BOONDI LADDOO

BOONDI LADDOO

Laddoo, I used to think is a sweet that is always bought from a shop and can be made only by experts, until my neighbour gave me some boondi laddoos made at home for Diwali. It immediately sent me into a quest on the art of laddoo making, which I discovered is not so tedious and tough as I thought it would be, the fruits of my labor were definitely sweet. Do try this at home and you will also enjoy the sweet of your labor. Yum!! Yum!!

Ingredients
Besan (Bengal gram flour ) - 1 cup
Sugar- 11/2 cups
Yellow food color- a pinch
Paccha Kalpooram – a pinch
Kalkandu (cubed sugar) : ½ tbsp
Ghee – 1tbsp
Cardomom- 5 or 6,
Cashewnuts - 10 ,
Raisins – 10
Cloves- 4
Few strands of saffron

Method
For Sugar Syrup
Make the sugar syrup by boiling 11/2 cups sugar in 11/2 cups of water (The ratio of ratio of sugar and water should be1:1). Add few strands of saffron to the syrup. (Saffron gives color to the syrup) Once the sugar gets dissolved and the syrup starts to boil. Keep stirring. and check until it comes to single thread consistency, remove from the fire. Add yellow food color or a pinch of kesari powder to this syrup. Keep aside. If you want to avoid food color, just saffron is enough, as saffron gives a faint yellow color to the syrup.

For Boondi
In a bowl, mix Besan with required amount of water, the consistency should be of the dosa batter. It should not be too watery else the boondi will be flat nor should it be too thick then the boondi will be hard and won’t soak easily.
In a wok, take oil and when the oil is hot, lower the flame of the gas and pour the batter through a spoon with holes into the oil. While pouring move the spoon in a circular manner so that the batter falls evenly in the oil and the boondis get fried and are separate. Once the boondis are fried. Take it out and drain on a paper towel, so that the oil is soaked out.

To Prepare Laddoo
Drop the boondis into the sugar syrup and mix well. Fry the cashewnuts, raisins, cloves and cardamoms in ghee and add to the mix. Add a pinch of paccha kalpooram and a tablespoon of kalkandu to the mix as well. Let the boondi soak for around an hour. Stir occassionally. Spread and allow to cool. Wait until the mixture cools down to a temperature until your hand can with stand the heat. Now make into even balls by pressing lightly with hand. Try shaping it into balls. If the boondi is still crisp try after it starts soaking.
Makes about 15 small laddoos.