Ladoo: Sweet Semolina Balls
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 16 ladoos 1x
Description
These ladoos are prepared majorly in most of the South Indian homes during festivals and puja’s.
Ingredients
- Semolina / Suji / Sooji - 1 cup (240 ml)
- Sugar - 1 cup (240 ml)
- Powdered dry coconut - 1/2 cup (120 ml)
- Raisins and Cashews - handful
- Milk - 1/4 cup (60 ml) approx or as required
- Cardamom Pods: 2-4
- Ghee - 2 - 3 tbsp
Instructions
- Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed frying pan and fry the cashews until light brown color. After that just add in the raisins and fry until it becomes little fluffy. Take them out of the ghee and set aside.
- Now grind the sugar and cardamom seeds into a powder and set aside. I normally keep this mixture ready all the time as it comes handy to be used in any kind of Indian Sweets.
- In the same pan, add the semolina / Suji / Sooji and fry continuously on a medium flame till it changes its color to light golden and you smell a nice aroma of cooked Semolina. Keep stirring to avoid Semolina to burn.
- After you feel semolina has reached the desired color then add in the rest of the ingredients like powdered sugar, coconut and both raisins and cashews. Mix well.
- Now sprinkle the milk over the semolina mixture and mix it well, adding milk helps in binding the ladoos well. Do not over pour the milk else the mixture will become liquid types and loose, which won’t bind into ladoos easily. In this step use your approximation too.
- After the mixture is little cool and at the same time warm enough to handle, take a little portion of it and roll into small balls to form the Ladoos.
- Store these in an air tight container for 3-4 days.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: South Indian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 ladoos
- Calories: 190
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know when the semolina is roasted enough before adding the other ingredients?
The instructions say to fry the 1 cup of semolina (suji/sooji) continuously over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until it turns a light golden color and you can smell a pleasant aroma of cooked semolina. Both the color change and the aroma are your cues — under-roasted semolina will taste raw, while over-roasted semolina will turn bitter.
How much milk should I add, and what happens if I add too much?
The recipe calls for approximately 1/4 cup (60 ml) of milk, sprinkled over the mixture rather than poured all at once. The instructions explicitly warn not to over-add milk — the mixture will become too loose and liquid to roll into balls. Add just enough so the mixture binds when pressed, then roll into ladoos while it is still warm enough to handle but cool enough not to burn your hands.
