Til ke laddu | Sesame seed balls

Laddoos have been a part of our childhood. Whether it is atta laddu or besan ke laddu. Another interesting recipe is Til ke laddu or sesame seed balls. It is also called as Chimmili, nuvvula laddu or nuvvula undalu. Other names are til gul laddu, tira muri and ellu unde. It is perfect when there is chill in the air. You can make it anytime you want to have some sweet.This sweet is not only healthy, but also contains ingredients which provide heat in the body. Also helps hydrate the body as it has Vitamin E in plenty. It is synonymous with 'Makar Sankranti' or 'Uttarayan'.

While active kids are happy about the kite flying in the 1st festival of the new year,most of us are actually looking forward to a reason to eat a new sweet 🙂 , in the cold and harsh winters of Northern India. Indian sweet treats like rewari, til patti,Til mawa burfi and til ladoo  ensure we get good amount of vitamin E when it is a cold weather.

When do we eat Til laddu?

Apart from Lohri and Makar Sankranti, we also eat tili ke laddu  in rainy season or sawan maas.This traditional recipe is also eaten in August, when sawan begins. We pray to Nag devta for wellbeing of the family. Those who may not have Idol at home worship Lord Shiva. Usually, south Indian mums fast on 4th day or Nag chaturthi while Marathis fast on 5th day or Nag Panchami. They pray for health of  young kids. Mothers usually refrain from eating rice and wheat that day every year. They take a light meal made of upma idli or dosa. Apart from these, peanut laddoo, sattu ladoo, roasted chana dal ladoo are offered. Left over jaggery is used to make murmura laddu or muri laddu for small kids using puffed rice , as it is easy to chew.

Use of Sesame seeds in old recipes

Sesame seeds also are a great source of Vitamin E which provides essential oil to our skin. Our forefathers have been intelligent to understand nature and have developed many recipes in accordance with Ayurveda. Don't you feel they were more healthier and happier than the present generation? Somewhere along the way knowledge got lost.

People got attracted to chemical medicines for a faster relief. These help you get better but do not make you stronger. Anyway, it is time now to regain what was always with us. How to build a body strong and healthy without the use of artificial supplements and medicines. Make this easy sesame seeds laddu in the harsh winters and during the rainy season to keep the body healthy. It also an excellent travel snack.

Ingredients

• Sesame seeds roasted
• Jaggery/ palm sugar
• Ghee/ coconut oil/vegan butter

refer to recipe card for details.

How to make til ke laddu?

Here are the step-by-step instructions to learn how to make sesame seed balls.

1. Dry roast sesame seeds over a low flame in a non stick pan for 4-5 minutes. Keep it aside.

2. Heat ghee or coconut oil in the pan and add jaggery to it.

3. Keep stirring until it melts and looks like a syrup.  You may add a spoon of cardamom powder if you like. Check if the jaggery is good for binding, by adding a drop to bowl of water. If it solidifies you can proceed with the next step. Otherwise it needs more cooking time.

4. Add the roasted sesame to the pan, once jaggery syrup is done and mix it well.

5. Grease your palms and make til gud laddu out of the warm mixture at the soft ball stage.

Store in an airtight container.

Substitutions

You can also use roasted crushed peanuts in a similar fashion to make peanut laddus.

Variations 

You may also use black sesame seeds or black til for black til ladoo recipe. Mix white seeds and black sesame for a multi color laddu. You can also add alsi seeds to make til alsi ke ladoo.Some other variations are besan til ke ladoo where we mix besan or chickpea flour in it. You an also make khoya til ladoo by adding mawa or khoya to sesame seed mixture.

Using unhulled sesame seeds or hulled sesame seeds does not make a big difference if you keep cook time less but the amount of nutrition in unhulled is much better .Add coconut oil instead of ghee to make it vegan.Til laddu recipe can also used to make til patti  just set it in a greased baking tray to make your praline.

Storage

You can store this at room temperature for 1-2 weeks, in an air-tight container.

FAQs

Looking for more laddu recipes?

• Sattu laddu
• Rava laddu
• Oats laddu
• murmura laddu
• Kale boondi ke ladoo

Conclusion : Til ke ladu is an easy fix to your vitamin E issues. Also a great way to increase your iron.