Indian Sweet Rava (Semolina) Ladoo
Semolina Ladoo with Pistachios and Golden Raisins
Posted By Savita
Rava (Semolina) Ladoo (truffles) have sweet and buttery bite with special surprise of crunchy pistachio nuts and savory plum golden raisins. Special favorite of kids, these sweets often disappear from your kitchen sooner than you can imagine.
Sweets and festivity go hand-in-hand in every part of the world no matter what! During any family get-together or while visiting friends or relatives, everyone loves to bring some sweets.
And you know who enjoys those the most!!
Kids!!!!
Who else? :)
Sweets cooked in clarified butter are traditional and very famous among Indian vicinity during any auspicious occasion, event, or family gathering. Be it a graduation party, child birth, marriage, or holly festival, an occasion without sweets is hard to envision.
One such occasion, celebrated all over India and even wherever Indian live is - DIWALI. Also known as festival-of-light, diwali is meant for firing fire-crackers, worshiping, and eating lots of sweets, many days before the actual diwali day.
Rava Ladoo (semolina truffles) are very famous among other sweets made/gifted during Diwali. Since Diwali is approaching fast, I thought to share with you this traditional Indian sweet.
This is, for sure a don't-count-calories kind-a recipe. But has great nutrition value for growing kids. Just a few simple ingredients and an easy method of cooking can yield these beautiful round nuggets. Great for kid's eyes, brain, and bone health, kids will devour them in no time.
These ladoo are great for snacking and are often served with evening tea. You can pack'em for lunch, as a special surprise for kiddos too.
Feel free to double the recipe, because not just kids, I have seen even grown-up sneaking often in the kitchen, at-least until all ladoo finish :)
These rava ladoo have many variations. Today, I have made'em with pistachios and my favorite golden raisins. I have included some variations and vegan version in recipe notes below. Feel free to change the recipe and make it your own.
Buttery, aromatic and melt-in-mouth texture
Rava Ladoo have crunchy bits of pistachio and sweet surprise of raisins through-out. I specially like the melt-in-mouth consistency of roasted semolina (rava). Aroma of clarified butter, cardamom, and roasted coconut makes this ladoo really a delightful and gourmet experience. Every diwali/Christmas season, I sure pack a few in gift boxes for my friends.
Special note for Clarified Butter:
Clarified Butter or commonly known as ghee used in this recipe is homemade. I stopped buying store bought ghee long ago. Due to high fat contents, I use ghee very less in our day-to-day food. I only make a cup or two at a time to keep it handy for special occasion dishes such as these Rava Ladoos. If you wanna make Clarified Butter (ghee) at home, I added the recipe last year - Clarified Butter (Ghee Recipe)
Other than being great for gifting during holidays and festivals, these sweet treats are good as filling hiking/cycling time's snack. 1-2 ladoo can keep you full much longer and give great energy for heavy workouts.
Glad to share this recipe with you all.
Happy cooking!!
Taking a moment to remember what I posted this day in previous years:
One year ago Banana Raisin Bread
Two years ago Chicken with Caramelized Onion Cream Sauce
Rava Ladoo and a cup of hot chai equals happy times!!
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Golden Raisins (also know as kishmish)
- 3/4 Cup Semolina (fine semolina (also know as Sooji or Rava) flour)
- 1/3 Cup Pistachio (shelled, unsalted raw pistachios)
- 1 tsp Cardamom (use powder or seeds, coarse ground in mortar-pestle)
- 1/2 Cup Sugar (fine granulated white sugar or powder sugar )
- 1/2 Cup Coconut (fresh grated or dried, I have used unsweetened and grated dried coconut)
- 1/3 Cup Milk (use room temperature milk, or lukewarm milk in microwave for 15 secs.)
- 2 tbsp Clarified Butter (or common known as ghee)
Directions
-
1. Rough chop pistachios. I have kept raisins whole for personal liking. Feel free to chop'em if you prefer even distribution. -
2. For personal liking, I always prefer to coarse ground cardamom seeds for these ladoos instead of using powder. If you don't like texture of cardamom in ladoos, feel free to use powder. -
3. In a non-stick pan or deep heavy bottom pan, heat ghee (clarified butter) at medium heat until melted, then add raisins and pistachios and saute for 2-3 minutes. Don't let raisins burn. -
4. Raisins will swell-up and pistachio will also start changing color. At this stage add grated coconut and cook another 2 minutes. Again don't let coconut burn, we just want to toast coconut (1-2 minutes), burnt coconut will add a bitter taste to ladoos. -
5. Now add semolina flour and keeping heat low-medium cook stirring often until semolina is toasted. Note: If using granulated sugar add at it same time when you add semolina and cook low and slow until semolina is toasted.Cooking slow because otherwise sugar will start to caramelize and burn the bottom. Additional Notes:
I have yellow semolina flour, for pure white ladoo you can use white regular semolina flour. -
6. If using powder sugar, add once rava (semolina) is toasted but not brown (after about 6-7 minutes of toasting rava). Stir to mix in and continue cooking for 2 more minute.. -
7. Then add room temperature or lukewarm milk slowly while combining with spatula to avoid any lumps in the mixture. Semolina (rava) will come together very fast. Continue cooking mixture for one more minute, then remove from heat. Additional Notes:
I have added 1/3 cup milk, sometimes quantity vary by 1-2 tbsp. Just add milk slowly, milk should be sufficient that rava is not dry yet comes together plus is not wet or runny either. -
8. Let mixture cool a bit, so that it is easy to handle. (about 5-7 minutes). Now, take 2 tbsp of mixture in greased hands and roll tight to make a small lemon size ladoo. Set aside. Repeat with remaining mixture. Additional Notes:
Don't let mixture completely cool down or you will not be able to roll ladoo. - 9. Serve with Hot Chai for breakfast or serve it after meal for sweet treat.
Savita's Recipe Notes:
I have used yellow semolina to make these ladoo. You can always use white traditional semolina.
If mixture gets cold and tough to roll into ladoo, microwave mixture for 20 seconds. This makes mixture easy to roll again.
Variations:
You can also use cashews or almonds or walnuts instead of pistachios for these Rava Ladoos. Also, golden raisins can be swapped with cranberries or can skip all-together.
For vegan version, use vegetable shortening instead of clarified butter and use lite coconut/almond milk instead of regular whole milk.
What will I do different next time? I will use a bigger pan to cook ingredients. I could not imagine these ingredients filling pan to brim, that has to be fixed next time I make these ladoos. Cheers!!
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