This year for the “Festival of Lights”, I decided to prepare Nankhatai (Indian Cookie) and Boondi Laddoos.It was the first time that I experimented preparing it 😉 And it really came out well…
I was all excited to prepare these sweets .Especially the Boondi Laddoos because I had heard from many that they are a bit tough to prepare and requires some skill…And,,, I would also add to it that it needs some patience too…:-|
Overall – All’s Well that Ends Well. The laddoos came out quite well for someone(me) who didn’t have the main resource – the ‘Boondi Jhaara’ to make.
So, How did I prepare the Boondi’s? Well not having the Jhaara didn’t stop me I used the Tea Strainer instead;) I didn’t get the perfect round boondi’s though but, at the end when the Laddoos were made, they tasted good and I enjoyed preparing them…and that was important for me 🙂
Recipe for Boondi Laddoos:
Ingredients Used?
1 cup Besan(Chickpea Flour)
I cup sugar and 1 cup water
Cardamom powder
Ghee/Oil
How I Prepared it?
Add water to the Besan and prepare a batter. Then leave it for some time.(Saffron colouring can also be added, but I have kept it as it is.)
In the meantime in another pan take sugar add water to it and heat this syrup. Even here some saffron colouring can be added but I have not added any colouring to it. This syrup should be heated till you get a single string consistency – this is the important part of preparing these laddoos.To check this, take some syrup at the back of a spoon.After it comes to your comfortable temperature(but while its still warm) just lift a tiny amount of syrup with your forefinger. Then quickly press and release the forefinger with your thumb. You should see a single string between them. Once this is done add a tsp of cardamom powder and set aside.Keep this warm.
To prepare the Boondis, heat Ghee in a pan. Take the Besan batter in the strainer/jhaara and tap the strainer over the pan or with a spoon. With my tea strainer I did manage to get the round shapes but with a little longer tail to them :).
Fry these boondis till they are golden coloured then remove and put them in the sugar syrup (This is where you would need some patience.) Stir the boondis with the syrup so that they soak well in it.
Once all the boondis are prepared and added to the syrup. Let it stay for around 15mins or so.(Do not keep them for long else making round shapes of them would be difficult. Then its a different sweet dish altogether – called just Sweet Boondis 🙂 and that is also really good).
While the mixture is still warm, prepare round balls from it- Dip your hands in water, take some portion of it in your hands press it and give it round shapes.Initially you would feel that they are not sticking together but keep trying on it and once you get the tact of getting them together for round shape..The Laddoos are Ready…
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| Just some icing on my cookie – Nankhatai |
Recipe for Nankhatai:
Ingredients used?
1/2 cup Wholemeal Self Raising Flour
1/3 cup Fine Semolina
1/4 cup Fine Sugar (Not Powdered)
1/4 cup Ghee
1 tbsp Milk
Cardamom powder for stuffing
Salt
How I prepared it?
Mix all the ingredients (except cardamom powder) together with ghee add 1/4 tsp of salt. Combine all of it together..Using hands would be ideal to do this. Then mixing with some water along with milk make a dough of it. Let it rest for some 5 mins. Then apply some ghee to your hands and make round balls of it. I used the measuring 1tsp to get the same sized balls.
Before giving it the round shape, I stuffed each with a pinch of cardamom, gave them round shapes and pressed them a bit.Then refrigerate it for 10mins.
In the meantime preheat the oven to 140degree. Then bake these on 120degree.It needed 25mins of baking and for the last 5 mins I baked it on 110degree. This temperature setting depends, I had a big oven with Fan and these settings worked .
The pinch of cardamom in each of them makes them smell lovely while they are baking.
We enjoyed snacking them with tea that Diwali evening ..
Superb looks of dishes and fine commentary, Akanksha !!!