Besan Ladoo - Easy Diwali Recipe

Besan Ladoo

Besan ladoo is fragrant, rich, exotic sweet, and a must-have for all festive occasions. Indian festivals and celebrations are incomplete without homemade ladoos, and besan ladoo is easy to make ladoo with minimal ingredients. I love making ladoos at home. The entire house gets filled with the enticing aromas of roasted gram flour and ghee, and it is so reminiscent of the festive holiday spirit. It is perfect for entertaining, and these round dessert balls are also cute holiday gifts for friends and family.

Ladoos are simple yet, exotic sweets made all over India. In Kerala, ladoos with rice flour ladoos, boondi ladoo, coconut ladoo, and nut paste ladoos are very popular. In today's recipe, the flour is besan/gram flour made from split yellow Bengal gram, also called chana dal. Roasted gram flour has a unique nutty flavor, and when combined with the aromatic flavor of cardamom and ghee/clarified butter, it tastes divine. Besan ladoo has an interesting fudgy melt in the mouth texture that makes it stand apart from other ladoos. Just one bite of this exotic sweet will make you fall in love with it, and the best you can ever imagine! Besan ladoo can be addictive for all those with a sweet tooth. Give this recipe a try. I would love to hear from you, so let me know how it turned out for you :)

How to make perfect besan ladoo
This recipe has minimal ingredients and is ready in under thirty minutes. There is a two-step process in making the ladoo. First is the roasting of the flour and then allowing the flour and the ghee mixture to cool down completely before adding powdered sugar. Some Indian deserts may sound simple but are complicated, and I must admit to my fair share of mishaps. The trickiest part of today's recipe is roasting the gram flour. To make a perfect ladoo, you need to toast the flour on low flame till it is aromatic and the raw flavor disappears. The toasting makes the flour more aromatic, a nutty flavor with a sweet-crisp texture. The color changes from light yellow to a deeper yellow/ golden hue.

Toasting the gram flour
It is good to toast the gram flour, to remove the raw smell. It also adds depth of flavor, a nutty taste to the flour. It will be the trickiest part of the process. The best way to know whether it is cooked perfectly is the change in smell. If you are new to this, start by smelling the flour. Gentle roasting on a low flame will bring a nutty flavor to the gram flour, and the raw flavor will disappear. Do not rush with this step. Roast in a low flame and stir continuously for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and continue stirring for another minute to prevent scorching as the pan will be hot. Immediately transfer it to a plate and spread so that it cools down completely. It will take about 15-20 minutes to cool. If you add the sugar before the mixture cools down, the sugar will melt and make it difficult to bind the ladoos. Add powdered sugar for a super fine consistency and knead it into a dough. Take small portions and roll them into balls.

Type of besan/ gram flour
You can make ladoos with ordinary gram flour, and it works just fine with this recipe. It will give you the fudgy melt-in-mouth texture. You can also use store brought ladoo besan. It is a little coarse and will add a nice crunch and texture to the ladoo. You can buy both gram flour/besan and ladoo besan from the Indian grocery store. Another alternative to ladoo besan is mixing gram flour with semolina/ fine sooji to get a nice crunch to the ladoo.

Besan Ladoo - Easy Diwali Recipe

Ingredients
Gram flour/ besan/Besan Ladoo-2 cups
Semolina/ fine sooji- 1 tbs (optional)
Sugar- 1 cup
Ghee- 3/4 cup
Cardamon powder- 1/2 tsp
Chopped almonds/pistachios - 2 tbs

Dry roast gram flour on a low flame and stir continuously for 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and continue stirring for another minute to prevent scorching as the pan will be hot. Immediately transfer it to a plate so that it cools down.
Sieve the flour to make sure it is lump-free. Mix ladoo besan with ghee into a crumble mixture, resembling wet sand, and roast this in low flame. Stir continuously for even cooking and roasting of the flour. It will take about 12-15 minutes. At this stage, it will look like a thin batter. Continue stirring and cooking till it starts thickening and leaves the edges of the pan. Do not speed up the process by increasing heat. The besan needs to be properly roasted, and the raw flavor completely disappears. The color will change to golden.
Remove from heat, and immediately transfer it to a plate. Let it cools down completely. It will take about 15-20 minutes to cool. If you add the sugar before the mixture cools down, the sugar will melt and make it difficult to bind the ladoos. Add powdered sugar for a super fine consistency and knead it into a dough. If it is not wet enough, add a teaspoon or two of ghee. Mix in the chopped nuts and cardamom powder. Take small portions (use an ice cream scoop) and roll them into balls. Press and roll between your palm by moving your hand in a circular motion to shape it like a ball. You can garnish with cashew nuts, pistachios, dried rose petals, or saffron.

Points to note: Always try to add sugar only in the end. Do not add in the cooking stage, or when the mixture is too hot, the sugar will melt and become syrup. It is best to add powdered sugar. You can also use confectionery sugar.
If the gram flour mixture seems dry after adding sugar, add one or two teaspoons of ghee and mix well.
If the mixture is loose or too wet, try adding one or two tablespoons of roasted gram flour, powdered almond, or milk powder.

Almond Besan Ladoo/ Made with Ladoo Besan

Besan ladoo made with ladoo besan

Store brought, ladoo besan is a little coarse and will add a nice crunch and texture to the ladoo. Both gram flour/besan and ladoo besan are available in the Indian grocery store. Almond besan ladoo tastes delicious. You can add around 1/2 cup of almonds. Dry roast almonds, and using a mixer, make it into a coarse powder. Add it to the gram flour and make ladoos.