Boondi Laddu – Traditional South Indian sweet recipe

Laddu is definitely, and most easily the closest and the dearest sweet for us, tamilians. We enjoy anything and everything with the love of a laddu. There are a variety of laddus… the moong dhal laddu, the rava laddu, besan flour laddu… but, nothing beats the yumminess of the traditional boondi laddu …

Here is a look into how this comforting South Indian Traditional Sweet is made. A straight forward and a foolproof recipe, that can be prepared by anyone. So what are you waiting for? get your ingredients ready and we shall get started…

Ingredients:

Yield: about 20 to 25 medium sized laddus.

Besan Flour – 2 cups

Sugar – 1.5 cups

Lemon juice – a few drops

Cloves – 2 nos.

Cardamom – 2 nos.

Ghee – 2tbsp

Cashews – 2tbsp

Dry grapes – 2tbsp

The Method:

To make the bhoondi:

• Take 2 cups of Besan flour in a bowl. To make the batter add 1-1.5 cups of water gradually. Keep mixing. The batter should be flowing consistency, thinner than the idli batter consistency. It should not be runny too.
• Next, Heat oil in pan. Once the oil is sizzling hot, keep the flame in medium high to maintain the temperature. If the temperature goes down, the bhoondis will come out flat.
• Take a ladle full of batter and pour over a spotted spoon into the hot oil. Keep tapping the spoon with the ladle, slowly. This will allow the batter to fall as droplets into the oil, thus, making nice round bhoondis.
• Fry the bhoondis for 2 minutes on either side, and remove it from the oil. Do not let it brown.

  (Note: if it over fried, it will not soak the sugar syrup.)

• Follow the same procedure to fry the remaining boondis and set aside.

The sugar syrup:

• In a thick bottom pan, take 1 and half cups of sugar. To it, add 1 cup of water.
• Mix well, and bring it to boil.
• Once the syrup reaches 1- string consistency, take it off heat.
• Add a few drops of lemon juice (to prevent further crystallization)
• To the syrup, add 2 nos. of cloves and 2nos. of split cardamoms.
• Add the fried boondis to the syrup and mix well. Allow it to soak for at least 30mins, you can even it overnight.

The yummy garnishing:

• In the meantime, take a pan, and add 2 tbsp of ghee.
  
• Add 2 tbsp of Roughly chopped cashews and raisins.
  
• Fry it light brown and add the garnishing to the bhoondi syrup mixture.
  

Finally, the shaping of the laddu:

• Before starting to shape the bhoondis, mix the mixture well once again.
  
• Take a handful of the prepared mixture and press tightly between both your palms.
  
• Once you fell that the bhoondis are staying together, start shaping them into ball.
  
• A yummy tasty home-made bhoondi laddu is ready… follow the same steps to shape all your boondi laddus.
  

The Method with images:

To make the bhoondi:

• Take 2 cups of Besan flour in a bowl. To make the batter add 1-1.5 cups of water gradually. Keep mixing. The batter should be flowing consistency.

  

• 
• Next, Heat oil in pan.

  

• Take a ladle full of batter and pour over a spotted spoon into the hot oil. Keep tapping the spoon with the ladle, slowly. This will allow the batter to fall as droplets into the oil, thus, making nice round boondis.

  

• Fry the boondis for 2 minutes on either side, and remove it from the oil. Do not let it brown.

  

• Follow the same procedure to fry the remaining boondis and set aside.

The sugar syrup:

• In a thick bottom pan, take 1 and half cups of sugar. To it, add 1 cup of water.

  

• Mix well, and bring it to boil. Once the syrup reaches 1- string consistency, take it off heat.

  

• To the syrup, add a few drops of lemon juice, add 2 nos. of cloves and 2nos. of split cardamoms.

  

  

• Add the fried boondis to the syrup and mix well. Allow it to soak for at least 30mins.

The yummy garnishing:

• In the meantime, take a pan, and add 2 tbsp of ghee.
  

  
  

• Add 2 tbsp of Roughly chopped cashews and raisins.
  

  
  

• Fry it light brown and add the garnishing to the bhoondi syrup mixture.
  

Finally, the shaping of the laddu:

• Before starting to shape the laddus, mix the mixture well once again.
  

  
  

• Take a handful of the prepared mixture and press tightly between both your palms.
  

  
  

• Once you fell that the boondis are staying together, start shaping them into ball.
  

  
  

• A yummy tasty home-made boondi laddu is ready… follow the same steps to shape all your bhoondi laddus.
  

A traditional home-made Boondi laddu has become a regular dish at home, as my son loves it. He makes sure, that I make at least one a month! I hope you and your family will enjoy it the same way. Do give this recipe a try and let me know your thoughts in the comments sections. And keep following this page for lot more authentic and traditional recipes. Happy cooking 🙂