Rava Laddu | Simple Diwali Sweets

Diwali aka Deepawali is around the corner and blogosphere is already loaded with sweets & savories.Not only blogosphere,everywhere its celebration time.Hope you all have started buying crackers,sweets & new dresses.Festivities are all a perfect time for get togethers with family.Though we don't celebrate Diwali as such but sweets are welcome to all at home.Rava laddu is a simple sweet that can be made in a jiffy without much efforts.These cute off white balls are very tempting and can be stored over a month if you make it in ghee.These laddus are best made with fine sooji/semolina but if you have coarse one used for upma then grind to fine before proceeding with the recipe.My kids loved these a lot and in fact they have already added this to their repeat list of snacks.So,if you haven't started off making sweets for Diwali or if you are a beginner to making sweets then this can be a good start.Do try and enjoy !!!

Preparation time ~ 15 minutes

Cooking time ~ 10 minutes

Author ~ Julie

Serves ~ 13-15 laddus
Ingredients
fine semolina/sooji/rava 1.5 cups
powdered sugar 1/2 -1 cup
dry grated coconut 1/2 cup
ghee 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp
cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
cashews broken 2tbsp
raisins 2tbsp

milk 1/3 cup

Watch on YouTube -

Method

• I pulsed the semolina in a grinder jar as I used coarse rava.
• Heat a pan with 2 tbsp ghee in it.Fry the raisins and broken cashews.Remove on a plate.
• Dry roast the semolina in the same pan in the remaining ghee for 3–4 mins on low to medium heat, or until a nice aroma comes. Make sure the rava is not changing colour when roasting.Keep aside.
• In a blender, powder the sugar with cardamom pods and keep aside. Add the dry dessicated coconut and grind again.

A few steps-1.frying cashews and raisins,2.roasting semolina,3.powdering sugar)

• Switch off flame and add the powdered sugar and cardamom powder, mix well.
• When warm, make lemon sized balls in your palms and then place in a plate.If you are not able to hold them together or if you wish to use lesser ghee, then add about 1-2tbsp of milk and then shape them.It's better to avoid milk and make it in ghee to increase the shelf life of laddus but if you are making a smaller batch, and you are pretty sure to finish it off in a day or two, then go ahead and add milk.
• Serve or store in Ziploc bags or airtight containers.

Servings~ 13 laddus

NOTES
* You can use fresh grated coconut too, but fresh grated coconut reduces the shelf life of laddus.Also, the off-white colour of laddus becomes dull.If you are using grated coconut, then dry roast it in a pan till all moisture is dried up and then grind it with rava.

* Adding coconut is optional, I skipped in the video.

* Add milk a tbsp each to make laddus, may not need 1/3 cup.
* If using fine semolina then skip the grinding part.
* You can keep these laddus at room temperature for weeks if making ghee alone and not adding milk.If you are adding milk, refrigerate after 4 days and then serve at room temperature whenever needed.
* Use the darker shade raisins to give a contrasting look in laddus. 

More Diwali recipes here.