Boondi Ladoo

Ingredients:

Chickpea flour/besan 1 cup

Sugar 1 1/4 cup

Oil/ghee for frying

Cardamom powder upto 1 tsp

Water 1/2 cup

Saffron strands soaked in 1 teaspoon of warm milk

Raisins and broken cashew bits.

Mix the besan flour with water till it resembles heavy cream. Use a whisk to break any flour clumps and get a homogenous mixture. Add the milk with the saffron strands to the batter. Heat the oil or ghee is a frying pan. Using a ladle pour the batter on to the boodi ladle.The boondi ladle is a sieve with round holes and a long handle. If this is not available one can use a colander instead. Pour the batter onto the boondi ladle and briskly pass the a spoon or another ladle over the circumference of the boondi ladle in circular motions so that the batter is forced through the holes in the ladle and into the frying pan. The boondis need not be fried crisp as for savory dishes like raita. Simultaneously mix the half cup of water with the sugar and stirring it continuously. Let it boil and thicken. When the syrup is dropped on a steel plate the droplet should not flow. In other words, it should set on the plate. Then the sugar syrup is ready. Add the fried boondi to the sugar syrup. Mix it well, add the cardamom powder and some raisins and cahews fried in a tablespoon of ghee, till the cashews turn golden brown and the raisins plump up.

Tip: You can stubstitute 1/4 cup of Badam powder available in the stores as in MTR’s Badam feast etc. This powder can be easily made at home and the recipe will follow in duie course.

Let the boondi soak in the sugar syrup. While still warm shape the soaked boondi into laddus of desired size.