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India is a country of diverse cultures, cuisines, and tastes. But when it comes to snacking, people from every region like to binge on chatpata chaats, crispy namkeens, and greasy fried food, paired with their chai or coffee. Think of your evening cuppa with snacks like samosa, bhajia, vada pav, bonda, and more. Craving already, aren’t you?
The list is never-ending, but are all these snacks healthy? Well, we know they aren’t. Most of these snacks are deep-fried and made with unhealthy ingredients such as maida. Regular consumption of these can result in weight gain and can also be harmful for our health.
No, we aren’t asking you to let go of snacking completely, but what if we give you healthier alternatives to snacks, which are also super delicious? Here are five desi low-calorie snacks that you can relish guilt-free.
1. Steamed Healthy Chana Chaat
Take all your chatpate spices along with lemon juice, and toss them with steamed chickpeas and peanuts. And your yummy chaat is ready. Isn’t that the simplest and quickest snack ever?
2. Corn Bhel
Give your bhel puri a healthy spin by adding in the goodness of corn, which is another popular snacking food that we love to gorge on. The corn chaat is super quick and easy to make, and can be a crunchy, zesty addition to your evening snacking.
3. Roasted Makhana
Fox nuts coated with a flavourful spice-mix including chilli flakes, olive oil, jeera, and salt sounds like an interesting spin to your pan-fried makhanas? Well, you can also customise the spice-mix as per your choice or simply have it as is. Makhanas are known to be super healthy, and can be a great addition to your snack time.
4. Baked Multigrain Chakli
Chakli is a crispy, deep-fried snack, hugely popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat, and is similar to Tamil Nadu's 'Murukku'. It gets the name 'Chakli' from the their shape which is closely related to 'Chakkar', which means whirl or spiral in Hindi. While it is typically made of rice flour, gram, or ground lentils, this one here is made with five flours - jowar, bajra, water chestnut, sago, and sattu - and is lightly spiced with chilli, cumin, and sesame. It makes for a healthy snack as instead of frying, this is baked.
5. Roasted Thin Poha Chivda
Chivda is one of the most popular snacks to go with chai. It is basically any Indian namkeen that is roasted or lightly fried, and is loved by those who like to munch often to satiate untimely hunger pangs. This particular poha chivda is made by dry roasting poha and other ingredients together - including chana dal, coconut pieces, peanuts, and curry leaves.
