Diwali 2016 – Besan Laddoos!

The only time in a year that I make sweets for a festival is Diwali.

Don’t get me wrong, I always have sweets, cakes and other (healthy) sinful stuff that I make for my home- I do have two growing kids who are ever hungry!

It started 17 years ago when I got married. I am the product of a mixed marriage and as such there were never any rituals or puja’s in my house growing up. While I don’t miss that I do miss the culture and tradition associated with festivities. Though we celebrate everyone in our own way. So once a year I go on a laddoo making spree. It started with one odd kg. Last year I topped it at 19kg’s!! This year is a little scaled back at about 15kg’s 🙂

I thought I would share the recipe with you all. I make really good melt-in-the-mouth laddoos even if I say so myself 🙂

Ingredients:
– 1 kg Besan or fine Chickpea flour

– 1 kg fine ground sugar

– 1 kg Ghee or clarified butter

Method:

The original recipe calls for roasting the besan and ghee together but I find it easier to dry roast the besan first. Remember to keep stirring till the besan gets a darker hue/tan and the kitchen is filled with a nutty fragrance. Stir and stir some more or bits of besan will burn. That much of tan you don’t need!

Next put it a large vessel to cool. At this stage it helps to sieve the besan so as to break any little lumps. They look unsightly later and these little pockets of besan that did not get to mix with any sugar or ghee… trust me not nice to taste when one gets these bits in a bite full of sumptuous sin.

Once cool then mix the ground sugar. Remember to wait till the besan is cool before adding the sugar as the sugar will leave water and that will be the end of your laddoo making experiment.

Then add warm/hot ghee and knead the mixture till smooth and evenly mixed. The temperature of the ghee will depend on how cool your mixture is at this point. That’s it. You are ready to start shaping the dough balls.

It also helps to roll the balls out 2-3 times as it’s easier to shape into balls as the dough cools. Else they will look like flat pedas.

In the traditional recipe you would have to wait till the ghee and besan mixture cools substantially before adding the sugar. Then knead away and shape into balls.

Oh! and the reason I am standing on a stool in the first picture is that after an hour and a half of constant stirring your arm will pain. The elevated height really helps.

It’s quite simple. And your family and friends will love you for it. My kids keep sneaking a few every time they pass the dining table 🙂

Happy Diwali!!