Laddu

Wish you all a very Happy Deepavali! I'm signing in my blog after a very long break. Was busy with my kid during his summer break & relocation, settling down in a new place & stuff. Now I'm back with our very own traditional sweet Laddu. Deepavali is not complete without Laddu in majority of the families. Most of the people think its complicated & very tricky to prepare. Not at all. Its so easy to prepare if we use the correct measurements & method. Here comes the recipe..

Preparation time : 20 mins | Cooking time : 20 mins | Makes :16 (medium sized)
Category : Sweet | Cuisine :South Indian

Laddu Recipe

Ingredients:

Besan Flour - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Baking Soda - a pinch

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Cloves - 2

Nutmeg - a pinch (optional)

Rasins - few

Cashews - few

Yellow food color - a pinch (optional)

Edible camphor - a tiny pinch 

Sugar Candy/Kalkandu (optional)

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Oil to deep fry

Method

1. In a pan heat a tsp of ghee. Fry the raisins till it becomes fluffy. Then fry the cashews till golden brown & set aside.

2. Powder the cloves & nutmeg in a mortar.

3. To prepare the sugar syrup add a cup of sugar in a heavy bottomed pan & add 1/2 cup of water. Let it boil in medium flame till it reaches single string consistency. Its the most important step in the preparation of laddu where you have to be very careful. You have to check now & then to see if it has reached the single string consistency & switch off immediately. 

4. Add 3 drops of lemon juice to the sugar syrup to avoid crystallization. Then add the powdered cloves, nutmeg, cardamom powder & a pinch of edible camphor to the syrup.

4. Take a cup of besan flour. Sieve it & add it to a mixing bowl.

5. Add water gradually to the flour & mix it with hand or whisk without any lumps. The batter should neither be thick nor thin. It should be in a dosa batter (flowing) consistency. Add a pinch/2 drops of yellow food color(optional) & a pinch of baking soda.

 You can use either of these laddles to make boodhis.

6. Heat the oil for frying the boondhis. You can add a tbsp of ghee in the oil if you like ghee flavor. The oil should be in high flame. To check the oil is heated to the right temperature add a drop of batter to it. If it raises to the top immediately, its the right temperature to fry. Once the oil is heated hold the boondhi making laddle above the oil and pour a scoop of the batter on it. The boondhis will fall like balls in the oil.

Once the shhh sound reduces take out the boondhis immediately & put those in the sugar syrup. If you allow it to fry for a long time, bhoondhis will turn crispy & will not absorb the sugar syrup.

7. Repeat the same until you are done with the whole batter. Stir the boondhis well in the syrup now & then. Once done frying all the bhoondhis mash it with either a potato masher or the bottom part of any vessel which is flat.

Add a tbsp of ghee, fried cashews & raisins.

8. Keep the stove in low flame & stir the mixture for a minute for the sugar syrup to get absorbed well in bhoondhi.

9. When the mixture is warm start making balls.

  The flavorful laddus are ready to eat..

Store it in an airtight container once its cooled completely.

Point to be noted:

• If your bhoondhis are stiff & not able to make laddus, add a scoop of bhoondis in a mixer & grind it in pulse. Then add it to the mixture.