A quintessential Rajasthani sweet, Jayanti Soni's aata or wheat flour laddoos, made with just five ingredients, are exquisite-tasting enough to be offered as bhog to about-to-arrive Lord Ganesha.
Increase or decrease the quantity of the nuts as per your taste, but avoid reducing the ghee as that's what gives these Churma Laddoos their perfect round shape.
Jayanti's forte is the cuisine of Rajasthan and a few of her most inspired Rajasthani recipes are Doodhi Ke Gatte and Samak Pulau, which she learned from her mother Geeta Devi.
During festivals the chosen desserts in Rajasthan, Jayanti says, are Gujiya, Rabdi, Besan Ke Laddu, Ghewar, Maal Puas, Jalebi, Sukhdi, Kheer, Puran Poli.
Photographs: Dhairya Soni
Churma Laddoos
Servings: 6-7 pieces
Ingredients:
- 250 gm aata or wheat flour
- 100 gm pure ghee
- 100 gm jaggery or powdered sugar
- 5 cashews, chopped
- 5 almonds, chopped
- 5 green elaichi or cardamom
- Water
Method
- De-seed the cardamom and crush or pound the seeds to a coarse powder.
Keep aside.
- In a bowl, combine a few tbsp of the ghee with the wheat flour.
Mix well using your hands until you have a soft, loose dough that holds shape when pressed together.
Add some water and knead into a smooth dough.
Divide the dough into smaller, flat portions (please see video below).
- Heat enough ghee in a large heavy-bottomed frying pan or kadhai.
Deep-fry the flattened pieces of dough until brown.
Keep flipping so they fry evenly.
Drain from the ghee and cool completely.
Keep aside the remaining ghee used for frying.
- Using your hands, break the fried dough and transfer into a mixer grinder.
Grind to a coarse mixture and not a very fine powder.
But the ground mixture should be able to pass through a sieve with large holes.
Sieve the mixture.
If there are any large pieces, grind them again and pass through the sieve.
- In a heavy-bottomed frying pan, dry roast the sieved mixture for a few minutes.br />Take off heat.
- Add the chopped nuts and cardamom to the roasted, sieved mixture.
- Add half of the ghee that was kept aside to the same frying pan.
Heat the ghee and the jaggery/sugar and keep stirring until it melts.
If using sugar, you can skip the next step below and immediately pour the sugar-ghee liquid into the sieved, ground wheat mixture.
- If using jaggery, when the jaggery melts, let it boil for 1-2 minutes.
Take off heat and pour it into the sieved, ground wheat mixture.
Using a tablespoon, mix.
Add some more ghee and start rolling the mixture into 1-1½-inch laddoos with your hands.
The mixture will be warm, be careful not to burn your hands in the process.
The rolled laddoos can be served warm.
Editor's Note: For a vegan and slightly healthier version, use melted cashew butter.
For gluten-free, better-carb laddoos, substitute the wheat flour with oat flour or ragi flour or millet flour (like bajra flour or jowar flour) or rajgir (amaranth) flour.
In addition or in place of cashews and almonds (keeping the total quantity of nuts the same), try 10 charolis or Cuddapah almonds or 5 chopped walnuts or 5 chopped raisins or a little mishri or rock candy.
WATCH: How to make Churma Laddoos.
Video: Kind courtesy Dhairya Soni
