Besan Ladoo

                          

   Besan Ladoo

   बेसन लाडू

Cooked, tested & tasted by Sandhya Ekbote

Photo credit : Sandhya Ekbote

Course: Sweet

Cooking time: 1hr

Serving size: 20 ladoos

Ingredients:

• 4 vati besan (gram flour, coarsely ground like rava)

• 1 tbsp rava (semolina)/ rice flour (coarse texture)

• 2 vati powdered sugar

• 10 - 12 cardamom pods powdered

• 5-10 slivered almonds and chopped cashews

• ¾ vati melted ghee (clarified butter)

Procedure:

1. Heat a heavy bottom pan. Add 1/2 vati clarified butter.

2. Roast besan and rice flour on a low medium flame.

3. Stir often so that the besan gets browned evenly and does not burn. 

4. As you begin to roast the besan, small lumps will be seen  in the flour. These lumps disappear later.

5. Sparingly add ghee to the mixture, preferably one spoon at a time.

6. Be careful not to add too much or else the besan would resemble lava like consistency. The ladoos won't hold shape.

7. Non-stop roasting will loosen the mixture. As it gets cooked it will thicken again .

8. Keep roasting continuously till the besan turns golden red and releases a nutty aroma. It should take about 20 minutes.

9. Take the pan off the flame but keep stirring the mixture for a couple of minutes to prevent it from changing color or burning.

10. After the mixture has turned lukewarm, add powdered sugar and cardamom powder to it.

11. Mix it very well.

12. Shape into ladoos.

13. Garnish them with nuts on top of each ladoo.

Tips:

• If kept in an airtight container they can have a shelf life of up to a month.

• If the mixture looks too dry add 2-3 tbsp of hot melted ghee and mix again.

• If the mixture is too liquidy and ladoos are not holding shape add almond powder. When it cools down the ladoos will firm up.

• Instead of powdered sugar, you could also add 'boora'/'tagaar' that you get in the Indian markets. It helps in enhancing the coarse texture of the ladoo.

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