My 2021 Diwali Sweet - Besan Laddoo (Gram Flour Laddoo)

 Hello Foodies, today I want to share with you, a very popular, traditional, Indian decadent sweet made with Gram flour(besan), ghee, sugar-laced with aromatic cardamom, and saffron. Well, Besan Laddus are soft, creamy, golden-hued, round sweet balls that melt in your mouth dessert balls are often made during festivals and special occasions at home. If you ask, the easiest sweet we can make for festivals, my choice is Besan Laddoo which is very simple and easy to make with just three ingredients. This year, I made Besan Laddo (Gramflour Laddoo) for the Festival" Diwali". The most important part of making tasty laddu is the roasting method. If you patiently slow roast the besan, adding ghee by spoonfuls, I can say damn sure the entire house would fill with heavenly aromas, and we could not wait to lay our hands on the finished dish! So go on, give them a try! 

Before jumping into the recipe, let me tell you some tips in making tasty "Besan Laddoo"

Tips :

    ·         Use fresh, good quality besan/gram flour. I usually buy the fine besan from grocery stores.

    ·         Sift the flour and then measure it for the perfect proportion of besan, ghee, and sugar.

    ·         I like using homemade ghee for this recipe with its nutty taste and aroma.

    ·         Use a thick bottom pan or a heavy nonstick pan for roasting the gram flour.

    ·         Make sure to sift the gram flour and powdered sugar to remove any lumps.

    ·         Use low to medium heat to fry the besan or gram flour to ensure the flour gets uniformly roasted.

    ·         Allow the hot flour and ghee mixture to cool down before adding the sugar.

    ·         You can grease your palms with ghee before shaping the balls so that the mixture does not stick to your hand.

   ·         If the mixture is too soft and sticky, add some more dry roasted besan to the mixture and then shape the laddoo.

Let us check the ingredients and start the procedure for making Tasty and delicious Besan Laddoo(Gramflour Laddoo)

Ingredients :

 2 cups besan (gram flour) – 200 grams

½ cup ghee (clarified butter) – 125 grams, add more ghee if required

1 cup powdered sugar (heaped)  – 175 grams (powder ¾ cup white sugar or raw sugar in a mixer-grinder, small blender)

 1 teaspoon cardamom powder or 5 to 6 green cardamoms, powdered in a mortar-pestle

1 to 2 tablespoons golden raisins – chopped

 10 to 12 cashews – chopped

Method :

Roasting Besan/gram flour :

 Dry roast the besan(gram flour) in a heavy Kadai or pan on low to medium-low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes.

  Keep on stirring continuously on low flame right from the beginning. So that the besan is not burned and cooks evenly.

Adding Ghee And Further Roasting:

 After 10 minutes of total roasting time, add the ghee.

 Mix very well and continue roasting the besan on low flame for some more 12 minutes stirring non-stop.

You will see that the mixture will start releasing ghee and will give a nice fragrant nutty aroma. Some ghee will float on top and you will see a molten lava kind of consistency where the ghee is floating. The mixture will also lose sides of the pan and become one. These are the signs that the besan is fully cooked. Once you see these signs, you can move on to the next step.

Remove the pan from the stove-top and place it on your kitchen countertop. Now add powdered sugar.

Adding Powdered Sugar:

Begin to mix with all the strength from your hands. You have to mix this part vigorously so that the powdered sugar melts in the roasted besan and ghee mixture and no lumps are formed.

Add the powdered cardamom, raisins, and cashews. Mix again.

Once you have mixed the laddoo mixture well then let it become lukewarm or cool at room temperature.

Making Besan Laddoo

When cooled, make small or medium-sized besan laddoo and store them in an airtight steel container. If you are not able to shape in balls then freeze the mixture for 5 minutes or refrigerate for 20 minutes. Depending on the quality and consistency of ghee as well as the room temperature you may be able to easily shape these or not.

Serve besan laddoo garnished with some nuts.

Storage Instruction:

·         Besan laddu keeps well at room temperature for a month. Keep in a clean covered jar or container in a cool dry place. You can use a stainless steel jar.

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