BADAM AUR BESAN LADDU / बादाम और बेसन के लड्डू(Almonds & Chickpea Flour Sweet Balls) – Guest Post

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It was March when an email popped up in my inbox asking if I would be willing to do a guest post way ahead in August. It was Rafeeda from Sweet Tooth Raf whom I happened to know for a while now. Not knowing what was going to hit me in the coming months, I gave her a word of my acceptance and even discussed with her what kind of post she wanted. May was spent holidaying in Europe and Delhi. In came June and my schedule took an unexpected hectic turn. I had just returned from a relaxed holiday, wasn’t in the pink of health and if that wasn’t enough, the house unexpected screamed for some renovation work and it had to be immediately addressed to. And yes, how could I forget this? There was this shifting of my blog Easyfoodsmith from blogspot to wordpress.

Prior the receiving her email, owing to my health and other priorities, I had decided to take it easy and guest posts were definitely not on my priority list. However, I could not say no to her friendly and warm approach. I had promised her a guest post (while she was planning to travel during Ramadan in August) which I later struggled to fulfil. With so much on my platter, I was obviously unable to ‘deliver the goods’ which is so unlike me. I am known to be someone who is zubaan ki pakki i.e. I never falter on my promises and words. But this time around I faltered, to my utter displeasure. I was wracked with guilt and so embarrassed that I let a fellow blogger down after promising her my support. But to my relief Rafeeda asked me to take it easy and told me not to beat myself up for this. You can’t imagine how relaxed she made mealthough I still couldn’t shake off the feeling of guilt.

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Few months down, I hesitantly wrote her a mail asking if she was still willing to take a chance on me and she immediately got back with an emphatic ‘Yes’! So here I am today, fulfilling my promise to Rafeedafinally. Thanks Rafeeda for reaching out to me. Rafeeda belongs to ‘God’s Own Country’ i.e. the southern state of Kerela in peninsular India. Those who know Rafeeda would certainly know that she doesn’t give her readers a breather. You should see the amount of posts she uploads despite working full time and juggling home and work!! Hats off to you Rafeeda for such passion and pace!! It is hard to come across anyone with such energy and ideas. I find it quite a task when I have to upload a post – planning, cooking/ baking, composing pics, thinking of props, background, mood of the pic, clicking, editing, besides drafting the write up, editing it, finalising the write up and finally, uploading the post. Phew! You are quite an inspiration Rafeeda yet I can’t see myself matching your standard!

I had planned a salad post for her but taking a cue from her blog name ‘Sweet Tooth Raf’, it is obvious that she loves sweets. Therefore I decided to cater to her sweet tooth. I haven’t made considerable amount of laddus in my life and the ones that I have are those that did not require the mixture to be rolled into balls while ‘hot enough to handle’. Despite the fact that I love cooking, I am quite a ‘delicate darling’ when it comes to dealing with the variety of kitchen heats. My Ma-in-law often tells me that despite so many years in the kitchen it is quite something that I am still unable to handle heat with ease. It is embarrassing to share it but when I have to drop the onions for sautéing in oil, I use a long handled spoon so that not even the minutest of splutter hits me. Even my daughter does a better job at it than me!! Anyways, now you know the reason why you have only seen these Nariyal Laddu on the blog; they require to be rolled when they are cold and that makes my life so much easy.

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It was always Mum who used to make these laddus, adding her love and her special touch like any mother would. They were out of the world, however, there are so many recipe of hers that she never jotted down and I too never got the chance to ask her and jot them down. Anyways, here I have used my Aunt’s recipe (the one who shared her Handvo recipe) which I have tweaked to suit the taste of my family. Instead of the dry ginger powder, I stuck to using green cardamom seeds powder. Secondly, she uses roasted and powdered peanuts which I swapped with roasted and crushed almonds. Suit yourself with what you prefer. Also, she had used the ratio of half is to one of ghee to the flour which I reduced further down to half. Feel free to use my aunt’s ratio if you prefer richer tasting laddus. Another deflection from her recipe that I made is – she dry roasts the flour and and adds melted ghee to it along with the rest of the ingredients while I chose to dry roast it half way through and then roasted it further on by adding ghee to it.

Making the laddu is super easy but it comes with a catch, which is, that it requires oodles of patience since the flour needs to be first dry roasted on a low gentle flame to help it become aromatic (without burning it). And the outcome is richly rewarding. The nutty aromatic flavour that the flour acquires upon roasting is truly comforting. Rub with that the magic of desi ghee and you are instantly transported to the land of bliss. These laddus are mostly made during the winter days in the households across the north India since chick pea flour is considered to provide a warm effect to one’s body. do not forget to scan her blog especially for the scrumptious and authentic Malabari dishes.

For the laddus, you will need the following ingredients,

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2C Besan (chick pea flour)

½C Ghee

1C Boora Cheeni (powdered sugar)

½C Almonds (roasted & coarsely ground)

1 tsp dry ginger powder

Gently heat (on low flame) a heavy/thick bottom pan or a heavy bottomed wok (kadhai). Once it begins to get hot, add the besan and start dry roasting it for about 15 minutes on low heat. Ensure that you keep stirring the besan all the while to prevent it from getting burnt at the bottom.  Add the ghee and roast further for about 20 minutes or till the contents change colour and emanate a nice nutty aroma.

Once the contents are still warm, add the sugar, almonds and ginger powder. Mix the contents well and begin shaping laddus. Take a few teaspoons of the mix in your hand and using your fingers and palm, keep squeezing and rolling the contents in your fist to roll out balls/ laddus to the size of your choice. I made them walnut sized.

Note: All through the roasting process, do NOT leave the contents unattended.

Note: Try to get your hands on coarsely ground besan. It will give a nice texture to the laddu and they won’t feel ‘pasty’ in your mouth unlike the regular chick pea flour laddus.

Note: My husband and daughter do not appreciate chunks of nuts in their desserts however I like them in mine, so I add them crushed. You can add them in chunks for some texture.

Note: My aunt had used a tsp of dry ginger powder however I stuck to using cardamom powder. Secondly, she had used roasted peanuts instead of almonds. Suit yourself with what you prefer.

Note: As I begun to roll the laddus, I realised that the mixture was a wee bit dry. So, I added extra two table spoons of ghee (measure it and then heat it before adding) to the contents.

Note: It being hot here, I refrigerate the laddus after rolling them. They keep well for a few weeks.

Yield: 20 – 22 Laddus (walnut sized)

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You may like to check out these Indian confections:

Gulab Jamun (made with powdered milk)

Nariyal Laddu (low fat)

Nan Khatai (Indian Shortbread Cookies)

Thanks for visiting and see you soon again

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35 thoughts on “BADAM AUR BESAN LADDU / बादाम और बेसन के लड्डू(Almonds & Chickpea Flour Sweet Balls) – Guest Post

  1. Such beautiful pics and apt prop. Taruna, u are always zubaan and blogging ki pakki. Creative stuff cannot be done like chores it is a labor of love and interest which takes time.
    Awesome guest post.

  2. I adore laddus -I’ve eaten so many but never ever made them before- and these have my mouth watering!
    It’s better full-filling a promise later than never – sounds like you two have such a wonderful friendship :). GORGEOUS photos!

  3. OOh, these look wonderful! It looks like these were worth the wait for the guest post. =) Beautiful pictures, as usual, too!

  4. I do hope you are better now Taruna! I know how it is to not feel good and then have an obligation to fulfil. It’s awfully sweet of you to still do the post, albeit a few months late! And what a post! I love laddus, a few of the desi mithai I do like. These are beautiful and so are the photos. I haven’t every tried making laddus, I really want to make the fried ones,,the boondi ones? Those are my absolute fave ones. These are pretty awesome too and maybe I should start with these!

    Nazneen

  5. Taruna, Is that an antique dessert stand? I liked how you styled the ladoos. Beautiful!!!
    You are not alone when dealing with hot stuff in the kitchen, I am a big time baby when touching hot surfaces and cooking with oil especially frying. I do the same thing, I rely on big long spoons too 🙂

  6. Awesome guest post dear,yummy laddus ,beautiful prop,a lovely presentation and a beautiful write up…a perfect blogger 🙂 keep going dear 🙂

  7. I’m not too familiar with Indian sweets (though I am a big fan!) but I think I had a version of these not too long ago (I wasn’t sure what I was eating but it looks like this haha)!! These look so yummy!

      1. Hi Carrie! I am so pleased to know that you enjoyed these laddus. Heading over to check out the Fiction Kitchen podcast. Thanks for your feedback and your visit 🙂

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