Laddu

Friday, April 13th, 2007

Filed Under Coconut, Desserts, Recipes 

Laddu or Ladoo is a beloved Indian sweet which is an integral part of most Hindu festivals and celebrations. According to WikiPedia,

Laddu is often made to celebrate festivals or household events such as weddings. It is made of flour and other ingredients formed into balls that are dipped in sugar syrup. Chubby kids in India can affectionately be called ‘Laddu’.

eHow.Com calls Rava (Semolina) laddu as “Edible Dowry”:

Some Hindu brides prepare a pastry called rawa laddu to present to the groom’s family as a gift or “edible dowry” prior to the wedding.

Laddu (or Ladu as we call it in Kerala), is one of the few Indian Sweets that I like. The normal laddu in Kerala is made of flour and is yellow in color. I’ve never made Laddu at home before, but when I saw a real easy Rava Laddu recipe in my Sri Lankan cookbook called Recipes of the Jaffna Tamils, I thought of giving it a try. The taste was pretty good for a first try, though I wasn’t very happy with the shape and the look of it, may be I will get it right next time.

I reduced the amount of sugar and ghee to half of what the recipe called for, still it was really sweet.

Ingredients

(For about 10 Laddus)

Method

Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan and fry the cashew nuts and raisins. When the cashew nuts turn brown and the raisins are plump, remove from the pan and keep aside.

Add the semolina to the same pan and fry on medium heat till it is heated through. Add the grated coconut and fry over medium heat till the semolina turns light golden brown. This will take a while, keep stirring.

Add sugar, fried nuts and raisins , cardamom and clove powder and the milk. Keep stirring till the milk and sugar is completely mixed in.

Switch off the stove and let it sit till it is cool enough to handle. Shape the mixture into lemon sized balls.

Store in an airtight container. I kept this in the refrigerator, even though it is stored outside in India. Just warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds before serving.

When I made this I had Nupur’s A to Z event in mind, but then I realized this doesn’t feature any vegetables! But it was well worth the effort!

 

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Comments

21 Responses to “Laddu”

  1. Seema on April 13th, 2007 6:33 pm

    Sig, Those rava laddus look so delicious with all the dry fruits smugged to it. Loved the recipe. Seems to me easy. Thanx for sharing.

  2. Richa on April 13th, 2007 6:49 pm

    came here to see the view from ur lnvg room, but what do I see, one more recipe!!! are you sure you did not take a week off just for blogging ha!ha!
    anyway with just 1tbsp ghee, these ladu are a must try. usually tons of ghee is used to bind, but here i see that u used milk, great. adding clove in a ladu is very new to me. I’ve 2 sweets sitting in my refrigerator, once they are done, will make this(yeah justfying making sweets!!)

    thanks for the recipe

  3. Sig on April 13th, 2007 7:03 pm

    Seema, thanks and welcome to my blog!

    Richa, LOL, it sure looks like that doesn’t it? But I haven’t been doing any heavy-duty cooking this week. Been doing quick fix dishes and take outs mainly, experimenting with cocktails though.. :)

    Yeah, I thought normal laddus had a ton of ghee too, that is why I liked this recipe, the original recipe called for 2 tbsp of ghee, I used 1 tbsp melted clarified butter instead, it turned out very yummy!

  4. Asha on April 13th, 2007 7:03 pm

    NOOOOO!!!! Guess what I made for A to Z??!!!!I willpost later today.

    Laddu is okay for L,as long as it starts with L,it’s okay to send.

  5. Sig on April 13th, 2007 7:06 pm

    Asha, you are not making Laddus too are you? :)

  6. sunita on April 13th, 2007 7:34 pm

    Sig, can you pass some of those laddus this way…I’m a greeeaaat lover of laddus…

  7. Reena on April 13th, 2007 8:11 pm

    sig, are you home vacationing or crazy bloggin?:):)) rava laddu looks so good that i am going to try it tonight.

    and for nupur’s L veggie, raisins are dried grapes so close;). send it.

    vishu aashamsakal!!!

  8. Sig on April 13th, 2007 8:18 pm

    Sunita, as I was telling Sheela yesterday, wish there was someway of virtually sharing all the goodies!! But then we would all be really fat won’t we? :).

    These laddus are super easy to make, try it, you can add your famous twists to the recipe too :)

    Reena, :) I can’t get away from the laptop… Now sitting on my recliner watching TV and checking email at the same time… “My Name is Earl” is crazy funny… :).

    Vishu Aasamsakal to you too…, Have a great weekend sweety…

  9. Prema Sundar on April 13th, 2007 9:23 pm

    Rava ladoos are my all time favourite Sig.
    Seattle looks lovely sig.
    looking at ur uppu kari and fish and lobster fries my mouth has started to water and I am going to go out to a good restaurant today…
    Was plannning to go to kumaragam on my trip to India this time but Unfortunately couldn’t do it. I have heard its a lovely place and wish to go there next time.

  10. Sig on April 13th, 2007 9:39 pm

    Prema, thanks! Enjoy your restaurant outing tonite, a great way to start the weekend fun…

  11. musical on April 13th, 2007 11:00 pm

    Wow those laddus look good, Sig. and the fat content seems much lower too. i would definitely give this a try :)

    That view and these laddus, great Vishu time celebration Sig.

    Happy Vishu :)

    PS: i kinda’ agree with Richa ;)

  12. Coffee on April 14th, 2007 1:07 am

    Laddu Laddu all around!!!!!! I just came over from asha’s blog and saw laddu over there!!!!!

    Looks grest Sig. :)

    Loved the view from ur window…… so when are you inviting us for laddus…..err… all those drinks which kids below 14 are not supposed to have….. ;)

  13. Sig on April 14th, 2007 2:00 am

    Hey Musical, thanks for the Vishu wishes… are you agreeing with Richa about my blog addiction too? :)

    Coffee, I was having coffee with laddu when I saw your laddu comment, isn’t that funny? :)

    You are welcome anytime for the special juices, just bring an ID to show you are over 14 :)

  14. Sia's Corner on April 14th, 2007 4:35 pm

    what!!! another laddu? just saw laddus @aroma and now u too r tempting ius with this? L means laddu and L is also for Lovely Looking Laddus… :)

  15. reena on April 14th, 2007 6:30 pm

    sig, you can send this entry to lakshmi’s RCI event ;). http://veggiecuisine.blogspot.com/2007/03/tamil-cuisine-rci-april-2007.html

  16. Sig on April 14th, 2007 6:33 pm

    Supriya, I know its pouring laddus in blogosphere now :)…

    Reena , nice idea :) but I already sent my Uppukari to Lakshmi for RCI…

  17. Pravs on April 14th, 2007 11:15 pm

    This looks like a very tasty laddu ! Can i have one ?
    Happy Vishu to you…are you keeping vishu kani tomorrow ? Is this laddu for the kani ?

  18. Sig on April 14th, 2007 11:17 pm

    Pravs, I have to confess I don’t really know how to make a Kani, we never used to do that at home… I didn’t know Laddus are part of Kani, but those are yellow laddus right? I have only two left anyway :).

    Happy Vishu to you!

  19. Pravs on April 15th, 2007 4:32 am

    sig, actually in my parents place, neiappam is kept along with other things for kani. So since laddu is a sweet, i thought it was for kani.

  20. Happy Cook on October 8th, 2007 2:12 am

    Hi Sig as i promised you i am here to check out your laddu.
    ANd they look really good.
    While checking your desserts i saw u have excelent easy panacotta, i’ve never made them but i am going to try them when i give a dinner.

    You must try panna cotta, so easy to make, but the complements you’d get will be endless… :)

  21. Venkatesh Iyer on January 10th, 2008 9:27 pm

    The Laddus are too good.

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