Easy Motichoor Ladoo (No-Fry Recipe)

                                                

Motichoor ladoo is a delicious and very popular North Indian festive sweet. Traditionally it is made by making tiny balls (boondi) from gram flour batter , that is first deep fried then simmered in sugar syrup until it plumps up and finally shaped into round balls called ladoos. Today, i have come up with a comparatively healthy motichoor ladoo recipe which does not involve any frying at all. Yes, you heard it right, a motichoor ladoo with no-fry recipe made in just 2 tablespoons of ghee plus no artificial color or artificial flavors used. This Diwali try out my easy to follow recipe with no fancy ingredient or equipment requirement to make these delectable motichoor ladoo and awe your loved ones and guests!

   

What is Motichoor Ladoo ? 

Motichoor ladoo is a delectable gram-flour sweet with a soft and melt-in-mouth texture. Though, Motichoor ladoo has its origins in North India, it is one of the most popular festive sweet enjoyed through out India. Motichoor ladoos are often offered to Indian deities on special occasions and festivals. The word "motichoor" is a combination of two words. In Hindi language, the word moti refers to pearl and the word choor or chur means crumble. Basically motichoor ladoos are so soft and delicate that even with a little applied pressure it crumbles. Small pearls (boondi) are made by passing gram flour batter through Jhara ( a perforated ladle) directly over a wok of hot oil or ghee. The small pearls are deep fried and then simmered in a sugar syrup until the fried pearls plump up. The mixture is then shaped into small balls called ladoos.

Are Motichoor ladoo and Boondi ladoo the same?

No, though both motichoor ladoo and boondi ladoo may have many similarities but they are not the same. Both the ladoos are made using deep-fried gram flour boondi and both are sweetened with sugar syrup, but the main difference is the size of the pearls (boondi) and the texture of the ladoos. Boondi ladoos are made using bigger size boondi while motichoor ladoos use tiny sized boondi. Also the motichoor ladoos are more soft and delicate and crumble very easily as compared to the boondi ladoo.

        

What goes into my no-fry recipe of Easy Motichoor ladoos ? - The Ingredients

• Split Chickpeas / Chana Dal:  These motichoor ladoos are made using chana dal or the split chickpeas and not besan. 
• Sugar: Our motichoor ladoos are sweetened using sugar syrup.
• Saffron strands: Few saffron strands are added to the sugar syrup which add a lovely flavor and beautiful color to our ladoos.
• Nuts: Any nuts of your choice can be added to the ladoos. I have used chopped almonds and cashews inside the ladoos and pistachio to garnish the ladoos.
• Cardamom powder: These motichoor ladoos are flavored with cardamom powder and saffron. You may add rose essence or Kewra water instead.
• Ghee: As mentioned above the entire batch of these motichoor ladoos are made using just 2 tablespoon ghee. We use this ghee to shallow fry the cooked boondi. For a vegan version you may use any oil to shallow fry the cooked boondi.

                                               

How are the no-fry motichoor ladoos made?

Chana dal is soaked overnight and then ground with very little water. This coarse ground batter is then layered in a tin or vessel and then pressure cooked for 2 whistles. This cooked chana dal batter is then grated on cooling down to obtain the fine boondi. Now since this boondi is raw we will roast it in 2 tablespoon ghee for around 15 minutes on low to medium flame. We want it to get completely rid of the raw taste. Meanwhile we will make a sugar syrup adding saffron strands. We do not have to look for any specific thread consistency. Just cook the sugar syrup until it boils and gets bubbly like our gulab jamun sugar syrup. The sugar syrup is then added to the shallow fried boondi and further cooked with chopped nuts until the mixture looks a bit dried up and leaves the sides of the pan. The flame is put off . The ladoo mix is flavored with cardamom powder and once it becomes a bit cool to handle, small ladoos are shaped.

Related Event:  

Diwali Sweets and Savories @Shhhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge

In this Facebook gourmet group, participating members take turn to propose the theme for each month. For the month of October, it was my turn to propose the theme. As Diwali is just around the corner, I suggested that we share sweet or Savory Diwali delicacies. 

All participating members are divided into pairs and both partners exchange a set of secret ingredients, using which both have to cook a dish depending upon the theme for that particular month. Once the dish is ready, only the pic of the dish is shared on the group and the other group members take turns in guessing the secret ingredients, just by looking at the pic of the dish. The secret ingredients are revealed at the end of the month when the recipe is published by the respective members.

 For this month Sasmita who blogs at Firsttimercook was my partner. She gave me saffron and chana dal  as my secret ingredients and i made these delectable motichoor ladoos using the two ingredients. In return, i gave her semolina and fennel seeds and she made a delicious Odia sweet, Sooji Kakera Pitha using it.  Meanwhile, do check out her Motichoor whipping cream parfait  , that i am going to try next.                    

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 10-12 medium sized ladoos

Ingredients: Measurements used 1 cup = 240 ml

• 1 cup chana dal / split chickpeas
• 1/2 cup sugar or as per taste
• 1/4 cup water
• Few saffron strands
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 2 tablespoon chopped nuts of your choice

Method:

1. Rinse the split chickpeas (chana dal) and soak in enough water for 4-6 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse the soaked chickpeas and transfer it to a grinder jar and adding a few tablespoons of water, grind to a coarse paste.

                                       

                                       

2. Layer this coarse paste on a greased tin or vessel and place it covered inside a pressure cooker with water at the base. Pressure cook it for 2 whistles and simmer for 10 minutes. Open the lid of the pressure cooker once the pressure comes down on its own.

                                       

3. Cut the cooked batter into 4 pieces and allow it to cool down completely. Grate each piece using a medium sized grater to get fine boondi. Measure the boondi, for me it came 1 1/2 cup lightly packed boondi, so i used 1/2 cup sugar, which gave a moderately sweet boondi ladoo. You may use 2-3 tablespoons more sugar for a sweeter version. 

                                       

                                        

                                                  

4.  Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a heavy bottom wok or pan and add the grated boondi to it. Roast it on a low to medium flame for around 12-15 minutes so that the boondi gets completely rid of the raw taste. Meanwhile take another sauce pan and add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water to it. Add few saffron strands to it and allow the sugar syrup to boil for 2-3 minutes and then lower the flame. 

                                         

                                         

                                         

5.  Add chopped nuts and sugar syrup to the roasted boondi and cook the mixture for another 1-2 minutes on medium flame. The boondi will soak up all the syrup. Once the mixture becomes a bit dry and leaves the sides of the pan, put off the flame. Add cardamom powder and give a good mix.

            

           

6.  While the ladoo mixture is still warm take small portion of it and shape it into round ladoos. Our Delicious and healthy motichoor ladoos are ready to serve !

    

Recipe Notes:

• These motichoor ladoos remain good at room temperature for 2 days when kept in an air-tight container. They can be stored up to a week or 10 days on refrigeration.
• The above quantity of ingredients yield around 10-12 medium sized ladoos. The recipe can be halved or doubled as per requirement.
• The amount of sugar used can be increased as per your taste. The quantity used here gave a moderately sweet ladoos which were just perfect for us.
• Rose essence or kewra water can be added to the sugar syrup to flavor the ladoos.
• Make sure your roast the grated boondi very well otherwise your ladoos will have the raw taste of chickpeas and will spoil the whole dessert.

Would Love To Hear From You!

I hope you would love trying out this no-fry version of motichoor ladoo for yourself this festive season. If you do so, do share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the section below this post.

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See you soon with yet another healthy and delicious creation from my Kitchen. Till Then take care and eat right !

Happy Cooking !

Happy Eating !

Regards

Poonam Bachhav

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