Mysore Laddoo

Ingredients

This is one of the popular sweets my mother makes all the time.She says the recipe is from my grandmother who has never been to Mysore so I doubt the authenticity of it being from Mysore .Nonetheless the name struck and I won't be surprised if people from Mysore never tasted it .It is very soft and delicate and tastes wonderful.It does take some technique I suppose to get it right the first time.

I worked hard in getting the measurements because my mother never weighs anything.I measured these while she was making them and together we made some adjustments to get it right for the scales.

The cups I used for the measurement here are American cup sizes.

11/2 cups granulated sugar  -- 300 grams

175 grams grated coconut

175 grams unsalted Butter

1 cup chickpea flour(besan)   -- 128 grams

Cardamom 4

Cashew nuts few

1 cup Water - 235ml

Method:

1.Heat a wide based pan and 2 spoons ghee (clarified butter).fry few cashew nuts until golden brown and put them aside for later. You wouldn't need these until the last step.

2.In the same pan add Chick pea flour and let it heat gently for 5 minutes until the raw smell is gone .It doesn't need to change in colour. Put it aside.

3.In the same pan add 1cup of  water and 1 ½ cups granulated sugar. when the sugar has melted which will take up to 5 minutes add coconut powder. cook it gently for 10 minutes,

4.Add butter now and let it melt slowly and emulsify for 5 minutes.

5.Then add the Chickpea flour and this is where you need some patience .You need to cook all the ingredients together for any time between 15- 25 minutes.it will be quite runny at this stage but after few minutes it will all start to come together like dough and you will know when to stop by this trick.

The dough will start to leave the sides of the pan and if you a spoonful of it out of the pan and try to make a ball with it you will be able to do so albeit being a soft one.you add cardamom powder at this stage.

6.switch off the flame and transfer the contents to a tray and let it cool down for 15- 20 minutes.The reason being it will be too hot to handle.

7.When it cools down you can shape it into whatever shapes and sizes you like.It will feel quite squishy and leaves indentations when you press on it at this stage but don't worry.by next day it will firm up a bit and get to the right consistency.

8.Decorate with the cashew nuts we fried earlier.