Tilgul Ladoo

On Makar Sankranti you put a tilgul ladoo in someone's hand and say tilgul ghya, god god bola. Take this til and gud, and speak sweetly. Old arguments are supposed to be dropped over it, and quite often they are. Til and gud are both winter foods in Maharashtra, warm and dense, and this is the oldest and simplest way anyone has found of putting the two together.

The flavour is mostly jaggery. Our Organic Jaggery is unrefined, so it melts into the roasted sesame with a deep caramel taste and a dark colour that carries the til rather than covering it, and a spoon of Gir Cow's A2 Ghee in the pan helps it melt evenly without catching. To shape the ladoos, rub a few drops of wooden cold pressed white sesame oil into your palms. It stops the hot mixture sticking, and because it is the same seed it adds to the til smell instead of cutting across it.

The one thing that decides these is speed. The mixture only binds while it is hot and it goes stiff within a couple of minutes off the flame. Test the syrup at soft ball stage in cold water, keep the pan on the lowest flame while you work, press each ladoo hard, and do not stop halfway to answer the phone.

How to make it

1. Dry roast the sesame seeds in a kadhai on low for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring all the time, till they turn a shade paler and start popping. Take them off the moment they smell nutty. Burnt til turns the whole ladoo bitter. Cool on a plate.
2. In the same pan, roast the groundnuts on medium-low for 7 to 8 minutes till the skins crack. Cool, rub off the skins, and crush coarsely.
3. Dry roast the grated dry coconut for 2 minutes till it just turns golden. Keep aside.
4. Coarsely pulse half the roasted sesame in a mixer, one or two short pulses only. Half ground and half whole gives ladoos that bind well but still crunch.
5. Melt the ghee in a heavy kadhai on low. Add the jaggery and 2 tbsp water and stir till it melts and starts bubbling, about 3 minutes.
6. Cook 3 to 4 minutes more, then test. Drop a little syrup into cold water. It should form a ball you can pick up and press between your fingers, soft but holding shape. That is soft ball stage. Switch off at once.
7. Add the sesame, crushed groundnuts, coconut, cardamom, poppy seeds and salt. Stir hard for 20 seconds till everything is coated.
8. Rub a few drops of white sesame oil into your palms. While the mixture is hot but bearable, take a small lump and press it firmly into a ladoo. Press hard, or it will crumble. Keep the pan on the lowest flame so the rest stays warm and workable.
9. Set the ladoos on a greased plate and cool for 20 minutes to firm up.

Tips

• If the mixture will not bind, the syrup did not reach soft ball stage. Put the pan back on low, add 1 tbsp water, and cook for 2 minutes more, then try again.
• If it has gone hard and crumbles in your hand, sprinkle a spoon of water over it, warm it on low for a minute, and it will come back.
• Storage: keeps 3 weeks in an airtight box at room temperature. It is a dry sweet, so it travels and posts well. Do not refrigerate.
• Substitution: black sesame seeds work in exactly the same way and give a stronger, earthier ladoo. Roast them a minute less, as it is harder to see when they colour.
• Make ahead: roast the sesame, groundnuts and coconut a day earlier and keep them in a jar. Then the jaggery syrup and shaping take only fifteen minutes.