BALLS & DUMPLINGS - LADDU
Bandar Laddu
(from Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh)
Besan flour (senagapindi) 1 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Ghee 1 cup
Kaju (geedipappu/cashew) ½ cup
Saffron 1 grain (chitekedu)
Elachi, 5 (black cardamom)
Water ¼ cup
Take besan and mix it with water. Make a dough and prepare chaklees (karappusa) by frying the dough balls in hot ghee. Once cooled, grind the karappusa in the mixie until they become a fine powder. Set the powder aside. Take sugar, water, and saffron and boil it to make a thick syrup. Check the required consistency of the syrup by testing it with a drop of it in cold water to see if it solidifies (vunda pakam). When it does solidify in water, Remove the syrup add the karappusa powder already made, mix it thoroughly and see that no hard lumps remain. Take the kajus and fry them in ghee. Grind the elachi pieces to a fine powder. Add these to the above mixture and make Laddoos, adding a little bit of milk as needed.
Batakamma Malleda
2 cups Wheat flour
Water as needed
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Cardamom (elachi) powder, 1 tsp.
Ghee as needed
Add water and little ghee in with the wheat flour and make a batter. Make chapathis with that batter and use ghee to fry them. Now tear these chapathis into small pieces and take sugar to taste, and grind both chapathis pieces and sugar for a while. The pieces should remain pieces - don’t grind them into smooth paste. Now add some elachi powder and simply make laddus with this mix. They are traditionally made for Batakamma Panduga by Telanganas.
Besan Ke Ladoo
Coarse gram flour 2 cups
Milk 1/3 cup
Ghee for milk 1 tbsp
Ghee 1-1/4 cups
Powdered sugar 1 cup
Cardamom powder 1 tsp
Sliced almonds 1/4 cup
Add ghee and milk to the gram flour and mix well. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes. Run the gram flour through a coarse sieve to make it grainy. Take some more ghee in a thick bottom vessel and heat it. Add prepared flour. Roast it till light pinkish in colour. Add the sugar and cardamom. Also mix in the sliced almonds. Remove from heat and cool. When it is still warm, roll into ladoos.
Boondhi Laddu
Bengal gram flour 1 cup (heaped)
Rice flour 1 tsp
Kesar colour a pinch (for the dough)
Cooking soda a pinch
Oil for deep frying
Sugar 1 1/2 cups
Water 1/2 cup
Saffron little
Broken cashewnuts 1 tsp
Kismis 1 tblsp.
Diamond candy little (optional)
Cloves few
Ghee 1 tblsp.
Kesar colour a pinch (for sugar syrup)
Cardamom powder little
Mix gram flour, rice flour, colour, soda together. Add just enough water to make it into a paste. Heat oil in a board "kadai". Keep boondhi ladle (flat round ladle with holes) on top of the oil at a distance and pour one big spoon full mixed batter on the boondhi ladle. Tap gently with spoon. Small droplets of dough falls in oil and gets fried. When it is half fried (still soft) take out from oil and put in hot sugar syrup. Repeat the process till all the boondid are fried.
For Sugar syrup: Mix sugar and water together in a heavy vessel. Heat till sugar is dissolved stirring it in-between. When it is dissolved allow the syrup to boil till half string consistency is reached. (do not stir at this stage) REmove from fire and mix kesar colour, saffron, cardamom powder, fried cloves, cashew nuts, kismis, diamond candy and deep fried boondis. Keep aside till it becomes luke warm. Make into medium sized balls when the mixture is still warm. Note: If the mixture cools completely, the sugar crystallizes and balls cannot be made. Add all the deep fried boondis together in sugar syrup. Syrup should be warm while putting boondis in that.
Boondi Laddu
Besan - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Cardamom - 2
Clove - 2
Cashews - 4
Saffron - a pinch
Dry Camphor - a pinch
(Pachai Karpooram)
Coloring agent - a pinch
Oil - to deep fry
Heat up 1/4 cup water in a heavy bottomed vessel and dissolve the sugar completely in it. Add the carrdamom, dry camphor, saffron and coloring agent to it and remove from the fire / heat. Add 1/4 cup water to the besan and mix it to obtain a thick batter (like bajji maavu). Heat up oil in a kadai and when it starts to smoke, reduce the heat to medium. Hold a plate with holes (or a laddle with holes used while frying) over the hot oil and pour the besan batter over the plate. Small drops of it will fall in the hot oil and fry as small balls. Remove these promptly (without becoming too crisp) and drain off the excess oil. Add these in batches to the hot sugar syrup. Continue to work on the batter to prepare all the boondi out of it. Add the small cashew pieces (fried in ghee) and the cloves and stir the boondi in the sugar syrup to mix uniformly. While it is still warm, form small balls out of it and firmly hold in the palm to round up the balls. Make sure that the laddus are all firm. Try to work as quickly as possible, because as the syrup cools down, you may not be able to form firm laddus.
Bread Laddu
Bread - 10 slices
Sugar (powdered) ¼ cup
Ghee - 5 tsp
Cashewnuts - 5
Badam (almonds), broken small - 5
Cardamom - 3
Remove the crust from the breads. Now put the bread in the mixie or food processor and make make it coarse, like rava (don't use water). Add powdered sugar and cardamom powder to the bread. In a frying pan heat ghee and fry cashews and badam and add it to the bread. Add the same ghee into the bread mixture and roll small balls.
Bundi Laddo
1-1/4 cups Sugar
1-1/4 cups water
1 tbsp milk
2/3 cup gram flour
Salt to taste
2 pinch of soda bicarbonate
1 tbsp ghee
Few flakes of saffron soaked into 1 tsp of water
Ghee for frying
Prepare thick sugar syrup with water and sugar. Mix all the ingredients and make a thick batter. Heat the ghee and make golden bundies. Dip these bundies into sugar syrup for ten minutes. Remove from the syrup and make small balls and keep aside. When balls become hard put into the container until time to offer.
Churma Ladoo
Wheat flour (coarse if possible) 2 cups
Ghee 3/4 cup
Ghee for frying
Jaggery - 1-1/4 cups
Dry grated coconut 1/2 cup
Khus khus (poppy seeds) 2 tbsps
Put the flour in a thali. Add ghee and mix well. Make stiff dough with water or milk. Roll into balls. Heat the ghee and deep fry on low heat till they are golden brown. Remove and cool. Break and crush them. Sieve the crumbled mixture through a coarse sieve. Melt jaggery till it starts bubbling. Add the coconut. Mix well and pour it over the wheat mixture. Mix well and make the ladoos while still warm. Roll each one in poppy seeds and then arrange on an offering plate.
Churma Ke Laddu
1½ cups gehun ka atta (wheat flour)
¼ cup grated dry coconut
2 tbsp til (sesame)
¾ cup gur, grated (jaggery)
2 tbsp ghee
Ghee for deep frying
Khus Khus (poppy seeds) for coating
Make a stiff dough of the gehun ka atta by adding ½ cup of water. Knead properly. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Shape the parts into the shape of your fist and press with your fingers in the centre of each part. Heat ghee in a kadhai and deep fry the dough parts on a very slow flame for 25 to 30 minutes until they becomes golden brown in colour. Drain on absorbent paper and keep them to cool. Pound the dough in a mortar and pestle to coarse pieces. Grind the pieces further in a mixer to get a fine powder (churma).
Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pan, put the grated coconut and sesame seeds and fry for about 2 minutes. Take out and set aside. Heat the gur with the remaining tbsp of ghee and 1 tbsp water on a medium flame till the gur dissolves. Cool slightly. Mix the ground churma, coconut and sesame seeds with the melted gur. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Divide into 10 parts and shape into rounds. Roll each laddu in khus khus. Keep the laddus in an air-tight container.
Coconut Laddoos
Condensed milk 14 oz
Coconut powder 2-1/2 cups
Warm condensed milk in a microwave for about 5-10 seconds. Mix milk with 2-1/4 cups coconut powder. Form mixture into balls and roll in remaining coconut powder. Offer.
Custard Apple Ladoos
For filling:
Pulp of custard apple 1/2 cup
Khoya 3/4 cup
Sugar 3 tbsps
Vanilla essence 1/4 tsp
For covering:
Thin poha (flattened rice)
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Ghee
1-1/2 tbps Milk
1 cup Khoya
1/2 cup A few drops of green colour
Pistachios to decorate
If you don’t have khoya, fine ricotta cheese is a great substitute. For filling: Mix all ingredients and cook. Stir till the mixture thickens and leaves the side of the vessel. Cool and divide into 15 balls. For covering: Clean, wash and mash the poha (unless you buy prepared, pre-flattened poha). Melt the ghee in a vessel, add poha and stir for a few minutes until poha is glistening with ghee. Add the milk, sugar and khoya. Allow it to simmer till it is very thick and leaves the side of the vessel. Stir constantly so it doesn’t stick to the pan. Mix the colour in and remove from heat. Cool and divide into 15 balls. Flatten each ball of the covering and put the filling in the centre and roll into a ladoo. Decorate with pieces of pistachio. Put them in cups of butter paper and serve.
Exotic Ladoos
Sugar (Powdered) - 1 cup
Flour - 1/2 cup
Cashew - 6
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - 1 cup
Oil - to deep fry
Mix the flour and salt well. Heat up 3 tbs of the ghee and add to the flour. Mix well, add water and knead into a smooth dough. Set aside for about 10 minutes and then divide the dough into lemon sized balls. Roll out these balls into small puris. Heat up the oil and deep fry the puris in it. Drain off the excess oil using tissues. Deep fry the cashew, cut into small pieces, in some ghee to a fine brown. When cool, grind puris in a mixie to a fine powder. Mix the powdered puris, sugar powder, cardamom powder and fried cashew pieces well. Heat up the remaining ghee and pour all over the powdered mix. While still warm, mix well and form firm balls (laddoos).
Gund Laddoo
1 cup Gund (edible gum)
1 cup Sooji
Ghee for frying
1 cup Sugar
Cantelope seeds, roasted and peeled
Dry roast the cantelope seeds and set aside. Fry the gund in a little hot ghee until it pops, then grind it in a food processor. Fry the sooji in a little ghee and toast it to darken a few shades. Mix the ground gund and sugar in with the sooji and heat until the sugar is melted. Remove from heat and let it cool enough to handle. Mix in the cantelope seeds. Make round balls and offer. These are said to be good for pregnant women, as they help with backaches.
Krsna Laddu
1 pound Gram (chick-pea) flour
1 pound Butter
1 pound Sugar
½ to ¾ lb. Icing (powdered) sugar
Melt butter in a sauce-pan, then add gram flour and mix together. Keep mixture over a medium flame, allowing to sit and begin to brown, while stirring thoroughly. Cook until the mixture is a rich golden-brown colour. Then, turn heat down to very low and add in icing sugar. Stir this in, and the result will be crumbly. Keep stirring over low heat and the sugar will melt, so that the mixture becomes again pasty. Then add the rest of the sugar and stir again until pasty. Then allow the mixture to cool, and roll into balls, by spooning some nearly firm mixture into hand and then quickly rolling into a ball. Allow these to cool. Keep these laddu balls stored in a cool place until ready to offer.
Laziz Laddoo
½ cup Paneer
½ cup Khoya (or fine ricotta cheese)
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla or Cardamom powder
Chopped Nuts for Decoration
Knead the paneer very well so that no lumps are left. Next sieve the khoya and mix it with paneer. Add sugar, vanilla or cardamom, and mix very well. Make small laddoo and decorate with chopped nuts. Keep in refrigerator until ready to offer.
Malai Ladoos
1/2 cup condensed milk
¾ cup paneer
Cardamom powder, 1 tsp.
1/4 tsp. yellow colour
Put paneer in a bowl and mash it. Add condensed milk and cook on slow flame, stirring continuously. Cook till thick and leaves sides. Add cardamom powder. Mix well. Pour onto a plate and let it cool. Make Ladoos.
Menthi Laddus
1-1/4 cup Wheat flour
1-1/4 cup Almonds crushed
1-1/4 cup Fenugreek seeds ground
1-1/4 cup Dehydrated coconut grated
4 tablespoons Coriander seeds, crushed
½ cup Gund (or Gond, as in gon-"the"), crushed coarsely
3 teaspoons Ginger powder
1 teaspoon Cardamom powder
2-1/2 cups soft jaggery, grated or crushed fine
Ghee for frying
Heat ghee in a large heavy frying pan. Add flour, stir fry on low flame for several minutes, then add gond, which is an edible gum. Stir continuously, adding about a tbsp of ghee more. When all the gum has popped, take off fire. Add almonds, fenugreek powder, coconut, coriander, ginger powder, and cardamom. Mix all ingredients well into flour mixture. Add more ghee only if mixture is very dry. In a separate pan, heat another cup or so of ghee, add jaggery, melt while stirring continuously. Allow to bubble a bit, but do not overcook or the ladoos will become hard. Mix this into the rest of the mixture. With a wide strong spatula, turn mixture over and over. When completely blended, mould into walnut size ladoos. Cool to room temperature in a wide plate. Store in airtight container until ready to offer.
Policha Ladoo
4 normal size chapatis
1/2 cup grated jaggery
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/4 cup desiccated dry coconut
3 tablespoon ghee
Crumble and grind the chapatis down finely. In a heated frying pan roast poppy seeds and desiccated coconut together till light brown. Take a large bowl and add crumbled chapatis, roasted coconut and seeds and grated jaggery. Mix it well. Lastly add melted ghee to the mixture. Mix well. Roll this into ladoos and offer.
Rava Laddu #1
1 Cup Rava
1 Cup Sugar
Elakas (cardamom) - 3 black
Cashewnuts - 4 Tbspns
Raisins 4 Tbspns
Warm Milk - 1/4 to 1/2 Cup
2 Tbspns Ghee for frying
Roast the Rava Lightly. Remove from heat and let it cool. Dry grind and set aside. Take the sugar and pass it through the dry grinder, then add the sugar powder to the Rava powder. Add the elaka powder to the rava/sugar mixture. Mix well. Fry the cashew nuts in ghee and add to the rava mixture, then do the same with the raisins. Mix well. Now sprinkle the warm milk over the rava and roll into the Laddus. Let stand to dry for 15 minutes, then offer.
Rava Laddu #2
Rava - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Cardamom - 2
Heat up some ghee and fry the rava in it to a fine golden brown. Make it into a fine powder. Add the cardamom to the sugar and finely powder the sugar. Mix both powders. Heat up the remaining ghee and pour over the mixture. Mix uniformly and form firm balls while still hot. Enhancements : You may add small pieces of cashew fried in ghee along with the powders and form the laddus.
Sevai Paneer Ke Ladoo
Paneer 2 cups
Powdered sugar for paneer 3/4 cup
A little saffron or a few drops of yellow colouring
Ghee 1 tbsp
Vermicelli 3/4 cup
Milk 3/4 cup
Grated fresh coconut 1/4 cup
A few chopped almonds
Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
Sugar for vermicelli 1/2 cup
Dessicated coconut 3-4 tbsps
Take the paneer, sugar and dissolved saffron in a shallow dish. Knead till smooth. Divide into 25 balls. Heat ghee. Add broken vermicelli and fresh coconut. Fry till it turns light pink. Add the milk, almonds and cardamom. When the milk starts to evaporate, add the sugar and stir well till the mixture leaves the sides of the vessel. Remove from the heat and cool. Divide into 25 portions. Stuff each vermicelli ball into the paneer ball. Roll each ball in the dessicated coconut.
Suji Laddu
1 cup semolina
1 cup sugar
1-1/4 cup milk
1 tsp chopped nuts
4 tbsps ghee
Heat ghee and gently fry the semolina till golden. When the ghee separates out, add sugar and milk and continue cooking till the mixture thickens. Add the nuts and remove from fire and allow it to cool. Sprinkle powdered cardamom and form into balls.
Thari Unda (Semolina Laddu)
Semolina 1 cup
Grated coconut 1/2 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Raisins 2 tbsps
Cashewnuts (chopped) 2 tbsps
Rose water 1 tsp
Cardamom (powdered) 5 pods
Water 1/2 cup
Dry roast the semolina and cool. Add water to the sugar and make a sticky syrup. Add all the ingredients and stir well. Remove from the fire and form into even sized balls.
Til Ka Ladoo
White sesame seeds 4 cups
Water ½ cup
Jaggery 1½ cups
Coconut, cut into very small pieces ¼ cup
In a heavy saucepan, dry-roast the sesame seeds until light brown in color. Set aside. Prepare syrup by adding ½ cup water to a heavy saucepan. Add the powdered jaggery and slowly bring to a boil. Now add the chopped coconut pieces. Simmer on a low heat until the syrup becomes thick and sticky. Add the roasted sesame seeds. Mix thoroughly. Turn off the heat and quickly shape the mixture into small balls with your fingers. Store in an airtight container until ready to offer.
White Ladoos
Semolina (suji) 1-1/2 cups
Khoya 2 cups (or fine ricotta cheese)
Almonds and pistachios 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder 2 tbsps
Sugar 1-1/2 cups
Ghee 3/4 cup
Lemon juice a few drops
Break the khoya by passing it through a sieve with large holes. Heat the ghee and roast semolina on low heat till it turns light pink. Add khoya and roast for another 2 or 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Take the sugar in a vessel. Add just enough water to dissolve it. Add a few drops of lemon juice. Skim off or strain the syrup, as needed. Return the vessel to heat and cook till the sugar syrup forms a two thread consistency (thick syrup). Cool and mix with the semolina and khoya. Add the cardamom and nuts. Mix well and then make small ladoos.
