Besan Laddoos

Traditional Indian sweet made with gram flour (besan) and ghee, flavoured with cardamom

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1 5

Makes: 22 laddoos

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Ingredients

250 gms ghee
500 gms besan (gram flour)
250 gms finely powdered sugar plus a few spoons more if needed
4 to 6 cardamom pods, peeled and finely crushed

Instructions

Melt 200 gms (roughly 1 cup) of the ghee in a sturdy, deep pan or flat-bottomed kadhai. Add the besan in bit by bit, stirring till the ghee has been absorbed and the mixture takes on a drier, slightly lumpy appearance.
Now add the remaining 50 gms ghee, a spoon at a time, stirring all the time as the besan reaches the various stages of browning. The mixture will start to look more moist and go from pale yellow to darker brown in about 10 minutes. From there, it will darken further, becoming more of a semi solid consistency (see photos below), smelling super nutty and fragrant, with the surface looking glossy because of the ghee. This is when it's done and the whole process will take a total of about 45 minutes, with constant stirring to prevent burning. You might see reddish spots appear, which is fine, just make sure to stir them in and make sure nothing is sticking to the base of the kadhai.
Take the kadhai off the heat and set aside for the mixture to cool for about 2 hours, till it's almost at room temperature. Then, stir in the crushed cardamom.
Add the powdered sugar bit by bit, stirring with a silicone spatula to mix it all in. Then use your hand to bring it all together, making sure you break up any lumps of sugar that might be there. It will form a soft dough-like consistency. You can taste and add a few more spoons of sugar at this stage if needed. While sugar helps thicken and dry up the mixture, I prefer not to add too much even if the laddoos remain on the soft side, but you can make them sweeter if you like!
If the dough is a bit too soft to work with, chill it for 10 minutes. Mould into ladoos using the palm of one hand. I used a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop to make sure I had equal portions! In all, you will have 20 to 22 laddoos.
Store the laddoos in an airtight box at room temperature, at least overnight before serving. These really do get better the longer they sit! If you find the laddoos going soft (particularly in hot or humid weather), you can store them in the fridge and bring back to room temperature before digging in. Happy Diwali :)

Notes

I learned this recipe in weight measures and stuck to it because it's easier to remember the proportions that way.

For reference if you plan to use cup measures, here are approximations: 1 cup besan = 90 gms, 1 cup ghee = 225 gms, 1 cup powdered sugar = 115 gms