Mumbai: Food strategist has the perfect recipe for a power-packed snack

Chef Swasti Aggarwal, food strategist at Foodhall, is no stranger to the goodness of matcha green tea powder. "You can mix it with any form of milk or soya milk to make lovely hot beverages, or blend it with cream to pipe on a dessert," she says. But, Aggarwal's favourite pairing, however, is macha with coconut.

Chef Swasti Aggarwal

Aggarwal has concocted, what she calls, 'energy balls' using the two ingredients. "The idea behind this was to make an instant power-packed snack that could be made easily," she says. It's a snack that can be prepared in less than ten minutes, if all necessary ingredients are at hand. "All you need is freshly grated coconut, almond flour, maple syrup, extra virgin coconut oil, chopped dates and some matcha green tea," she explains. The technique is simple: Combine all the ingredients in the food processor and blend to make a crushed mixture. Mash to combine well and make one inch small balls. Roll the balls in desiccated coconut or fresh coconut if required. Aggarwal says it's important to ensure that the dryfruits and nuts used are of good quality. "If old and rancid nuts are used, the dish gets spoilt. Dates have to be checked thoroughly so that seeds can be taken out and this gives the perfect binding to the dish," she says. The result, she says, is a burst of flavours.

"All the ingredients used are healthy, and vary in taste, texture, and nutrients. Here, we're capturing the flavours of dates, coconut, almond and maple syrup and condensing it all into a ball."