Monday 9 August 2010

Ladoo - Churma na ladoo


Churma na ladoo is one sweet, my family-including the kids-love. I have been making them for years and have now managed to change the recipe to suit the present life style by using less ghee (clarified butter) and also less sugar or jaggery.

Ingredients for about 20 ladoos:

2 cups wheat flour
1/2 cup semolina
1/2 cup of ground almonds and pistacio ( I started adding these to make the ladoos richer in taste)
1 cup ghee
4 cups oil for frying
1 and half cup of finely grated or sliced jiggery ( I did mine in the food processor)
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup mixture of pistachio and almond sliced finely
1 tea spoon powdered cardamoms
½ teaspoon of nutmeg powder
1-2 tablespoons of Khus-Khus (poppy seeds)

Method: 

1.   Mix wheat flour, semolina , the ground almonds and pistacio mixture with 2 table spoons ghee . Add some milk and knead into a dough. You can use more ghee but I am trying to make this recipe healthy so using less ghee.

2.   Make 12-14 small balls called muthias out of dough. Take a small amount of dough and press it in your fist and keep pressing it as you pass the muthia from one hand to next. The muthias should be firm.


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3.   Heat the oil and fry the muthias at very low heat until they are golden brown.



4.  Let the muthias cool down a bit.




5.  Transfer them to a food processor and grind them make into a coarse mixture of uniform consistency.  (I've taken a photograph of a spoonful of the mixture to give you an idea of what the mixture should look like).   Traditionally, these muthias used to be crushed using a mortar and pestle and then sieved to ensure you get a nice granular mixture.   I  was making a very small number of ladoos so just used the food processor and they turned out fine.


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6.   Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and add the nutmeg, cardamom, pistachio and almond slices to the ladoo mixture.

7.  In a separate bowl, add 2 tablespoons of ghee to the jaggery and very slightly warm it. I put mine in the microwave for 1 minute.

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8.    Add the warm jaggery to the ladoo mixture and mix it together using a spoon.


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9.    Make ladoos when the mixture is still hot.

10.   Traditionally,  ladoos are flat at the bottom and round at the top. The ladoos are covered in khus khus to give them their traditional look.

11.  To save time and also to make my laddos a bit more attractive, I used a mould to shape my ladoos. I only sprinkled a very small amount of khus khus on them but that's a personal preference.

12.  I didn't need to add any more ghee to the mixture to make the ladoos. 

13.  Churma na ladoo are traditionally served with a Gujarati thali which consists of a variety of dishes – one of which is Gujarati dall.


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14.  These Ladoos are also made on Ganesh chaturthi.  Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most popular of Hindu festivals. This is the birthday of Lord Ganesha and he is well known for his love and inclination towards sweets like ladoo. Therefore, it is of prime importance to offer the Lord Ganesh a ladoo on this special occasion.

No doubt, these ladoos are very tasty and are loved by almost everyone.  The reason we enjoy them without feeling guilty  is because they do not as much fat or sugar in them compared to some Indian sweets.


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13 comments:

  1. Sounds very tasty...will try it....

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  2. What a beautiful presentation Mina. We too make it in similar way in Rajasthan :)

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  3. hi mina,

    this ladoo are simply awesome...i never knew about this ladoo but i am sure it will taste divine..ganesha looks so cute ... looks like he is smiling at his ladoo : ) i love all festival foods and my mil prepares all the traditional dishes... but this time i will try this laddu and surprise her : )...thanks for sharing

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  4. delicious ladoo,love the presentation,very cute...

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  5. Loved your recipe, bookmarking this one

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  6. lovely and tempting and inviting ladoos.

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  7. Hello Mina ....

    The laddos look so yummy ... Wonderful step by step recipe - bookmarking it to try out asap !!!

    - Smita
    http://www.littlefoodjunction.blogspot.com/

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  8. First of all I would like to appreciate for your wonderful step by step presentation. Laddoo looks superb, delicious and mouth watering.

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  9. Ladwa joi ane panni ave che modha mai. Would love a parcel.:)
    My favorite sweet.You have made them beautifully and awesome prep.
    Thanks for such a wonderful entry to Flavours of gujarat.

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  10. Hi Mina,

    I was planning to make churma laddoo for ganesh chaturthi ...thanks for the lovely presentation

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  11. HiMina ji,

    Ladoos' looks great and the presentation too. Will surely try it.

    Anu

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  12. This is exactly the way we make it too! With jaggery it tastes absolutely great. I would never replace jaggery with white/brown sugar. Some people do, but for me that is simply a no-no! We mix jaggery with some little ghee, and melt the whole thing on stove, before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. You have to be careful not to overheat the jaggery, or else you will need a hammer to break your laddoos :-)

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