  • 1 tsp Black peppercorn
  • 1/4th Flower Mace
  • 1 tbspPoppy seed
  • Salt to taste
  • 3 tbsp Desi ghee
  • 300ml Water
  • 1 tsp Garam masala powder
  • 1” pc Ginger (grated)
  • 1 Green chilly (finely chopped)
  • 2 tbsp Coriander leaves (finely chopped)
  • Ghee for cooking

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Instructions:

  1. Pressure to cook kala chana with all the masalas, chopped ginger, garlic, salt, ghee and water. Chana should be cooked until it is really soft.
  2. Cook down any water if it still remains.
  3. Grind it to a fine paste while still hot. Ensure all masalas get ground up. Pick out the few that don’t.
  4. Cool the paste, and add grated ginger, chilli, and coriander leaves.
  5. Add garam masala powder. Shape them like cutlets.
  6. Cook on a hot pan with ghee till they are a beautiful brown.
  7. Serve with green chutney.

Gosht Paya Shorba By Chef Vineeth Jayan At The Den Bengaluru

Ingredients:

  • 3000 gm Lamb Paya Trotters
  • 100 gm Coriander root
  • 100 gm Saffron
  • 100 gm Ginger
  • 50 gm Garlic
  • 20 gm Cumin seeds
  • 500 gm Yoghurt
  • 10 gm Cardamom green
  • 5 gm Cloves
  • 10 gm Cinnamon

Instructions:

  1. Wash the lamb Paya under cold running water.
  2. Add the lamb Paya in hot water and bring to a boil (blanch them).
  3. Once the impurities come on top, wash the Paya under cold water again.
  4. Heat the Paya and add the whole spices and the salt.
  5. Add the yoghurt and cook it on a slow fire.
  6. Boil the Paya for almost 6 hours or until it is properly cooked.
  7. Once the Paya is almost cooked, check the seasoning and add saffron.
  8. Garnish with almond flakes and coriander. Serve hot.