Boondi Laddu

One of the popular traditional sweets of India, ‘Boondi Laddu’ is prepared during festivals like Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Navarathri and other special occasions. Also, a quintessential sweet in South Indian weddings as ‘Seer Bhakshanam’.

How To Prepare Boondi Laddu?

The core ingredient is besan. Though time consuming, preparation of boondi Laddu is very simple, I would say. Thick besan batter is poured into perforated boondi ladle over hot oil to form round-shaped boondis. Then, they are soaked in sugar syrup briefly and shaped into laddus.

The consistency of the besan batter and sugar syrup plays an important role in making soft, luscious Boondi Laddu. The batter should be slightly thick like dosa batter. The sugar syrup should be of soft ball consistency. The boondis are fried in medium hot oil just until they are cooked but soft. Crispy boondis won’t get infused in sugar syrup properly. Here’s the simple method for making Boondi Laddu.

How To Make Sugar Syrup For Boondi Laddu?

• In a wide thick-bottomed vessel, add sugar and water.
• Stir till the sugar dissolves completely.
• Bring it to boil till it reaches the soft ball consistency (as mentioned in Notes C).
• Add yellow food colour, elaichi powder, powdered clove, edible camphor (only if required).
• Keep the sugar syrup warm till we make boondi.

How To Make Boondi?

• Sieve besan and rice flour.
• In a mixing bowl, add besan, rice flour, salt and baking soda.
• Add water little by little. Whisk it with a hand beater to make a dosa-like batter devoid of any lumps.
• The right consistency of the batter gives perfect round-shaped boondi. If the batter is thick, boondi gets tail ends and if it is thin, the boondi gets flat.
• Heat oil in a kadai in high flame. Once the oil is hot, reduce the flame to medium.
• Test the batter for the correct consistency. Also, check the temperature of the oil suitable to make boondi (as mentioned in Notes A & B).
• Hold the boondi ladle (perforated) over hot oil. Pour a cup of batter and tap the ladle to help the batter drop uniformly into the oil.
• Fry till boondis are light golden in colour.
• Remove them from oil before they turn darker in colour. Do not make them crispy else it won’t get soaked well in syrup.

How To Make Laddus?

• Add boondis to the warm syrup (If sugar syrup turned cold, slightly reheat but don’t let it boil).
• Repeat the above steps and make the entire batter into boondis.
• Roast cashews, raisins in a tbsp of ghee. Add them to the boondis in syrup. Add diamond sugar candies too.
• Mix well and take a handful of warm boondi mix. Using your palms shape it into medium-sized laddus.
• Arrange the laddus in a large thali or plate till they cool down to room temperature.
• Store them in an air-tight container. Relish as and when required. Stays good for about a week.

Notes

Key Steps For A Perfect Laddu

1. To test the correct consistency of the batter, add a drop of batter to the hot oil. If the boondi is round in shape like a pearl, the batter is perfect in consistency. If it is thin, gradually add required amount of besan and whisk it well. If the batter is thick, add little bit of water and bring it to correct consistency.
2. When the batter dropped in hot oil, the boondi comes up to the surface immediately if the temperature is correct. If the oil is not heated well enough, the batter stays at the bottom of the kadai before it rises to the surface.
3. To check the soft ball consistency of the syrup, take a small bowl of water. Pour few drops of sugar syrup. Try to roll it into a ball. If it forms a soft ball in water but collapses when taken out, the sugar syrup has reached soft ball consistency.
4. Always fry boondi in medium hot oil just until they are cooked but soft. Crispy boondis won’t get infused in sugar syrup properly.
5. Dip the boondi ladle in a bowl of water after every use. Wipe it clean before the next batch. This prevents the besan batter getting dried and sealing the slots in the ladle.

Happy Cooking!