Besan Laddoo
Besan roasted slow in ghee until it turns the colour of wet sand and runs like batter. Grainy, rich, cardamom-warm, and the whole house knows it is Diwali.
Ingredients
Serves 16
- 2 cups (200 g) besan (gram flour), coarse or laddoo besan if you can get it
- ¾ cup (150 g) Gir Cow's A2 Ghee, plus 1 to 2 tbsp more if needed
- 1 cup (150 g) powdered sugar (boora or tagar is best)
- 1 tbsp fine rava (semolina), optional, for a grainy bite
- ½ tsp green cardamom powder
- 2 tbsp almonds, chopped
- 1 tbsp pistachios, slivered, to decorate
- 1 tbsp melon seeds (magaz), optional
- A tiny pinch of salt
Quantities are scaled up. Taste as you go and adjust the salt and spice.
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Two days before Diwali the heavy kadhai comes down from the top shelf and somebody is put on stirring duty. For the first ten minutes nothing happens. The besan sits there dry and lumpy and you wonder if this is going anywhere. Then it loosens all at once, turns smooth, starts to flow off the spatula like thick batter, and the smell reaches the next room. That is the moment everyone walks into the kitchen to ask how long it will be.
Gir Cow's A2 Ghee is not the cooking fat here, it is the taste. Ghee stays clear and liquid on a low flame for the full twenty-five minutes without browning or catching, so it coats every grain of besan and roasts it evenly instead of scorching patches. Butter cannot do this, it has water in it and it will burn long before the besan is ready. Ours is churned the bilona way from Gir cow milk, which is why the finished laddoo smells nutty rather than flat.
The one rule: the roasted besan must cool before the sugar goes in. Spread it in a thali and give it fifteen to twenty minutes, until it is only just warm to the touch. Add sugar to hot besan and it melts into syrup, and you will be left with flat sticky rounds that never firm up.
How to make it
- Sieve the besan into a bowl to remove lumps. Keep a wide thali or plate ready for cooling.
- Melt the ghee in a heavy-bottomed kadhai on a low flame. Add the besan and rava. Stir to mix.
- Roast on low, stirring all the time with a flat spatula. For the first 10 minutes it will look dry and lumpy. Keep going. Then it loosens, turns smooth and starts to flow.
- Keep roasting for 20 to 25 minutes in total. The besan will turn a shade darker, golden like sand, and smell nutty and rich. It will look thin and runny. That is right. Switch off the flame and stir in the salt.
- Pour the mix into the thali and spread it out. Let it cool for 15 to 20 minutes, till it is just warm to the touch, not hot. This step matters.
- Add the powdered sugar, cardamom, almonds and melon seeds. Mix well with your hand. The mix will start to come together.
- Take about 2 tbsp of the mix, press it in your fist, then roll between your palms into a smooth ball. If it will not hold, add 1 tbsp warm ghee. If it is too soft, wait 5 minutes and try again. It firms up as it cools.
- Press a pistachio sliver on top of each laddoo. Let them set at room temperature for an hour. Store in an airtight box.
Tips
- Low flame is the whole recipe. On medium heat, besan browns outside and stays raw inside, and the laddoo tastes bitter.
- Boora or tagar (loose, grainy sugar) gives the best texture. Regular powdered sugar works too, just make sure it is very fine.
- The laddoos keep for 2 weeks in an airtight box at room temperature. No fridge needed.
- Double the batch for Diwali gifting. Roast in two lots, it is easier to stir and cooks more evenly.
