Nuts and dry fruits are not only rich foods but they are also full of nutrients like vitamin E, protein, carbs, healthy fats, fibre, minerals, phosphorus, selenium, magnesium etc. They can be consumed as a healthy snack on any occasion.

Diwali is a rich festival of India and dry fruits are a must to be served on this occasion. You can prepare a lip-smacking namkeen with few dry fruits and this namkeen can be the best substitute for unhealthy store-bought namkeens. This namkeen contains cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios, makhanas, melon seeds, sunflower seeds and raisins. It is a diet namkeen as it is not deep fried. The nuts are roasted in little pure ghee to make them crunchy and tastier.

Here is a quick recipe to make this namkeen at home. It is very easy to make in no time. Serve it to your guests on Diwali as a healthy and delicious snack.

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

Cashew nuts: ½ cup

Almonds: ½ cup

Pistachios: ½ cup

Makhanas: 1 cup

Melon seeds: 1/3 cup

Sunflower seeds: ¼ cup

Raisins: 1 cup

Salt to taste

Black pepper powder: ½ tsp

Chat masala: ½ tsp

Pure ghee: 2 tbsp

Method

Gather all ingredients first and keep them handy. Heat one table spoon of ghee in a non-stick pan. Keep the flame low. Add makhanas and keep stirring on low flame for three to five minutes until they become crispy to eat. Take the makhans out of the pan and let them cool. Add one table spoon of ghee in the same pan and heat it on low flame. Add almonds and roast them for two minutes on low flame. Keep stirring them.Add cashew nuts and stir them for two minutes until they start becoming light golden in colour. Add pistachios, melon seeds and sunflower seeds. Keep stirring on low flame until the seeds are swollen. Cover the pan immediately after adding the melon seeds to the pan as they splatter when they start to swell. Be careful while roasting them. When they stop splattering in a few seconds, take off the lid and stir again adding pre-roasted makhanas, salt, black pepper power and chat masala. Mix all ingredients well so that all masalas should coat on every dry fruit properly. The flame should remain low in the whole process of making this namkeen. Turn off the flame and transfer the namkeen immediately in a plate to stop further cooking and let the mixture cool. Dry fruit namkeen is ready to serve. Store it in an airtight jar. You can serve it for two to three weeks if stored well. If you like little sweetness in namkeens, you can add half teaspoon of powdered sugar in this mixture after turning off the flame. Mix well and then let it cool completely. Try making this dry fruit namkeen at home. Just by tasting it once, it would be the first thing that would come to your mind when you will remember this Diwali after it is over.

Happy Deepawali!