Motichoor Ladoo

Outside a halwai's shop on the night before Diwali, a man holds a flat perforated ladle over a wide kadhai of ghee and pours batter through it. Hundreds of orange drops fall at once and hiss. Forty seconds later they come out, tiny and soft, and go straight into hot syrup. Later he presses them into balls while they are still warm enough to sting his palms. You break one at home and it collapses into hundreds of sugar-soaked pearls.

The boondi is fried in Gir Cow's A2 Ghee, which is the whole difference between a motichoor ladoo and a sweet-shop imitation. Ghee gives the tiny pearls a soft, rounded finish and a smell you can pick up across a room. It also makes the ladoo bind more easily when warm. Ours is made the bilona way from Gir cow milk.

The rule that decides this sweet: you need the right jhara. A motichoor jhara has holes the size of a mustard seed, number 0 or 1. Anything bigger and you will make perfectly nice boondi ladoo, but never motichoor. And the boondi must come out of the ghee in 30 to 45 seconds, before it crisps.

How to make it

1. Whisk the besan with 1/2 cup water into a lump-free batter, then rest 15 minutes. Whisk in the remaining water 2 tbsp at a time along with 1/2 tsp ghee and the colour if using. The batter must run off the whisk in a thin unbroken stream, thinner than dosa batter. Thick batter gives boondi with tails.
2. Boil the sugar and 1/2 cup water for 5 to 6 minutes to a sticky syrup just short of one-thread. Add the lemon juice and cardamom, switch off and keep it warm.
3. Heat the ghee in a wide kadhai to medium. Test with a few drops of batter: they should rise briskly without browning.
4. Hold the jhara 8 to 10 cm above the ghee and pour a ladleful of batter over it, spreading it with the back of the ladle so the drops fall in a shower. Never let the jhara touch the ghee.
5. Fry for 30 to 45 seconds only. The boondi must stay soft and pale gold, never crisp. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain. Wipe the jhara completely clean with a cloth before every batch, or the next drops will fuse into tails.
6. Pulse the warm boondi in a mixer 3 or 4 short times only, just enough to break the pearls slightly. Over-grinding gives you a paste that will not hold a ball shape.
7. Stir the boondi into the warm syrup with the magaz, half the nuts and the kewra water. Leave 20 minutes on the lowest flame or off the heat, until the syrup is absorbed and the mixture is thick and sticky.
8. While still warm enough to handle, grease your palms with ghee and press firmly into 16 balls, adding a spoon of warm milk if the mixture will not hold. Press the remaining nuts on top and let them set for 30 minutes.

Tips

• We do not sell the jhara. Ask for a motichoor jharni, number 0 or 1, at any utensil shop or online. It costs very little and it is the one thing you cannot improvise.
• Two pairs of hands help. One person pours the batter over the jhara while the other stirs the boondi in the ghee. Alone, work in small ladlefuls.
• If the ladoos will not bind, the mixture cooled too far or the syrup was too thin. Warm the whole lot gently for 2 minutes, add a spoon of warm milk, and shape immediately.
• Skip the colour if you like. Without it the ladoos are a soft yellow-gold, which is how they looked before food colour reached Indian sweet shops.
• Storage: 4 days at room temperature in an airtight box, a week in the fridge. Bring them back to room temperature before serving, cold motichoor tastes dull.