Mangala's Potpourri: Boondi Laddoos

Dish type: South Indian Dessert
Time required: 45 min

Yield: 12 nos. approx

Ingredients

For batter:

Besan 1 cup

Milk Just enough to bring besan to idli batter consistency

Turmeric Powder 1/2 tsp

Sandalwood powder 1/3 tsp

Salt A tiny pinch

For sugar syrup:

Sugar 3.5 cups

Water Just enough to cover sugar in bowl

Cardamom 2 or 3 nos.

Clove 5 to 6 nos.

Cashewnuts 2 or 3 tsps (broken pieces)

Raisins 2 or 3 tsps

For frying:

Pure ghee (or butter) 100 gms approx. for each batch of frying

Directions:

Mix milk (preferably Good Life milk), besan, sandalwood powder and turmeric powder. Bring it to idli batter consistency.

Heat 100 gms of ghee / butter in an iron kadai.

(to check if ghee is hot enough for frying, drop a drop of besan batter into hot ghee. If it flattens, it means batter is dilute. Add 1 sp of besan to adjust the consistency. If it forms a tail, it means batter is thick. Add 1 sp of water to adjust its consistency)

Before you begin to fry boondis, fry broken cashews and raisins, remove and keep aside.

Start preparing boondis using a boondi ladle. Using one hand, keep boondi ladle a little above the kadai. Using the other hand, pour batter on to the ladle so that it falls into the hot ghee in the kadai through the holes in the ladle. Wipe the ladle clean and dip it back into the batter. Use another ladle for frying and not the one dipped in batter.

Fry the boondis normally, don’t let it brown or burn. Ideally it is to be fried with sufficient ghee so that boondis have space to float. If you are comfortable using the extra ghee, do in small batches with lesser ghee. When boondis are in the last stage of frying, separate stuck boondis with light pressure.

Towards the end of boondi preparation, prepare sugar syrup to one string consistency and transfer fried boondis to sugar syrup.

Preparing Sugar Syrup:

Boil sugar in 500 ml water. Let sugar dissolve and boil for a few minutes till the syrup reaches a light thread consistency.

Add fried boondis, raisins, cashews, cardamom and clove to the boiling syrup. Let it boil for 2 to 3 min. When ladle starts getting sticky or stiff, switch off the flame. If syrup quantity is more, continue frying for another 2 to 3 min.

Let it cool down, enough for you to handle. .Add pinch of camphor and mix well. Transfer it to a wide basin, make portions and then form laddoos. Start making rough balls from these portions. Press well, but don’t squeeze out all the sugar syrup. Laddoos will become dry. Repeat 3 times. At this stage, it will be a well formed laddoo.

Boondi Laddoos are now ready. Offer to Guru/Jupiter

Tete – a – Tete:

For perfect round and dense laddoos, take out a ladleful of soaked boondis, powder them in a mixie and add it back to the rest of soaked boondis before forming them into laddoos.

Cardamom powder can be added either to sugar syrup or to besan mix.

It is important that sugar syrup reaches light thread consistency.

If batter is too thin or if ghee is not yet hot, boondi will absorb more ghee.

It is better to heat just the required amount of ghee for every batch of frying rather than heating larger than required quantity of ghee at a time.

Adding milk to besan softens the boondis.

Recipe contributor: Ms. Sreeja M

Waving to the dawn of this daintily drizzling day, while Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy, Cream Contributor of
recipes to Mangala’s Potluck wakes up to turn a new leaf in her life…Page 1 - Age 91, may we too enjoy the privilege of partaking in this celebration with…..

A flour that floors you no end, used not just in cuisine but also as facepack for dead cells to disappear and make one’s skin glow. A mask that can make even a doggedly canine look swiftly shift to a humanly feminine look! Wow you age old glowy tip…Do take a bow!!

Ubiquitous in a variety of cuisines, be it as farinata in Italy, fritter in Sicily, tortillitas in Spain or Koliva in Greece and back home, in our very own Mahan Bharat, wah wah list is Maha Bruhat!! Bhajji, Bonda, Boondi, Bhujia, Dhokla, Patra, Pakora, Puri, Pancake, Pak (of Mysore fame) or Sev (of street food fame!) Uffh….and now, can you guess which among these is “The Dish of This Day”? Draw your luck right here!

Dish type: South Indian Dessert

Time required: 2 hours
Yield: 90 nos. (approx. )

Ingredients for making Boondi

Besan 875 gms (3 ¼ cups – cup measure 250 gms)

Water Just enough to bring besan to Idli batter consistency

Salt 1 tsp

Ingredients for making Sugar Syrup

Sugar 750 gms (3 cups – cup measure 250 gms)

Water Just enough to cover sugar level in a bowl

Few other Ingredients

Oil 250 ml (approx..) for frying each batch of boondi

Pure ghee / Oil 50 gms for frying rasnins and cashews

Cardamom 2 or 3 tsps. powdered

Clove 5 to 6 nos. powdered

Borneo camphor 1 no. powdered (also known as edible camphor, pacha karpuram)

Cashewnuts 100 gms

Raisins 50 gms

Directions:

For preparing Sugar Syrup:

Boil sugar in water. Let sugar dissolve and boil for a few minutes till the syrup reaches sticky consistency. Keep it aside.

For preparing Boondis:

Mix besan, water and salt. Beat it or mix by hand and bring it to idli batter consistency. Make sure lumps in besan are removed. Let it stand for about 10 min. (You will fall in love with its goldielooks….so custardish it is!)

Heat oil in a kadai. Using one hand, keep boondi ladle a little above the kadai. Using the other hand, pour batter on to the boondi ladle so that it drops down into the oil in the kadai through the holes in the ladle. Unlike standard frying procedure, here you don’t have to continuously keep stirring while boondis are being fried. Once in a way is fine and enough. Transfer fried boondis either to a colander and later into sugar syrup or directly into sugar syrup. Choice is yours.

Add raisins and cashews (both fried in ghee), cardamom powder, edible camphor powder and clove powder to fried boondis soaked in sugar syrup. Let it stand for a while say, 10 min. Transfer it to a plate, make portions and then form laddoos. Start making rough balls from these portions. Repeat 3 times. At this stage, they will take the form of full round tasty tempting laddoos.

Boondi Laddoos are now ready. Pick them up fast…stock won’t last!!

Tete a Tete:

In the process of making boondis, if you find the holes in the ladle blocked, wash the ladle, wipe them dry and dip it back into the batter.

Clove can either be used whole or in powdered form. If using it in powdered form, better to lightly heat the cloves for easier powdering.

It is important that sugar syrup reaches sticky consistency. No more no less.

If batter is too thin or if ghee is not yet hot, boondi will absorb more ghee. At the same time, don’t overheat the oil lest boondis too will be overfried and turn brown too quick.

It is better to heat just the required amount of oil for every batch of frying rather than heating larger than required quantity at a time.

Take out a ladleful of soaked boondis, powder them in a mixie and add it back to the rest of soaked boondis before froming them into laddoos. This helps in bonding boondis better with each other.

Difference between boondi and laddoo: Can be compared to atom and molecule.

Recipe contributor: Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy, nonagenarian and expert cook.

Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy seated in the heart of this pic is also firmly rooted in the hearts of those around her!