Rava Ladoo

Rava ladoo is a traditional sweet of south India. This is one of my husband's and son's favorite. There are many ways of making this ladoo, this is one of them.

Makes : 20

Preparation time : 1 hour 30 min

You need :

• 1 cup rava (semolina/sooji)
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup fried dhal (pottu kadalai/ buna channa)
• 1/4 cup moong dhal (paasi paruppu)
• handful of cashew nuts
• 3/4 cup ghee (clarified butter)
• 1/2 tsp elaichi (cardamom)

Preparation :

• In a pan, roast the rava (semolina) until it turns slightly brown. Remove them from the pan and transfer to a bowl.
• In the same pan, fry the moong dhal for 5 minutes.
• In a blender, add the roasted rava (semolina), moong dhal, fried dhal (pottu kadalai) and sugar and blend them to make a fine powder and set aside.
• Add 1/2 tsp of elaichi to this powder and mix well.
• In a pan, add 2 tablespoons of ghee. When the ghee melts, add the cashew nuts and roast them till golden brown.
• Add the roasted cashew nuts to the powder and mix well.
• In same pan add 3/4 cup of ghee and heat it for 10 min.
• Add this hot ghee to the mixture and mix them with a spatula. (Be cautious not to touch the mixture with your hand as the ghee will be hot and it might burn your hand).

• When the mixture is still warm, take small amounts of the powder and make them into small balls(lemon-sized).

Variations:

1. Have some powdered sugar in a bowl and roll these ladoos in them for extra sweetness. Tap the ladoo to remove excess of sugar powder sticking onto it.
2. The powder that you get after grinding the ingredients can be stored for a very long time. This way, you save time and you can make ladoos in just 10 min.