Boondi Laddoo

What’s Diwali without homemade laddoos? When it comes to laddoos, all of us at home become Chota Bheems😋 Ever since I started cooking, I had never thought of making the tasty laddoos at home, which I relished at every other function. It’s been so many years and only now have I had the courage to give it a try. Why fear when Vijayalakshmi amma is here? She whole heartedly helped me in the process, giving me important tips throughout. I followed her tips and tricks exactly, and voila! I had perfect Laddoos, ready to savour!

The trick in making the perfect laddoos lies in the consistency of the batter, of the sugar syrup and in the equipment and also in a few other tricks, all which I have shared below. The perfect laddoos are not too dry or not too sticky, with ¾ th cooked boondis, combined perfectly. Apart from this, the hidden additives, like the kalkand, cashews, and cloves make a surprise appearance in between your tasty experience. Happy diwali folks! 😉

Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes| Cooking time: 20 to 30 minutes
Course: Snacks| Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients:

Gram flour (kadalai maavu)- 1 ½ cup

Salt- as needed

Cooking soda – a pinch

Sugar- 1 ½ cup

Water- ¾th cup

Lemon- ¼ tsp

Yellow colour- ¼ tsp (mix in 1 spoon water)

Fried cashews- a few

Fried cloves- a few

Diamond sugar (kalkandu) - a few

Elaich powder- ½ tsp

Oil- for deep frying

Method:

1. Sieve gram flour well to remove any lumps. Add a pinch of cooking soda to it.

2. Add water gradually and make batter. Batter should be of dosa batter consistency. Do check notes section for tips to check the consistency of batter.

3. Heat oil in a large kadai. We need two slotted/perforated spoons to make boondi. Pictures of those spoons are shown in step wise pictures below. Please do check. One spoon is to make the boondi and the other one is to remove it from oil.

4. Make sure the oil is hot while making boondi.

5. Hold one of the perforated spoons on top of the oil and pour batter on it. Use the back of a ladle to gently press the batter in circular motion. (refer pic below). Let the boondis fall into the oil. After the boondis are made, wipe the excess batter off the perforated spoon, everytime.

6. Fry till it is ¾ th cooked. Don’t fry it too crispy, as binding it for laddoo later will be a problem.

7. Remove the boondis from oil using the other perforated spoon. Drain in a colander or a kitchen towel. Repeat it for the rest of the batter.

8. Add sugar to a thick bottomed vessel. Add the mentioned amount of water to it. Let it boil. Bring it to one string consistency. Switch off the flame. Add ¼ tsp lemon juice and required amount of yellow colour mixture. Mix well.

9. When it is still hot, add the prepared boondis to the sugar syrup.

10. All boondis should be equally coated and take care that there is no extra sugar syrup. If you find extra sugar syrup, make some more boondis and add to it.

11. Add half a spoon of elachi powder to the boondi and give a mix.

12. Add fried cashews, fried cloves and diamond sugar to the sugar coated boondis. Mix well. Using the back of ladle, gently press the boondis so that it binds well while making laddoos.

13. Transfer everything to a plate. While it is still warm, start making laddoos using one of your palms.

Notes:

· To check for the proper consistency of the batter do the following test. Take a spoon and dip the back of the spoon into the batter. Hold it on top of the preheated oil. If it drops as perfect rounds then the batter is perfect.

· If the batter is too thick, you will get boondis with tail. Then you may have to add a little more water to the batter. If the batter is too watery then the boondis formed will be very light and thin. Add a little more flour to the batter to make it slightly thick.

· If you do not have the traditional perforated spoon for making boondi at home, you can also use the flat ones we normally have at home.

· One string consistency of sugar syrup is very imporatant.

· Don’t forget to add lemon juice to sugar syrup, as it helps in avoiding the sugar syrup from becoming thick.