Hope all of you had a safe and fun filled Diwali. While planning for Diwali Sweets, I try to include the ones which are in my to-do list. And most of the time, the ones which requires time and energy gets into the list, since its festival and I am all out to slog that extra hours in the kitchen. The first sweet to be ticked this time was Boondhi Ladoo and my MIL was game for it since she had made only once and that was with her mother taking the lead. And its first time for me, though I have enough experience in rolling the laddus. (My college mates will agree to this). I checked the measurements and thread consistency for the syrup, with my mom. My mom gave the measurements in kilograms and I scaled it down to cups which is easier for me, since I was making a small quantity.
- Besan/Kadalamavu - 2 cups
- Yellow color - a pinch
- Sugar - 3 cups
- Water - 1/2 cup
- Milk - 1 tspn
- Cashews, raisins, sugar candy(kalkandu) - a handful
- Cardamom/Elaichi powder - 1 tspn
- Ghee - 1 tblspn
- Oil to deep fry
Preparing the syrup
First prepare the sugar syrup to soak the boondhis. Heat water and sugar in a deep bottom vessel. When the sugar is fully dissolved, add a teaspoon of milk and let the syrup boil. The impurities in the sugar will float on top. Remove the scum with a ladle. Boil the syrup to one thread consistency. You can check by dropping some syrup to a small bowl of water. If the syrup stays in water and it is rollable, then you can switch of the stove. Take care that you don't make a thick syrup, since rolling laddus will not be easy and it will not hold shape also.
Don't add the sugar candy at this stage.
Take the besan in a bowl. Mix in a pinch of yellow color. Add water and make a lump free batter. The batter should be similar to dosa batter. To make boondhi, a special ladle is available in the market. I don't have one. I used the normal slotted ladle which has big holes in it. It worked fine for me. To check the batter consistency, try droping the batter on the ladle over the batter mix. You can see how the batter falls down. If it doesn't fall in drops, you can add some more besan to adjust the consistency.
Heat oil in a wide pan. Heat moderately. Hold the ladle above the oil. The height of the ladle determines the shape of the boondhi. So hold it high. While making the boondhi, we tend to lower it near the oil, and you will end up with tiny boondhis. The boondhis get fried very quickly. Drain them before they turn very crisp. Add the drained boondhis to the syrup. Continue making boondhis till you finish the batter. Gently mix the syrup after addition of each batch of boondhis. The hot boondhis will keep the syrup warm. Finally add the sugar candies. We are not adding it at the beginning since it might melt in the hot syrup.
Take a handful of the soaked boondhis and press it in your fist and roll into laddoos. You should press it well while shaping, so it holds shape and remains firm on cooling also.
