For week 2 of BM #45, I have taken up the theme to showcase some delightful and traditional sweets for the oncoming festival season.
I am sure most of us agree that Diwali, the festival of lights, is a time to celebrate the victory of good over evil. It is also a time to celebrate it with friends and family by distributing goodies along with their best wishes.
I have earlier posted a recipe for making the basic boondi. I will rewrite the method of preparation of boondi again here for easy reference. Pardon me for the long post :)
Ingredients -
Besan/Chickpea Flour 1 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Ghee 1 tsp
Raisins 2 Tbsp
Cashew Bits 2 Tbsp
Edible Camphor a pinch
Sugar candy crystals (Optional) 1 Tbsp
Oil to fry the Boondi
Method Of Preparation -
To make the Sugar Syrup -
In a thick, deep and wide stockpot, add sugar and 3/4 cup of water and let it simmer and wait until the syrup reaches the one thread consistency.
While the syrup is simmering, fry the cashew bits and raisins in a teaspoon of ghee and set aside.
Remove the syrup from heat after it reaches the one thread consistency and add a pinch of edible camphor, fried raisins and cashew bits. Mix well, cover and set aside.
To make the Boondi -
Sift the chickpea flour/besan/senaga pindi so there are no lumps.
Gradually add water to make it a paste. Blend well so there are no lumps in the paste. To this paste gradually add water to make a suitable batter. I observed that the flour I used needed almost 2 cups of water. That is besan:water was in the ratio 1:1 .
Another tip is to add a teaspoon of oil to the batter.
In a wok/kadai, add oil and put it on medium/high heat. It also helps if the wok/kadai/sauce pan is flat bottomed and wide too.
To test whether the batter is of the right consistency, using the tail of a spoon, gently put a drop of batter in the hot oil. If the resultant boondi floats on the top immediately and is round in shape and feels light, we have the right consistency. Otherwise add a teaspoon of water at a time while testing, to get the right consistency. If the batter is too watery add some more sifted chickpea flour.
Pour ladle full of batter in the boondi ladle, and gently rub the batter with another ladle while holding the boondi ladle over the kadai. Observe that the tiny batter droplets float on the hot oil forming tiny boondis.
Remove from oil once the tiny bubbles in the oil disappear and the boondi changes the color slightly. We don't want the boondi to be bright brown.
As and when the boondi is done, transfer the boondi into the stockpot containing the syrup.
After couple of batches of the boondi, mix the syrup so all the boondi gets soaked in the syrup. Continue until all the boondi is done.
Making the Laddus -
It is very important to note that the syrup should be warm or as hot as can be tolerated by the palm of our hands.
The whole stockpot might and can be reheated for a few minutes if needed.
Take a handful of the syrup soaked boondi and squeeze well to form a laddu. If the syrup is not warm enough it might be difficult to make a firm laddu, otherwise the laddu making is a breeze.
Continue making the laddu until the boondi is exhausted.
Let them air dry for a few minutes giving it time to firm up.
Store in an air tight container upon cooling.
A special note - A group of 3 friends and yours truly have made a huge batch (about 370+) of laddus as a collective effort. It took us about 4-5 hours, 16 cups of besan, 16 cups of sugar and approximately 3 liters of oil, 3 cups of raisins, 400 gms of cashew bits and 1/8 th tsp of camphor.
Preparation Time 1 hour
Makes 12-15 laddus depending on the size
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Posted by
Harini R
on
Friday, October 10, 2014