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Besan Rava Ladoo
By
DK
on Sep 22, 2009
Just as South Indians are busy celebrating Navarathri during this time, so are the North Indians with their Dussehra. The plethora of sweetmeats during this time is countless and if you have a sweet tooth, then rest assured, you would find yourself in a candy heaven :) The decorations and processions during this time for Goddess Durga is something which you have to see to believe. It would bring goose pimples and is guaranteed to bring that awed look on the onlookers eyes - irrespective of how many times they might have witnessed it. Here is a video about Goddess Kali (another form of Durga) that has a beautiful devotional song playing in the background. The flute is amazing. It explains more about the Goddess.
One of the sweet dishes which is like a must for the festive occasion on the Northern parts of India, esp. in the Maharashtrian household are these Besan Ladoos. The term "Besan" in Hindi denotes Chickpea flour and "ladoos" are Indian way of representing sweet balls. If the balls are savory, then they become Koftas ;) These ladoos come under the category of the rare 'get's-done-in-a-jiffy" sweets with not so many complication involved in making them. Just few guidelines and you should be good to go.
I am usually more comfortable with Baking than Indian sweets and on the grounds that the Baking science is explained well while its not really put in words w.r.t Indian traditional sweets. Habit and constant practice make some women (or mm..men ) dish out some amazing sweets but ask them why and how you do so and so in that recipe the answer from most of them would be "well, that's how it is". They work on eye balling the ingredients and can work on the basis of the just eye measure and smell! Imagine that! So for people like me, the result is usually associated with the term 'disaster' and in my small amateur kitchen with no expert body verifying if my so called eye balling and gut instincts make any sense, the end result is not always "sweet" (pun intended!)
But for this one, I will tell you what you can and why you can do so and so to make the ladoos look and taste like one :). One simple aspect to look out for is roasting the flour well until the rawness goes away. That done, the ladoos are a breeze and addictive.
But for this one, I will tell you what you can and why you can do so and so to make the ladoos look and taste like one :). One simple aspect to look out for is roasting the flour well until the rawness goes away. That done, the ladoos are a breeze and addictive.
References
this recipe was given by my maharashtrian friend whose mother made some amazing out-of-this-world besan ladoos ever! i have made v subtle changes from the various recipes i saw on the net.
Basic Information
Prep Time: Under 30 min
Cook Time: Under 30 min
Yield: Makes 15-20 ladoos depending on the size
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups Besan (chana flour available in Indian Stores)
- 4 tbsp Sooji / coarse Semolina for giving texture - not flour. (Optional. Instead replace with chickpea flour to make this recipe gluten free)
- 1/2 cup Ghee (clarified butter)
- 3/4th cup sugar
- 1 tsp Cardamom powder
- 4-5 tbsp almonds
- 1 tbsp raisins
Method
1
Method - 1 (For a little more experienced cooks
Chop the almonds coarsely. Set aside.
2
First warm the ghee in low heat. If it is solidified, then it will melt. Don't overheat. Warming it is enough.
3
Note: Ghee is essential to this ladoo for 2 reasons - for adding flavor and as a binding agent.
In a bowl, sift the chickpea flour.
4
Note: I find that mixing the flour later after sifting is much easier and also avoids lumps.
Add the semolina and the ghee.
5
Mix well until well combined.
6
Take a pan (non stick works too). Drop the mixture and keep the heat in low-medium heat. Now comes the essential part. Roasting this mixture takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes depending on the heat.
7
Note: Purpose for doing this is to get rid of the rawness of the chickpea flour. You know it is ready when your whole house is filled with sweetish aroma of the roasting chickpea flour. There won't be any change in color hence keep your nostrils vigilant and stirring actions continuous. You don't want to overheat the mixture (if you increased the heat to avoid constant stirring ;)) - the mixture will become v dry.
8
Method - 2 (For beginners / those trying this for the first time ** UPDATED **
I thought I will update the post with this too after Priya's comment reminded me of what my mother used to do.
My mother instead of heating the chickpea flour,semolina and ghee mixture, would first dry roast the chickpea flour first until aromatic. Only after it wafts up that incredible sweetish aroma would she add the Ghee to it.
Rest of the process is all same. Only difference is roasting the chickpea flour before hand and then following up with adding rest of the ingredients.
Note: You don't have to use Semolina in this method (my mother never did) but if you are going to, then toast the semolina separately too!
*************** Meanwhile in the same pan (where you melted/warmed ghee), toss the raisins. If there is no ghee, add a little to help the raisins plump up. Set aside.
*************** Meanwhile in the same pan (where you melted/warmed ghee), toss the raisins. If there is no ghee, add a little to help the raisins plump up. Set aside.
9
In the same pan, add the almonds and toast them for 1-2 minutes. Set them aside.
10
Now Remove the Besan mixture from heat and set aside in a bowl to cool.
11
Note: When I say cool, I actually mean cool down to warm from hot.
Now add the sugar,cardamom and half of almonds to this mixture.
12
Note: The chickpea flour should be warm and not cool. We require the mixture it to be warm since this warmness will help the sugar to melt a bit thereby binding the flour - enough to bind it into ladoos.
Take a little of the mixture in your hands
13
Clump your hands with the mixture to tighten it.
14
Slowly using your inner palm, rotate it to make small balls.
15
Though the mixture will not look sticky enough - it will get together to form beautiful ladoos.
Depending on the shape of your ladoos - this mixture makes anywhere between 10-20 ladoos.
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48 Responses to “Besan Rava Ladoo”
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Sorry I did post a comment on the other ladoo page but I did not look at this page.but again I have another question for the above receipe the ladu besan I got from the store is coarse so can I skip the semolina here?
its so god
This seems to be the same recipe ( even measurments etc) in the video titled ‘Manjula’s kitchen’. The laddoos there and here look identical. So if the same recipe has produced good results it must be good I guess….will try it soon.
You are right. Just went to her site and looked over the recipe. They are same except for blink-u-will-miss-changes
. Yes, these are good, trust me. The only care I would suggest is while roasting the Besan. If not properly roasted, it kills the ladoos! –DK
very nice
This recipe helped me so much to make ladoo……….. Thank U.
Thanks for the lovely recipes. Du you know how to make popcorn ladoos? When I was young, I have seen popcorn ladoos on a stick. Would love to know how to make it.
Hi, easy to follow tips but I melted the sugar in little bit water 1/2 cup water to 1 cup sugar bit of saffron turned out ok used it as binding agent thanks for recipie
nice recipe. although i am a sri lankan, i really like indian sweets. i couldn’t make ladoos before as i didn’t know what is besan. now i know that. thax for the recipe. i’ll try it now.
Great pictures, explanation & tips. Thank You
Hii ! Thank you for this forum. What if I tried to fix my besan ladoos by adding my melted butter…that didn’t work. It still remained flaky…than I took your advice and added a bit of warm milk…now…well…it is more to the watery side than a doughy side though its not like water…I just can’t describe it. Can I add some regular flour to make it into dough?? Thank you!
to Asha…
hey, i could be wrong but it sounds to me u are using a bit to much heat. i never go above medium heat and on a medium plate, not the biggest one. this way im sure not to burn the besan or melt the sugar so it starts to caramelize. usualy its the burnt besan that gives the bitter taste. keep the temp low and u wont burn it. cause its soo esay to burn otherwise…
also i put the sugar in quite early. if i wait till the besan is room temp, then sometimes the sugar doesnt get enough heat and wont melt. so it is felt like little grains of sand in the finished ladoo which i dont like.
but medium to low heat is the best way.
hope it helps. cheers.
Hi, Like Dave, I also faced similar problem. I cud make the ladoos properly, but after it started to melt after a minute. and after about 1/2 hr all the ladoos melted together to form one big lump. I think this might have happened due to adding sugar to the hot mixture. So the trick is to add sugar only when it is warm ot cooled down to room temperature. Also my ladoos where little bitter. The besan I have used was old, and I may have overcooked it (i’m not sure). I liked DY’s tip of dry roasting the besan first. Hopefully it will work out next time. I must also say this is the best recipe tips for besan ladoo. Thanks DY.