50 min Weekend Magazine kitchen
VegetarianGluten-free
The only difficult thing about ladoo is patience. Under-roasted besan tastes of raw flour; burnt besan cannot be saved. A Diwali kitchen smells of this roasting from the morning. Pack them in a tin lined with butter paper and they keep two weeks — longer if the house is not full of children.
Ingredients
20
- besan (gram flour)3 cups, fine
- ghee1 cup
- powdered sugar1 1/2 cups
- cardamom1 tsp, ground
- pistachios or almonds3 tbsp, chopped
Method
- 1
Melt ghee in a heavy kadai. Add besan and roast on low, stirring the whole time, until it is the colour of wet sand and smells nutty — 20 to 25 minutes. Do not rush.
- 2
Take it off the heat. Cool until you can hold a finger in it, then mix in sugar, cardamom, and most of the nuts.
- 3
While still warm, roll into tight balls. Press a pistachio on each. They firm as they cool.
