Boondi Laadoo - Diwali Sweet

One childhood memory of Deepavali (Diwali) that stands out in my mind is:

It is not even daybreak yet, but the whole family is up, bustling around the house. The ladies of the house are decked in their finest, their crisp silk sarees with new folds rustling with each step. The kitchen is abuzz with their chatter and sizzles from the stove. One of the ladies is at the stove, ladle in hand, supervising the theltava (kadai) on the stove, the others are seated on the floor in a circle, a huge vessel of orange boondi between them, holding palmfuls of it in their hands and giving it gentle pressure treatment, to create beautiful orange spheres, that look much like the early morning sun. For the only time in the year, a plateful of golden 'suns' are created in the kitchen, long before the real sun has touched the horizon.

This year, thanks to MIL, I could relive these memories with actual laadoos.

Boondi Laadoo is my entry for my first online foodie event - JFI: Diwali hosted by Vee of Past, Present and Me.

The critical tool for making Boondi Laadoo, is the boondi maker...a flat ladle that has several black pepper sized holes, and a long handle.

Makes: 25 laadoos
Preparation time: 1 - 1.5 hours

For Boondi
2.5 cups besan (channa flour)
water to make a thick batter

For sugar syrup
1/2 cup water
3 cup sugar
a pinch orange food coloring
1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Cashew bits
Raisins
2.5 tsp ghee
oil for frying

Making sugar syrup
.Prepare the sugar syrup by heating a mixture of the water and sugar.
. Heat the mixture till the syrup thickens.
. Add cardamom powder and food coloring and mix.
. Syrup is ready when you use a spoon or your fingers to test the stickiness, and it trickles as one string. (also known as oru kambi padam
. Take off heat immediately, but let it sit near the stove (so it is warm but not thickening more).
. In 1/2 tsp ghee, fry the cashew bits and raisins, till cashews are golden brown, and set aside.

Making boondi
. Make batter with the besan and water, adding enough water to ensure it has a thick, runny, consistency.
. Heat oil in a flat pan. (flat, so it is easy to remove the boondis).
. Test oil, with a droplet of batter - it should sizzle and rise. Reduce to medium heat.
. Hold the boondi plate about 3-4 inches above the oil and pour batter using a soup ladle.
. Immediately rub the soup ladle in circles around the plate, so it spreads all the batter evenly.
. Fry the boondis till they are golden brown, but not too much.
. Drain on a paper towel.
. When boondi is drained of oil, but is still warm, add to the sugar syrup. Warm boondi best absorbs sugar syrup.
. Repeat till all the batter is fried.

Making the laadoos
. Add two tsp of ghee, fried cashews and raisins to the boondi-syrup and mix carefully with a wooden spoon.
. Now take a handful of the boondi in one palm, using the pressure from two fingers on your other hand, press firmly applying even pressure to make a ball. It is important to not apply too much pressure (hence use only two fingers), which could lead to hard ladoos.
. Repeat till all the boondis are pressed into laadoos, and set them on a plate to slightly dry out. This is to ensure that the sugar syrup binds well and the laadoo doesn't crumble.
. Store in a dry, air-tight container for about a week - 10 days.

Last Bite: The beauty of this recipe, is that it is not a race between time and creating the laadoo...in other recipes, I've seen the mention that laadoos have to be created before syrup cools. However, MIL claims that some have let the boondi soak in the syrup for hours and sat down for laadoo 'building' and were still successful. The secret is in the consistency of the syrup and also, perhaps the ghee that is added just before making them into balls. The tiny laadoo in the center of the plate, was created exclusively for my son :) He loved it!