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Wait till you have the ‘til’ ladoos

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Kavita Devgan
Kavita DevganJan 19, 2019 | 15:26

Wait till you have the ‘til’ ladoos

Sesame seeds for winter health

When I got back from Bhopal recently, I ensured the famous ‘til barfi’ came back with me from there.

The delicious dessert prepared during the Makar Sankranti in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand is considered a pride by the locals, who say that it is not only delectable but also very nutritious. As a nutritionist, I can vouch for its nutritive value. With til (sesame seeds) as its main ingredient, it is packed with nourishing goodness.

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And as for the taste — once you savour it, you will not be able to resist it.

Sesame seeds are highly underrated — not many realise their nutritive potential, even though this oldest oilseed crop in the world has been cultivated for more than 3,500 years. Many people today consider it a dispensable cooking condiment and don’t even stock it in their kitchen anymore.

In the past, however, these tiny seeds of goodness occupied a place of pride in traditional kitchens (remember your grandmother’s kitchen?) and was used extensively not just for the quintessential tadka but also to make multiple desserts. Every winter, there used to be huge stocks of til ke laddoo at home.

And rightly so! These tiny, potent packets deliver a range of vitamins and minerals including calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, molybdenum, selenium and magnesium, besides thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, riboflavin, and vitamin E. Its high content of vitamin B is the friend your skin needs to get through the harsh winters. Sesame seeds also have a lot of zinc — vital for the formation of collagen — which strengthens the muscle tissue, hair, and skin. The vitamin E in sesame helps in delaying the ageing of the skin.

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Little seeds of goodness are rich in nutrition as their taste. (Photo: Facebook)

The zinc, calcium, and phosphorus also give a major boost for the bone health and are essential for creating new bone matter, and strengthening and repairing bones. The combination of vitamin B, vitamin E, vitamin K and magnesium delivers a powerful anti-carcinogenic effect on the body. The sesame seeds are loaded with powerful antioxidants and also contain phytate — a rare cancer-preventing compound that functions as an antioxidant and reduces the effect of free radicals in the body. The copper content in the seeds aids in greatly reducing the inflammation in the body.

The seeds also have amino acid tyrosine — responsible for the serotonin activity in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which impacts our mood and prevents depression and stress. This besides, the magnesium content in the seeds help prevent hypertension.

Fat-burning polyphenols like sesamin and sesamol help keep our waist trim and have cholesterol-lowering and high blood pressure prevention effects. Sesame seeds are packed with a significant amount of fibre too, an important element in healthy digestion.

Eat till you burst 

Taste wise, sesame seeds add a nutty taste and a delicate — almost invisible — crunch to a dish. Besides adding in the tadka and to the breakfast dishes like upma and poha, there are hosts of other ways to include them in your diet. Roasted seeds can be sprinkled as topping on salads or stews or yoghurt, or can even be blended into a powder and mixed with smoothies.

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You can also make gomasio — a traditional seasoning that is low on sodium. Just mix together one part dry roasted sea salt with twelve parts dry roasted sesame seeds.

For til ke laddoo, rolls roasted sesame seeds mixed with warm jaggery/sugar/palm sugar into balls. It is a perfect dessert for winters owing to its natural warming effect on the body. You can also have til ka chutney — a popular recipe from Uttarakhand — with paranthas. Or other traditional dishes like til poli from Maharashtra — a sweet flatbread made of roasted sesame seeds — or the Himachali traditional dish til choli — made with rice, jaggery, nuts and sesame seeds.

It is time to say ‘Open sesame’ and score all the wonderful benefits this seed delivers.

Last updated: January 19, 2019 | 17:21
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