For Sonia Chopra, the label she uses for herself, Healthy Halwai, is not an oxymoron. It is indeed possible to have a sweet tooth and satisfy your cravings without getting worried about the impact it’ll have on your health. Our home chef has been working at it since the time she was a young homemaker and she was doing it for the sake of her children. Today, when her laddus are much sought after mainly because they come with the promise of being healthy, her early efforts appear to have paid off.
Speaking on ‘Food Talk with Sourish Bhattacharyya’ (aired on the YouTube channel of We The Chefs), Sonia said she has found dates, jaggery and unrefined cane sugar to be the healthier alternatives to refined sugar, which is now universally acknowledged as one of the biggest challenges to our health and well-being.
Unlike many of our home chefs, Sonia did not become one after quitting a corporate career. Instead, coming from an old-fashioned Punjabi family, she got married at the age of 19 and immersed herself in looking after her family and its daily needs. While she was at it, she got interested in cooking healthy, but she also nurtured the dream of finding a career for herself.
“When my children grew up, I decided that I had to do something,” Sonia reminisced. “My concern about health issues and my desire for a career together drew me to the path of the Health Halwai. And I liked the name because I wanted to create something that was both sweet and healthy. I started one recipe at a time, researching it, perfecting it, and only then moving on to another. I made mistakes, then started from scratch to achieve perfection. That is how I worked and finalised all my recipes.” And her offerings, as she pointed out, are all Indian sweets.
But aren’t Indian sweets synonymous with refined sugar – and they are now being blamed for making India the diabetes capital of the world. Sonia clarified that it is not right to blame Indian sweets when healthier alternatives are easily available. Take for instance the hugely popular ‘kaju katli’, which are just the antidotes you need when the mercury plummets. What you get in the market has more refined sugar than the expensive cashew nut; what Sonia does is use real cashew, dates as the sweetener and cranberries as the filling, making her ‘kaju katli’ both traditional and healthy. “You enjoy the sweetness as well as the taste,” Sonia said.
Cane sugar, a favourite of the Healthy Halwai, is also sugar, so how is it different from refined sugar, which is getting so much bad press these days? Sonia explained that in the hierarchy of the products that come out of the process of refining sugarcane juice, jaggery is the roughest but the purest and best, followed by cane sugar (it is what we call ‘khand’, not to be confused with ‘mishri’), which is still raw, and when it is chemically refined further and bleached, it becomes the sugar that we’re all advised not to use.
The advantage of refined sugar is that it is inexpensive compared to dates, which are mostly imported from Saudi Arabia, and therefore Sonia’s sweets are expensive. But, as she explained “My sweets are expensive, yes, but they are not bad for your health. You may save today by opting for refined sugar, but you’ll end up spending so much more on insurance and hospitalisation.” Her philosophy can simply be expressed in these many words: Enjoy your sweets and your good health too!
On the subject of dates, Sonia said she gets them directly from importers and they are available throughout the year. “Dates are rich in calcium and iron, and good for your health,” she said, adding that she uses them to make not only laddus with nuts, almonds and seeds, but also granola bars to take care of your early evening food cravings.
Likewise, for jaggery, she knows it is a seasonal product, best consumed in the winter, so she sources her stock directly from farmers in western Uttar Pradesh and stores it in a way that it does not turn into sugar as the weather changes – “it is as good as it is when jaggery is in season”.
Another of Sonia’s favourite healthy ingredients is edible gum (‘gaund’) – like dates, it is rich in iron and calcium, which is why it goes into laddus given to a pregnant mother, especially between October and March, the right time of the year for it. And for Christmas, she made chocolate brownies with ragi flour and jaggery powder – again, a healthier alternative to what you get off the shelf or from your quick commerce app.
To order Sonia Chopra’s laddus and brownies, go to www.wethechefs.in and let us take care of your healthy cravings