Churma Ladoo
Authentic, soft, melt in mouth Chruma Ladoo recipe. Learn how to make this rich, traditional Indian festive sweet using wheat flour, jaggery, ghee, cardamom powder and poppy seeds.
Equipment
- Kadai/Deep frying pan
- Parat/ Large mixing bowl
- Mixer grinder / Food Processor
- Sieve/ Channi
Ingredients
For Dough/ Muthiya
- 500 gms Wheat Flour Coarse/karkara/Bhakari atta
- 1/4 cup Besan/ Gram Flour Fine
- 1/2 cup Ghee melted
- 3/4 cup Water Luke warm
For Ladoo Binding
- 250-275 gms Jaggery Finely Chopped
- 350-400 gms Ghee For frying and binding the ladoos
- 1 tsp cardamom powder freshly ground
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder/jaiphal (optional)
- - - Poppy seed For Garnishing (optional)
Instructions
Preparing Dough & Muthiyas
- In a large mixing bowl add 500 gms wheat flour and 1/4 cup besan
- Add 1/2 cup ghee into the flour by rubbing the flour mixture thoroughly using your fingertips until it resembles bread crumbs and holds it shape when pressed in your palm
- Gradually add 3/4 cup lukewarm water, little at a time and knead a very firm and stiff dough.
- Take a small portion of the dough and press then tightly between your fists to form fist shaped muthiyas/dumplings.
Do not over knead. Just bring all the flour together and no dry flour particles are seen.
Leave deep finger impression on them for even frying.
Frying and Making Churma
- Take a kadai/deep frying pan and heat approx. 300 gms of ghee over a slow to medium flame.
- Deep fry the muthiyas until they are golden brown. this will take approx 10-12 mins
- Remove the fried muthiyas, and let them cool completely. Once cooled break them into pieces.
- Transfer the pieces in the blender and grind them into coarse and grainy powder.
- Pass ground mixture through a coarse sieve to remove any big pieces. Regrind and sieve again the remaining large pieces.
Don't keep the flame on high as the muthiyas will brown quickly from outside but will be uncooked from inside.
To get coarse powder only use pulse function on your blender. If the powder is fine, ladoos won't hold shape and will stick in your mouth.
The final texture should resemble coarse wet sand or fine semolina(rava).
Flavouring and Binding the Ladoos
- Mix 1 tsp cardamom powder and 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder(optional) directly into the sieved churma powder
- Heat the kadai which has leftover ghee over a low flame and add the chopped jaggery and mix it till it starts to melt.
- Pour this mixture over the churma powder and mix it with a spatula
- When the mixture is comfortably warm , tightly roll small portions between your palms into smooth round ladoos .
- Put poppy seeds ( khus-khus ) on a plate and gently roll the ladoo to coat the exterior. Let it set competely.
Nutmeg powder helps in digestion but if in excess will ruin the taste of the dish.
Do not over cook the jaggery or boil it and make the ladoos hard.
Do not use hand at this point as the mixture will be hot.
Ghee should ooze out when binding, if not then add the remaining ghee.
This step is optional.
Notes
Storage & Self life: Store these completely cooled ladoos in a clean airtight container at room temperature. They stay fresh and delicious for upto 2-3 weeks thanks to the traditional cooking method and high ghee content. Do not as refrigerate ghee will solidify and make ladoos hard to bite.
Choosing the right atta: For most authentic result use coarse whole wheat flour as known as Ladoo Atta, Bhakri Atta. If you cannot find this flour and have standard fine chapati flour you can add 1/2 cup fine sooji to 2 cups wheat flour.
Troubleshooting Dry Mixture: If your churma mixture feels too dry or crumbly do not add water or milk which will spoil the taste and shelf life. Warm some ghee and to the mixture, mix well and roll them when warm.
Ghee: Quantity of ghee basically depends on the quality of the wheat flour and temperature. Initially we feel that ghee is extra but it gets absorbed or soaked up when rested . So ghee should normally ooze out when we are rolling them ,they won't dry up the next day.