Boondi Laddoo (An Indian sweet made with chick pea flour)

Happy Vijaya Dashami to all my Indian readers

I probably knew how to make rice, rasam and couple of simple curries when my oldest sister got married. The head chef came to our house to make Laddoos. I was right there helping my mother with something else. That is when I saw how he made laddoos. That memory made me try and make these when I came to this country. It was my kitchen and I was the boss/queen there. When I made these, I was surprised how good I had made them. I actually was surprised by myself. 

I have made these couple of times since then and every time in a large scale. After the first time, I have not made less than 100 of these any time. Don't worry, I have never made these for just ourselves. It is always to distribute among friends and relatives. This time too I made more than 100 and the measurement I am giving is half of that. You should be able to make about 50 not so big laddoos out of this.

Ingredients:
Besan/Chick pea flour - 2 cups
Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
Water - 1 1/4 cup - 1 1/3 cup (Depends on how well packed the flour is)
Oil for deep frying (I use double refined peanut oil)
Sugar - 2 cups
Water for syrup - 1 cup
Cardamom - 15 pods powdered
Saffron - few strands (powder it with cardamom)
Edible camphor - a pinch
Cashews - 1/2 cup
Raisins (Indian green ones) - 1/3 cup
Rock sugar - 1/2 cup - optional (they call these diamond sugar / diamond sakkare in kannada)
Grated dry coconut (kobbari/copra) - 1 cup
Cloves - 2 TBSP
Confectioner's sugar or powdered sugar - 1/2 cup for dusting

Method:
To make Boondis:
Heat oil for frying in a kadai/frying pan. Mix the chick pea flour, baking soda and water (not for syrup) well without any lumps. I find using the whisk does the trick. The batter should be of dripping consistency. You will need a laddoo ladle or a ladle with perforations to pour the batter into hot oil. Pour enough batter on the top of the perforated ladle and hold it on the top of the hot oil. The drops of the batter will puff up and separate in oil. When these boondis are cooked, remove from the oil and drain on the paper towel. Clean the back of the perforated ladle every time. Otherwise, you will end up with boondis with tails. When all the boondis are ready, set aside. In the same oil, roast the cashews and raisins. Set them aside.

To make the syrup:
Heat sugar and water for the syrup in a pan. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Let it come to a simmer. When it starts bubbling, lower the heat and simmer for about 4 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add cardamom powder, saffron and edible camphor if using to it and mix well. Set aside.

Assembly:
In a large bowl, take all of the boondis, roasted cashews, raisins, cloves, dry grated coconut, rock sugar if using. Mix well. Pour the syrup on this mixture and mix. Let it stand for about 10 - 15 minutes. Boondis will soak up the syrup and become soft. When you take a fistful of the mixture and form into a ball, if they remain together, they are ready to be formed into balls/laddoos. If they stick back to your hands and fall off, dust your hands with powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar and make the balls. Keep them in a plate and let it set/dry a bit before packing in an airtight container. These can stay in an airtight container for more than a month if it lasts that long.

These big fat ones were made by my husband towards the end when my hands got tired of forming the balls. His saying was "These will come out good in the picture for your blog". Do they look good?

Notes:
Some people add yellow food coloring to the syrup. I don't.Another note is these boondis are not very tiny like most of the ones people sell in stores. I had to hunt down to get this size because we like the laddoos with big boondis. Adding cloves is probably an Iyengar thing since I have not seen many others adding cloves to these. So is the rock sugar or diamond sakkare.

Enjoy!!