I have grown up celebrating Diwali with family every year and this is the first time when it has become an exception, as I am so far away from them this time. Diwali brings a lot of excitement, joy, and festivities along with it. It’s a completely different vibe during Diwali which just puts you into a celebratory mood. It’s ecstatic and it’s difficult for me to put into words. Being here in Sydney, I miss all that fun around Diwali. But to be honest, I am not at all sad about this. Because Diwali is not about feeling melancholy, but about being happy and excited, and also about reliving those sweet memories you have about spending time with your family. Every year I would make something sweet for my family and friends and there is plenty of traditional dessert recipes on the blog. So what could have been a better way to celebrate this festival than to make something Indian, something traditional, something which I have always loved to the core and something which makes me smile from ear to ear? Laddoos have always been my favorite sweet of all times, whether Boondi or Besan. I just so love eating laddoos. So I thought that I should make Besan Laddoos this year and share them with my workmates because we have a small Diwali function planned at work tomorrow. I have made a huge batch and I have also saved some for myself so that I can make our Diwali a little more sweet with these delicious Besan laddoos. Happy Diwali! Love.
- 2 cups coarse chickpea flour
- 3/4 cup ghee
- 1/4 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup cashew, coarsely chopped
- 3/4 cup raw sugar
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 1 pinch saffron
- chopped nuts to garnish
- Heat the ghee in a heavy bottom pan or kadhai. Reduce the heat to lowest. Add chickpea flour and mix and roast by continue stirring for about 10 minutes or until it turns golden in colour.
- Add saffron and chopped almonds and cashews to continue roasting for another 15 minutes on very low flame. Make sure that you keep stirring during the whole time at a very low heat.
- Once the mixture turns lightly golden brown, take it off the heat. Pour the mixture into a wide plate and let it cool completely.
- Add sugar and cardamom powder and mix well. Taking small portion of mixture, roll into balls. Sprinkle chopped nuts to garnish. Store in an air-tight container.
- Always ensure to roast on very low flame, to roast it evenly.
- If the mixture feels too dry to roll into laddoos, add a couple of spoonful of ghee.
- If the mixture feels too wet, add a couple spoon of dry roasted chickpea flour.
- Adjust sugar as per your liking.