“Search for a good recipe to make besan ke ladoo (gram flour ladoo) for Ganesh Chaturthi”, mom gave me a responsibility.
But that was not it, she continued, “This time you make besan ke ladoo.”
“Huh? Why are you not making it?”, I followed.
She cutely smiled and said, “Because you cook nicely, so you make them. Last year I tried making them but they were not so good.”
Now, I am sure they were finger-licking good but she’s too modest and of course loves encouraging me. Her confidence in me gives me the courage to try out new dishes. I have never made any type of ladoo, leave alone besan ke ladoo but that’s what escalated my excitement.
Ladoo (noun) A sweet ball made with a mixture of flour/seeds, sugar or jaggery and ghee.
There are many different kinds of ladoos like coconut ladoo, aate ka ladoo (wheat flour ladoo), besan ke ladoo (gramflour ladoo), til ke ladoo (sesame seeds ladoo), motichoor ke ladoo and lots more!
I was trying to find the history of ladoos but could not find enough authentic information. Then I came across an interesting article titled Food Story: The journey of ladoo from a medicine to the much-loved Indian sweet, published in Indian Express. As the title is self-explanatory, ladoo in its original form was given to people as a medicine. After the import of sugar to India during the British Era, ladoo became a popular everyday sweet, which no longer held its medicinal properties due to use of white sugar. Today, no doctor will even mistakenly prescribe ladoo to anybody.
I am not ashamed when I say I love sugar and I am glad ladoo is not used as a medicine anymore. I looked up various recipes on the Internet with mom and found two really useful ones uploaded by Nisha Madhulika and bharatzKitchen HINDI.
In cooking, I feel the texture of the food plays an important role among the other elements such as colour, smell and of course taste.
There was a main difference between the various recipes I saw and the two recipes that I found useful. It was the texture of the ladoo. There are just 3 ingredients needed to make besan ke ladoo – besan (gram flour), sugar and ghee (clarified butter). Various recipes used powdered sugar to make the ladoos. However, those two recipes used something called ‘tagar’ or ‘boora’ sugar. When you bite into a besan ladoo that has used powdered sugar, it will stick into your mouth. Whereas, using ‘tagar’ or ‘boora’ sugar gives it a fine crunchy texture.
What is tagar or boora?
Boora is made by recrystallizing granulated sugar. The granules are broken down into smaller and finer fragments. It may seem like this scientific process needs specific machinery. But what if I tell you that you can perform this science in your own kitchen lab! All you need is sugar, water, fire and some continuous stirring to make boora!
How to make tagar or boora?
Ingredients: Sugar – 3 cups Water – 1 cup Ghee (clarified butter) – 1 tbsp
Cooking time: 6-7 mins
Recipe:
Take 3 cups of sugar with 1 cup of water in a non-stick pan. Throughout the cooking, keep the gas on high flame.
2. Keep stirring it in a clockwise direction on a high flame.
3. Once the sugar melts and bubbles start forming, add 1 tbsp ghee or clarified butter and keep stirring it. The ghee prevents the sugar from hardening.
4. In between you can put a drop of the syrup on a plate and check the consistency with your fingers. It should be thick and immediately dry off.
5. Cook the syrup for another 2-3 mins after adding the ghee and then switch off the gas.
6. Place the pan on a stand, it would be a clear syrup.
7. Keep stirring the syrup so that the water dries off and we are left with fine granulated sugar or ‘boora’.
8. You can even sieve it to get rid of the bigger pieces.
How to make besan ke ladoo?
Ingredients: Coarse Besan (Gram flour) – 2 cups Boora Sugar – 1 1/2 cups Ghee (Clarified butter) – 1 cup Handful of dryfruits
Cooking time: 20-25 mins for roasting the besan, 45 mins – 1 hour for rest of the process
Recipe:
Add ghee to the pan and let it melt.
2. Now add the besan and keep stirring it continuously. Throughout the roasting, keep it on low flame. If you increase the heat, it will burn the besan.
3. Keep stirring and add some more ghee if required.
4. Stir until the besan turns a good golden brown colour with a beautiful aroma. This process would take about 20 mins.
5. Turn off the gas and allow the mixture to completely cool down. DO NOT add the sugar when the mixture is hot or it will caramalise.
6. Once it has cooled down, add the ‘boora’ sugar and keep mixing to get a thick batter.
7. Roll the batter into spherical balls aka ladoos and add dryfruits on top for garnish! You may add almonds to the mixture as well but I prefer them just as a garnish.
The ladoos were perfectly sweet and the crunchy texture enhanced its quality. Everyone in my family really loved eating them as much as I loved making them with my mother.
Fun fact: Ladoo is used as a loving nickname for a cute round chubby little boy.
I hope you enjoy making this wonderful Indian sweet which requires only 3 elements with a pinch of patience and love!
Vaibhavi 27.08.2020
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