HOMEMADE BOONDI LADOOS

There was a time when I didn't know how to track the no. of visitors on my blog and there was a time I used to look forward to see that number increase.It gave me such joy that 1000's find my little bloggie useful in many ways! Most of you guys come here for recipes, some to ask me about crochet and other needlework and some of you just to read my 'stories' and take a peek at the photographs of what I post  randomly.

If you ask me what these 'stories' are, I wouldn't have known you read them as 'stories' until you all wrote to me. Funnily enough, I still don't consider them to be like that because I just write the association I have with that dish, from my real life :-)

When I got lazy in between, you all asked me to get back to this blog and start blogging again. I did and now I'm reaping the joys of it when this little space of mine has 10,00,000 hits as of today! It is a big achievement for me as I never even dreamt of this day when I started this space.

Now getting back to the ladoos, these are mine and Jobin's favourites! I've made them succesfully before, photographed them but it never made to my blog...I still wonder why! Maybe these ladoos had another destiny...to be here, on this special day :-) I dedicate these little yellow balls of pure joy to ALL OF YOU, dear readers! I wish I could share these with you in person...maybe someday it might happen! :-)

HOMEMADE BOONDI LADOOS
Recipe source: Manjula aunty

Ingredients:
1c besan/chickpea flour
1/2 c plus 1 tbsp water
11/2 c sugar
1 c water
Seeds from 6 green cardamom pods,crushed
8 pcs of cashewnuts,broken
Oil for frying

Method:Make a batter using besan and 1/2 c plus 1 tbsp water. Pass it through a perforated/slotted spoon and see if you can get them to fall back into the bowl. If it doesn't, add a little more water to the batter and mix well.Bring the 1 1/2 c of sugar and 1 c water to a rolling boil and boil till it reaches 220F on a candy thermometer. Keep it off the flame. Meanwhile,heat 2 inches of oil on medium high and drop some chickepea batter into it and if it sizzles up right away, you are good to proceed. Hold the perforated spoon 2 inches above the oil and pour the batter through it.The batter will fall as round balls into the oil, which is what we want. Fry them till they stop sizzling and golden brown in colour.Repeat and make sure your wipe your perforated spoon in between all the batches.Add these fried boondi's to the sugar syrup and let them soak for 10 mins. Transfer the soaked boondi's to a plate to cool a little until they are still warm to touch. Form balls/ladoos by squeezing them in between your palms, it might test your patience but it's worth every squeeze!

After my Piano lessons last night, we went shopping to the Malayali store here and found some sweets stacked up in the cooler. I gazed at them for a while and in the meantime Jobin pinpointed his favourites and even I pinpointed mine and finally we both pinpointed at the Boondi ladoos together! I asked him if he wanted me to pick up a box and he said, 'No, I want the ones you make, I like them the best!'. Now, no matter what, I had to get that request fulfilled! :-)

Now,with my feet up on our Lazyboy, watching the snow fall and with the warm ladoos sitting next to me,I'm waiting for him to get back from work and start digging into these along with him. These laddoos doesn't stay long in our house, they are so yummy!

GUILT FREE PEANUT LADOO

Trust me, I am in no mood to talk today. I think I have a spoken enough for the rest of my lifetime already! Jobin says I talk less these days ,when I feel I kill him with my non-stop nonsense banter (do couples always think opposite? ) He says I have become funnier after our wedding, when I think I have become boring day by day (so couples do think opposite, 100% sure!)

Now don't ask me what is the connection between my talks and this sweet. Absolutely nothing.This is how I am when I am in no mood to talk. I talk about things which has no connection between them. I get so bored talking about one thing at a time and Jobin gets so confused switching between topics at the same speed that I switch topics. 

Let me let you in on a big secret. I speak Malayalam way way way too better than Jobin. He will never agree to this, though. If he happens to read this post ( I am sure he will) , he will ask me to speak in Hindi (Uh-oh!).

Anyway, let's get back to the ladoos. This is a 3 ingredients, ghee-less, guilt - free ladoo than most of the ladoo's around. Try it and you won't be disappointed.

GUILT FREE PEANUT LADOO
Recipe source: Anushruti RK

Ingredients:

Roasted unsalted Peanuts without skin- 2c

Jaggery-3/4 c, powdered (You can find it in Indian grocery stores ]

Cardamom-4,seeds powdered and pods discarded.

Method:

For all those who have only raw peanuts with you, like me:

• Heat a flat bottomed pan.Add in the peanuts (skin on) and roast for 5-6 mins or till you get a nice aroma . Is still in doubt, bite into one and if you get the roasted taste, switch of the flame.
• Take the pan off the fire and transfer the peanuts onto a kitchen towel.
• While it is still warm, rub the peanuts together using the help of the towel. The skin will come off easily. 
• Use these peanuts for making ladoo's.

For making these round beauties you need to:

• Powder the roasted peanuts in your mixie/magic bullet (small jar & 4 blade bottom) stopping every once in a while to ensure that it doesn't turn pasty.Nuts release oil when they are ground, so be careful.
• Transfer this to a bowl and add the powdered jaggery and cardamom seeds to it.
• Mix very well, if you have lumps in the jaggery, mash the mixture with a potato masher. I skipped it because I love biting into jaggery pieces.
• Form the mixture into ladoos. You will need to use little bit of strength here to form them into balls as you don't any wet ingredient. But trust me, it's easy.
• The peanuts must be warm while grinding so that the mixture remains warm when you form the balls, or else it will be slightly difficult. Just in case your mixture turns cold, like mine, microwave it for 10 secs and proceed to form the ladoos.

Verdict:

 For all those who love the ultimate combination of peanut and jaggery, go for it. I thought it would taste like 'kadala muttai' or 'peanut chikki' . Not exactly. It has it's own magic of lending a different flavour altogether.

A very appealing, easy to put-together recipe for all occasions. Jobin & I loved it and I had a tough time keeping some aside so that I could take pictures of it.

 I am sending this post as an entry to Sugar High Fridays : Bite sized desserts hosted by the lovely Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen.