Next saturday is Diwali, but there are no signs of it. There are no advertisements with Sneha dancing inside Saravana Stores (as rightly called ‘Indian Walmart’ by vinod ) .There is no shopping list in my hand bag to keep me wander in the busy streets of Ranganathan street. There are no kids in my street bursting crackers. There are no film previews about the Diwali releases.
Still, there are ways to encourage our kids to anticipate the upcoming festival. I thot of making a homemade sweet my daughter likes the most. Though , I learnt it at late from my friend, I was confident to try myself and it turned out a real success. Here is the recipe.
To make 20 medium sized laddus:
Ingredients:
Sugar – 1 and 1/2 cups
water- 1 and 1/2 cups
Gram flour- approx 2 cups
rice flour- 2 tsps
Orange food color- a pinch
warm milk- 1 tsp
saffron – 2 pinch
cardomom- 7-8 nos
cloves- 3 nos
Nutmeg- 1/8 th the ball
Edible camphor/ pacha karpooram- 3 pinches
Cashews & Raisins – to taste
How to make laddu:
Sieve the gram flour .
Mix the saffron in the warm milk.
Boil the sugar and water in a non stick pan. Bring it to 1 string consistency.
Add food color and the saffron.
Heat good amount oil in a kadai.
Mix the gram flour and rice flour with water without any crumbles. The consistency should be like that of a bajji mix. When the oil is real hot, pour the mix via a laddu laddle and take it when it is cooked 3/4th. Damp out the extra oil with a paper towel and soak it in the sugar syrup. Continue this without break until all the syrup is absorped well. Note: It is important that the mix to be in correct consistency. If it is watery, it will get burnt , else if it is too thick , the boondis will not have a round shape.
Let the boondis get soaked for 1-2 hours.
Powder cardomom, nutmeg, cloves and camphor in a coffee grinder. Now add this to the boondis and run them in a food processor/ wet grinder coarsely for few seconds.
Roast the raisins and cashews in ghee and add to boondi mix.
Make balls of uniform size and enjoy eating
Wish you all a happy diwali!
Food for thot: ‘Diwali in Sivakasi’ – A poem by Srinivasan.
As suggested by Indira, I am happy to submit this entry for JFI.
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Hi Lakhsmi Ammal,
Laddus look delicious. So colorful and so festive, perfect sweet for Diwali and for Jihva ~ Diwali treats edition.
You have mentioned pachha kurpuram(edible camphor) in your recipe in ingredients list. Where did you buy it? Did you bring it from India or did you buy here in Indian grocery shops. I’ve been searching for it here to buy but in vain. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Lakshmi,
Landed here from your comment on Sailu’s blog…My first time here, another yummy foodblog to add to my ever growing list…
Laddu nalla irukku – you’ve put in a lot of effort…
Wishing you a happy festive season.
Warm regards
N
Hi Indira,
Iam happy to get an appreciation from the legend like you. A friend of mine got the pachakarpooram from India. But I believe that it is available in Devon street ,here in Chicago.Thanks again.
Looks good, Lakshmi Ammal.
Thank you for participating.
Hi Nandita and Vee,
Thanks for the good words !
Ladoos are mouth watering. I was really looking for step by step instructions and in time you have posted the same. I will try this for diwali. Thank you for the great recipe.
Hi Lakshmi,
This is my first visit to your blog and what a sweet treat !!
Amma makes ladoos just like this with Pacha Karpooram. But nutemg and cloves sounds interesting !!
Hi Lakshmi Ammal,
Tracked my way back here from my referrals. Laddoo looks yummy!
I read all your posts! Its amazing how little things our kids do make us feel proud! I have a 4.5 year old and a 2.5 year old. Any little thing they do makes me feel so proud and i try to store all their crazy but cute artwork!
And you are such a sweet friend. Very nice of you to make your friend that yummy lookign pizza!
Cheers
Latha
Hi Lakshmi Ammal,
Unga Laddu romba nalla vanthurukku. Happy Diwali.
Thank you,Subha, kindly let me know if you try them.
Hi Priya,
Nutmeg and cloves give a spicy kick to the ladoos.Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Latha,
Ya,you are true.Kids rule the house.My girl was so happy to see the post in my blog and her smile was so rewarding to me than anything else.Thanks for the appreciation.
Hi Menutoday,
Iam feel so good to be in this blogging world.It gives me an identity and great friends like you. Thank you
Hi LA,
First time on your blog today. Looks very nice! I like your choice to template. The laddoos look very yummy! I’ve always been scared to try and make boondi laddoo. I can get to making the boondis and then end up eating them plain 🙂
cheers!
Hi Latha,
Taking the boondis before they get crispy is the key there.Of course, we learn from our mistakes. Practice makes perfection.Thanks for stopping by.
Lakshmi,
Mail the link and your photograph to me , so that I can include this in the round up
By your photograph, I mean , photograpn of your recipe 🙂
Hi Vee,
I have sent the picture in mail. Hope you received it.
Coming from vee’s roundup page.
I love these laddus, but have attempted only once. It was too difficult and I made a big mess making boondis. I would love to try it again. 🙂
hi
I tried to make the boondis but got stuck at the park of making them into balls with laddle. it all drops into the oil together as lumps. Have had no luck. Please advise me.
Hi Ayesha,
I guess your oil was not hot enough.It also depends on the consistency of the batter. It takes few trials to catch on the correct consistency. Good luck to you.
I guess your oil was not hot enough.It also depends on the consistency of the batter. It takes few trials to catch on the correct consistency. Good luck to you.
The laddu looks so so tempting. And, grinding the soaked boondis, something interesting and have seen in many Andhra people’s laddus, some binding mixture whereas in Tamil nadu, it will be just like boondis. Could be your trick, will try and let you know..