Anyone who has eaten besan laddu will agree that it is one of the yummiest Indian desserts! Besan is chickpea (i.e. garbanzo bean) flour; and laddus are sweet ball-shaped bites. In India, these are often prepared during festivities or other celebrations/events.
The first time I made these laddus was when I was a student and it took little under an hour to make about 35 laddus for an event. Not bad, right?! Although, here I have made only about a dozen laddus, it takes about the same amount of time even to make about three dozen of these. So it is one of the best sweets to stock up! Also, as long as one makes sure that the besan/flour is roasted well, i.e. it does not smell raw any longer, it is hard to go wrong with this dessert.
Besan Laddu | Sweet Chickpea Flour Bites Recipe
(makes 12 laddus)
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1.25 cups besan (i.e. chickpea flour)
1/2 cup + 1 tsp ghee (i.e. clarified butter)
1 tbsp luke warm milk
A pinch of saffron
2/3 cup coarsely powdered sugar
1/2 tsp crushed cardamom/elaichi
1 tbsp raisins
Method
Dissolve saffron in 1 tbsp luke warm milk and keep aside.
In a wok or kadhai, heat 1 tsp ghee on medium heat and fry the raisins until golden. Keep them aside. Into the same wok, add the remaining ghee and reduce heat to medium-low. Add besan and keep stirring. The mixture will initially form lumps and then eventually ghee will separate out. Keep mixing thoroughly to prevent the mixture from charring. Finally, when besan turns brown, the mixture becomes semi-liquid and besan gives out a wonderful aroma. Turn off heat. Immediately add saffron milk, stir, and let it cool.
When the mixture is still warm, but not too hot, add sugar and crushed cardamom and mix well to form dough-like consistency. Once the mixture cools down, roll it into lime-sized laddus.