Conversations & Creations · From my kitchen
I love homemade mithai, and these motichoor laddus have a special place in my memories. This version is adapted from Chef Afzal Nizami’s recipe.
Ingredients
- 200 g besan
- 50 g fine semolina (sooji)
- A pinch or two of yellow food colouring
- Ghee, for frying
- 500 g sugar
- 250 g water
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 50 g charmaghaz
- A little water, for shaping
Method
- Mix the besan and semolina with enough water to make a thin, pourable batter. Add the food colouring.
- Heat the ghee until very hot but not smoking. If it smokes, the boondi can burn; if it is too cool, it will not rise properly.
- In a separate pan, bring the sugar and water to a boil and cook to a one-string consistency. Set aside.
- Hold a small-holed slotted spoon over the hot ghee. Pour some batter onto it and gently move your hand so small drops fall through into the ghee. Fry the boondi until pale, then drain well. Repeat with the remaining batter.
- Add all the drained boondi to the hot syrup. Cook over the lowest heat, stirring gently, until the boondi soften and the syrup is absorbed.
- Turn off the heat and leave the pan for 5 minutes. Stir in the cardamom and charmaghaz, then spread the mixture on a tray for about 15 minutes.
- With slightly wet hands, shape the mixture into laddus. They will look glossy at first and firm up as they cool.
