Boondhi Ladoo | Diwali Special

Mom would say:"Ammu... Get up... Its 4 AM and all your friends woke up already for firecrackers..." This is how my Diwali starts usually during my school days. We(Me and my brother) would have asked mom to wake us up very early so that we can join other kids in the street for firecrackers. So she would wake up earlier than us, takes a shower and then wakes us up at around 4 AM in the morning when most of the kids in our street wake up on the day of diwali. I would just jump out of the bed, quickly rush to the shower. I would have to literally roll my brother out of the bed to wake him up. Unlike me, he is a good sleeper. By the time, we come out of shower, mom would have the  pooja room set up with all the decorations, new clothes, sweets and snacks. At that point, all my concentration would be on when I would get to wear my new dress and show it off to others. As soon as mom finishes pooja, we would go wear our new dresses and go out to enjoy the fireworks. Since dad doesn't show much interest in fireworks, he would still be sleeping happily, till his usual 5:00 clock alarm. We will finish most of our fireworks in the morning and save the rest for the day.


By then mom would come out and ask me to help her with rangoli. Previous night , me and mom sit together to come up with a special rangoli for diwali. So that design goes on the floor with beautiful colors. I will be very eager to see my opposite house aunty's rangoli design, as she does a very good job making designs. Then I would go for a stroll around the street to see all the rangoli designs that others have made and help them out with designs if they need. It would be 7:00 AM by now and mummy goes off to the kitchen, to start her special cooking for the day.


Dad would also be ready by then with his new white kadhar shirt and dhothi. I love seeing him with his white kadhar shirt and dhothi. His inspection work in the kitchen would start. He would make sure that the mutton pieces are small enough and it is well cooked. Mom would give him a piece to taste. 99 out of 100 times , his answer would be to cook the mutton for one more whistle. Very lovingly, he would bring the plate to the living room where me and my brother would be watching diwali programs, to ask us our opinion on the mutton :-). The day goes on like this with more tasting of mummy's cooking. She would proudly present her idli, poori, mutton curry and Gulab Jamun for breakfast. Diwali lunch was always very special. It used to be very elaborate, with a lot of moms exotic dishes. After the heavy lunch, goddess sleep would doze us off. Again in the evening, rangoli session would start in all the houses. More fireworks, more food, more chatting, lighting diyas and the day would end with a simple comforting meal. Such were the golden days, when we used to look forward for this "Festival of Lights".

All these evergreen memories make me miss home during this time of the year. The least we could do from here is to do a quick pooja in the morning before going to work and light some diyas in the evening. And is there a celebration without sweets and snacks?


This is the first time I tried to make Boondhi Ladoo and I should say, it was not as tough as I thought. It came out perfect and it tasted delicious. Far better than store bought ones. Once you get the consistency of the syrup right, you will get perfect ladoos.

This recipe yields about 20 ladoos.

Ingredients:

1. Besan Floor- 2 cups
2. Yellow food color -  a pinch
3. Water - 2 cups approximately
4. Oil - to deep fry

For the Syrup:

1. Sugar - 2 cups
2. Water - 1 1/2 cups
3. Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon
4. Saffron - few strands
5. Yellow Food Color - a pinch

 Cashew nuts- few roasted in ghee

Method:

1. First start preparing the sugar syrup by mixing sugar and water. Also add saffron and yellow food color. Let it boil and reach the single string consistency. Best way to check this- take a bowl of water and drop a little sugar syrup in it, the syrup should not dissolve and you should be able to form a soft ball out of the syrup with your hand. Remove the syrup from heat as soon as it reaches the single string consistency.
2. In the meantime, prepare the batter for the boondhi with the ingredients mentioned. Add little water at a time. My besan flour required approximately 2 cups of water. It really depends on the texture of the besan floor you use. So add water till you get a thick dosa batter consistency.
3. Heat oil in a wide frying pan. Pour a spoon full(I used a kuli karandi) of batter in a perforated laddle and let the batter pass through the perforations by moving the spoon in a circular motion. Take the boondhis out before they turn very crispy. You should not fry it till golden brown.
4. Remove the fried boondhis and drop it in the warm sugar syrup. The sugar syrup should still be warm.
5. Repeat the same with the rest of the batter.  You should wipe the perforated spoon clean before starting each batch of frying. Otherwise the perforations will be covered with batter from the previous batch and you will not get good shaped boondhis. I used the boondhis from the last batch to make a coarse powder before I dropped it in the syrup.
6. Let the boondhis stay in the syrup for about 15 to 20 minutes. The sugar syrup should be in a temperature for you to handle with your hands. Add cardamom powder and fried cashew nuts.
7. Start making ladoos out of the boondhi and syrup mixture. The ladoos will still be a little loose. It will take about an hour to firm up.

If handled properly the ladoos will stay for up to 4 days in air tight containers. You can also refrigerate it up to a week. But ladoos taste good at room temperature. So, if you keep them in the refrigerator, allow it to come to room temperature before you serve.


I wish all my readers a Very Happy and a Safe Diwali.








I am sending this entry to the following events


Diwali Special - Sweets & Savories event by Radhika
Serve It - Festival Potluck event by Denny & Krithi
My Diwali My way event by Khushi
Diwali - Festival of Lights event by Anu