“To health drink or not” – this is the question that plagued my mother since the time a friend of hers raved about a nutrition drink, especially for senior citizens. While the friend claimed to have felt a difference after regular consumption of the drink, Maa was not convinced owing to the ‘chemicals’ and ‘sugar’ contents.
Her concerns, when relayed to the family doctor, got us the response “Make a natural nutrition drink at home”.
The doctor’s logic was rather simple. Why put chemicals into your body for nutrition when you can get the same from products already a part of the household? “Dried fruits & nuts are the perfect drink supplement. Drink homemade nut milk or almond milkshake, walnut milkshake, etc. Or make your own health drink powder,” was the suggestion.
Yours truly was entrusted the task of making the ‘right’ mix to suit two palates – the mother’s who likes everything as long as there is not much sugar involved and the father’s who wants sweet!
A few permutations and combinations later, this purely nut-based powder hit the bulls-eye! With the goodness of roasted almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts, this nut powder can be used as a health drink or even to flavour food. Add a tablespoon (or two) to milk for a health drink sprinkle over oats/porridge/muesli, add to the pancake batter or use as ice cream garnish! This health powder can be customised to taste and stores easily for at least 10 days. If you live in a humid environment, it would be best stored in the refrigerator.
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- 1 cup Almonds
- 1 cup Hazelnuts
- 1 cup Walnuts
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon powder
- 3 tablespoons Organic coconut sugar (optional)
- 2 tablespoons Dried rose petals (optional)
Preheat the oven at 180°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
Spread on the lined baking tray. Pop into the oven and roast for roughly 15-20 minutes or until the nuts are slightly brown.
Remove and allow the nuts to cool.
- Blitz the cooled nuts in a grinder to the point where you have an almost-fine powder. Be mindful when grinding the nuts – too much and you will have nut butter; which is absolutely delicious too but not what we want right now!
Remove in a big bowl. Add the cinnamon powder, organic coconut sugar and dried rose petals to the mixture.
- Using a light hand, mix well. Store in an airtight glass container.
- Roasting the nuts is optional; I prefer to roast for a richer earthy taste. You can also roast the nuts in a non-stick frying pan.
- Using sweetener of any kind is optional. Replace organic coconut sugar with cane sugar or organic brown sugar for a different taste.
- Dried rose petals are simply to make the powder look prettier. My parents rather enjoy the rose petals floating in their food which is why I use them.
2 Comments
I need to try this. I prefer sweet as well. Is it okay to substitute sugar with jaggery?
Absolutely! I’d recommend powdered or finely chopped jaggery to maintain the texture.