Besan Laddu:

Besan laddu is one of the most popular Indian sweets prepared during the time of Deepavali or Diwali festival. Besan laddu is pretty simple and contains three main ingredients- Gram flour/ Besan, ghee and sugar. These melt in a mouth laddu’s are my family’s favourite.

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Ingredients:

Gram flour/ Besan – 3 cups

Sugar – 2 ¼ cups

Ghee – 1 cup

Dry fruits – 1 cup

Cardamom powder – 1 tea spoon

Method:

-Chop dry fruits. I normally use half cup of cashew bits and half cup of slivered Almond bits.

-Dry roast almond and cashew bits and keep aside.

-Powder sugar and keep aside.

-Take one thick bottomed wok, roast Besan in very low temperature.

-When it is a little hot, start adding ghee little by little during the roasting process.

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-Don’t add or pour all the ghee at one go. It will not help to roast evenly and it will make muddy consistency, and will affect in even roasting.

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– I took exactly 30 minutes over a very small flame.

-When it roasts and after adding all the ghee, mixture becomes very runny and colour will turn into reddish brown.

-At this time your house will filled with roasted flour’s aroma. This is the time you should switch off the gas and leave this mixture to cool completely.

-It will take anywhere between 30 to 40 minutes.

-Now add powdered sugar, cardamom powder and roasted dry fruits and mix everything properly.

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-Now start using your hand and mix it once and start making small roundels by taking very little mixture at a time.

-At this time, you will feel that the laddus are a little wet and glossy and shining.

-Arrange these over a clean, dry platter. Because of the wetness, it tends to loosen its shape.

-After some time (one hour) laddu’s will be dry and glossy texture will vanish.

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-I usually take these shapeless roundels and once again try to give shape and store it in an airtight container.

Panchakajjaya /Naivedym which offered to lord Ganapathi:

Panchakajjaya is integral part of Ganesh Chaturthi Naivedyam. Pancha means Five. As the name suggests it is made up of five ingredients. Chana dal, sugar, coconut, Ghee, black sesame seed. cashew nuts are optional. This powdery Prasadam is a treat which we look forward to every year on this auspicious day.

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Ingredients:

Chana dal / Bengal gram dal – 1 cup

Grated fresh coconut – 1cup

Sugar – 1cup

Black sesame seed – 2 tbl sp

Cashew bits – ½ cup

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Ghee – ½ tsp

Method:

         Dry roast Chana dal until it is light golden and fragrant. Cool and make powder by using small mixer jar. Sieve and collect fine powder. Do this in small batches, little by little.

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         Powder sugar.

         Dry roast sesame seed and cool.

         Dry roast coconut gratings until light golden. Cool this.

         Fry cashew bits in ghee and keep aside.

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         Now take one bowl, mix everything together, and sprinkle cardamom powder. Offer to God.