India is a land of festivals. There is something to celebrate all year long. Every month has special occasions. Anyway, we do not need a reason for having sweets. We make sweets from fruits, seeds, grains, dry fruits, with dairy and vegan too in Indian cuisine. Hence, there is something for everyone. One of most popular Indian sweets is made with chickpea flour or gram flour, besan ladoo. It has been winning hearts all across the world. You can find besan laddoos even in Indian grocery stores abroad. It is also known as magaj ke laddu or magas na ladoo.
Actually, making this popular Indian sweet is very easy. Ingredients for laddu are minimal. Health wise, it is full of protein. Of course, there is some sugar too. Everyone loves it. This Indian sweet made every kid's childhood special. Every mom has addressed her sweet kid as a laddu some time. It has an easy round shape but making besan ladoo with perfection, needs little mastering. looks quite simple yet tastes different once you master it.
Traditional recipes like gulab jamun, jalebi, rassogulla, rasmalai and Mysore pak have always won hearts across the world. Festive season is never complete without sweet recipes.
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Who invented besan laddu?
Recipe of besan ladoo was first made by Susruta in 4th century BC, as an antiseptic to treat his patients.
How many Laddu are there?
There are so many different types of laddu, approximately,100. While east India loves sattu ladoo, north loves its atta or whole wheat one Pinni. South loves its coconut ladoo, ragi ladoo and rava ladoo while west its sesame based til laddu. Motichoor ladoo is synonymous with weddings across India. Besan ke laddu during Ganesh chaturthi and Basant panchami. There are some region specific sweets too. Tirupati laddu which is the prasad from the holy Tirupati Balaji temple and Jodhpuri Kale boondi ke laddu. If you love to experiment, win hearts with oats laddu.
Why is laddu popular?
Indian ladoo recipes is a huge hit with every one. There is something so satisfying when you make a dessert. Indian desserts come with all kind of cooking levels. Basic amateur like halwa to highly skilled chef level like ghevar. There is something for everyone.
Young kids can also help you make homemade ladoos. If you like you can also set it as a burfi. It helps them hone the skill of cooking. Once they know how to cook, they are never dependent on anyone. Involving them when you cook, helps nurture their creativity and also pass on traditions easily. Of course, it should not be too hot for them to handle. ladoo making is fun.You will love the nutty flavor of this recipe and kids will love this too.
What is the significance of besan laddu?
We love making it especially when we worship Shri Ganesh. It is made on the occasion of Ganesh chaturthi and also on Basant Panchami. While we celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi after rains, Basant panchami comes as the first day of spring. Basant or spring comes with its own yellow color. Colors of flowers blooming and ending of the dreaded cold winter. This day is super auspicious for weddings. Many kids begin their education journey today after the worship of Goddess Saraswati. People love to fly kites and wear yellow on this day. Mostly yellow color foods are cooked this day.
Ingredients
Refer to recipe card for quantity/ratio.
- Coarse variety of besan /chickpea flour (I prefer to grind my own or use the coarse ground ladoo besan available in stores)
- Ghee/clarified butter
- Elaichi/cardamom powder
- Saffron/kesar strands
- powdered almonds/ almond flour
- Powdered jaggery / sugar
The powdered jaggery that I have used is the white jaggery block that you can slice/grate
Equipment
- Frying pan/kadai / heavy bottom pan
how to make besan ke ladoowith jaggery?
- In a pan, start dry roasting chickpea flour on low flame.
- Continue to roast for about 8-10 minutes.
- Add ghee to roasted besan, continue cooking on low flame.
- Keep on stirring the ghee mixture and cooking on a low flame. After 20-25 minutes you will start getting a nutty aroma of cooked mixture, turn off the heat and add saffron and a teaspoon cardamom powder.
- Add the powdered almond mixture to the mix next.
- All the mix to cool down for around 15-20 minutes so that its warm and not hot, Add powdered jaggery to it.
- Start mixing the laddoo mix until the jaggery has mixed.
- Take a small portions of besan ladoo mixture in your palm ,once it comes together.
- Shape it into a ball of the desired size. Store besan ladoos in an air tight container at room temperature.
how to make besan ladoo with sugar?
Follow exactly the same steps at above and add powdered sugar when the mixture cools down and is little warm.
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Variation
You can garnish it with a single cashew atop of each besan ke ladoo. You can even dust it with some powdered sugar if you like it extra sweet. Sattu laddu tastes very similar to homemade besan ladoo as it is a mix of gramflour and cereals.
Storage
You can store besan ladoo in an air tight container at room temperature for 7-10 days. However, they are too irresistible to last that much in a container!
FAQ
If your chickpea flour is still raw, it will taste bitter. Key to good laddu is roasting besan well.
If you have added too much ghee or sugar, it will be soft.
add some warm ghee to it as the mixture may be dry.
There are so many chickpea flour recipes both savory and sweet. My favorite is Sindhi kadhi and kadi pakoda. Both of them are wholesome curries. If you love pancakes you must try savory breads, besani and besan chilla. If you have a sweet tooth, besan ki burfi & boondi ke laddu won't disappoint you. Fulfil your teatime snacks with an easy batter. Double-fried Sindhi onion pakora, mirchi vada & batata vada. are yummy Just make a mint chutney or serve with some tomato sauce.
Besan ladoo recipe | besan Laddu recipe
Equipment
- kadai/frying pan
Ingredients
- 3 cup coarse chickpea flour / besan flour Coarse besan /chickpea flour (I prefer to grind my own or use the course ground besan available in stores)
- 1 cup ghee/clarified butter
- 8-10 strands saffron optional
- 1 tsp. cardamom powder / elaichi
- 1 cup powdered almonds or almond flour
- 1.5 cup powdered jaggery or powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a pan, dry roast besan/chickpea flour for 8-10 mins on low flame
- Add ghee to roasted besan, continue cooking on low flame
- Keep on stirring the ghee mixture and cooking on a low flame.After 20-25 minutes you will start getting a nice aroma of cooked mixture, turn off the heat and add saffron/crush cardamom powder.
- Add the powdered almond mixture to the mix next.
- Allow it cool down for around 15-20 minutes, When it is slightly warm, add powdered jaggery to the mix.
- Start mixing the laddoo mix until the jaggery has mixed.
- Take a small amount of dough in your palm once it comes together.
- Shape them into small balls as per the size of your choice.
- Store them in an airtight container.
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