Healthy Sweet Potato Halwa

This sweet potato halwa or shakarkand ka halva can be the ideal quick, grain-free and healthy fix for your sweet cravings!  Read on to know the several benefits of eating sweet potato and how to make this delicious Indian dessert – thank me later!

Festivals are incomplete without sweets, right? And sweets/ desserts quickly up your calorie intake – correct? So you should skip the sweets and tell yourself that big sacrifices are necessary for bigger results – right? WRONG! One thing that my ongoing journey with this blog and healthy cooking has taught me is that there’s always a solution. And if this so-called solution is tasty, healthy AND can be made in a jiffy, then that’s an added bonus of sorts.

However, I need to clarify that the sweet potato/ shakarkandi halwa (an Indian/ South Asian dessert format with loads of dry fruits) is hardly an innovation – my mother used to make through our childhood whenever we spotted these purple-pink root vegetables and brought them home. Her simple motivation was the same then as is mine now – healthy, tasty, quick preparation and easy fix for sweet cravings.

What makes sweet potato healthy?

Sweet potatoes are rich in beta-carotene, an antioxidant that converts into Vitamin A upon consumption, which is crucial for good eye health. It is rich in most of B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, calcium and selenium. They also promote a healthy digestive system in addition to playing a crucial role in preventing ulcers. Research shows that moderate consumption of sweet potatoes plays an important role in management of Type 2 Diabetes.

As is a norm with me, this recipe is free of refined-sugar free. I added palm sugar in moderate quantities, thanks to the sweetness of these potatoes, but you could add jaggery or stevia too as per preference. as I’ve used wholewheat and amaranth flours for the base and palm sugar for the sweetening. I don’t peel the sweet potatoes as I do not like to waste good fiber and minerals for the sake of good appearance, but you could peel them if you like the texture of your halwa to be restaurant-smooth.

Like this recipe?

If you’re looking for more healthy dessert ideas, do try my other recipes like

• Cherry Upside Down Ricotta Cake
• Persimmon Multigrain Scones
• Wholewheat Banana Bread!

RECIPE: Sweet Potato Halwa | Shakarkand ka Halwa

Serves 6

Preparation time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS