Tea Time Snack - Laddu

Laddu is a sweet delicacy prepared not only in Tamilnadu but all over India and South Asia, for festivals and special occasions.

Ingredients:

1. Kadalai Mavu - 300gram
2. Rice Flour - 1 Teaspoon
3. Cooking Soda  - 1 Pinch
4. Salt - 1 Pinch
5. Cooking Oil - 300ml
6. Sugar - 250ml
7. Kesari Colour - 1 Pinch
8. Cardamom: 3
9. Clove - 3
10. Cashew Nut and Raisins - 50Grams
11. Ghee - 1 Tablespoon
12. Water for Sugar  syrup - 100ml

Method:

Mix the  kadalai mavu  with rice flour and cooking soda and add some water to make batter. This batter should be similar to ‘bhaji' batter consistency. Set aside.

Take a thick-bottomed vessel and add both sugar and water(100ml). Heat on medium flame to make sugar syrup. You have to keep stirring often till you reach a certain consistency, which can be tested by taking some syrup between your thumb and index finger and spreading the fingers out. If the syrup is sticky and extends like a thread between the two fingers, it is ready. Set this aside. Powder the cardamom.

Heat oil in a frying pan on high. When the oil is very hot, take a big spoon of flour batter. Place the ”bhoondhi” ladle over the hot oil, pour one spoonful of batter into the bhoondhi ladle and press down.
Small balls of the dhal batter will drop into the oil. Once they are cooked, remove with another spoon, draining the excess oil. Let the fried batter balls (Boondhi) soak in the sugar syrup. Do the same with the rest of the batter. Using a big heavy spoon, pound the cooked mixture to a pulp. Fry the raisins and cashew in ghee and add to the pulp with the remaining ghee. Now you can add the whole cloves, and make round laddus, pressing the pulp into spheres using your hands.

Tips: Before making sugar syrup you have to make flour batter.