Basen Ladoo
September 11th, 2008 filed under Desserts
Besan ladoos are rich, sweet dessert-snack made from gently roasted gram flour (besan). Ladoos can be served any time of the day. Traditionally in Indian households ladoos and burfis are served as cookies and chocolate.
Recipe will make approximately 16 ladoos.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups gram flour (basen)
- 2 tablespoons semolina flour (fine sooji)
- 1/2 cup unsalted melted butter (ghee)
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 4 tablespoons sliced almonds (badam)
- 1/4 teaspoons coarsely grounded cardamom seeds (ilaichi)
For Garnish:
- 1 tablespoon melted butter or ghee
- 1 tablespoons sliced pistachios (pista)
Method
- Put the basen (gram flour), sooji, and melted butter in a large frying pan and mix.
- Turn the stove on to medium heat and begin to roast the basen mixture until basen becomes light golden brown in color. Stir the mixture continuously with a spatula to prevent burning. Cooking on high heat will not allow the mixture to fully cook.
- When the color has changed you will also start to smell the sweetness of roasted basen. This should take about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and let the basen cool to a warm temperature. don’t let it become to room temperature.
- While the mixture is warm add and mix cardamom seeds, almonds, and sugar.
- To make the ladoos, take about 2 tablespoons of warm basen mixture into your palm. Gently press the mixture between your palms to form a smooth, round ball. The ladoos are usually about the size of a ping-pong ball, but you can adjust the as you prefer.
- When you have finished making all of the ladoos, take one ladoo at a time and dip the ladoo a quarter inch into melted butter or ghee. Then lightly touch the part of the ladoo with the butter into the sliced pistachios just enough so some pistachios stick to the ladoo.
- Put ladoos back on the plate with the pistachio side facing the top.
- Leave the ladoos on a plate to cool to room temperature before putting into a covered container. The ladoos can be stored in an airtight container for 2 to 3 weeks.
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November 18th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
hi manjula aunty…..ur videos r soooooooooooo good ..dont have to trouble my mom for recipies……god bless u……wish to meet u someday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 8th, 2008 at 6:01 am
Namaste Manjulaji,
I made Besan Laddoo for the first time today using your recipe and video. They were a great success, and I am very grateful to you as I really needed a mentor(guru!) for Indian desserts. I can’t wait to try out the gujjia next. Your videos are wonderful too, and I appreciate each of your instructions and comments.
Regards,
Sangita.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
You MUST use butter or ghee because it firms up when it cools back to room temperature and thus the ladoos will hold their shape.
Oil will always be runny whether it’s hot or cold and will ruin your ladoos as you learned.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Hello Manjulaji, I tried the ladoo recipe (I love besan ke ladoo and yours looked delicious!) but with oil instead of ghee. The mixture was runny (not crumbly like yours) while on the stove and when I tried shaping them, the mixture just went flat! Is this all because I added oil instead of ghee? Please let me know. Thanks.
October 30th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Hi Hina,
Glad you tried it again with better results.
Jaya
October 30th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
To Jaya.
Apologies for getting back late, i finally made astonishing ladoos FINALLY lol! they came out wonderful i just couldn’t believe it, i added lesser ghee as you instructed then before to control the mixture and i think that was the initial problem i was having. Thank you soo much and i hope you can help me agian when necessary.
God bless you.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:56 am
hello anuty
my son he is 4 years old he like besan ladoo very much,by watching this i will make besan ladoo . thank you for this recipe .
thank a lot
October 29th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
These are so easy and delicious. My husband and son love them! I was a bit skeptical (especially when I didn’t particularly like the smell of the roasting besan), but the final product was perfect. Thanks for another great recipe.
October 27th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Hello Aunty
Thanks a lot for this wonderful recipe. I always loved besan ladu but couldnt get the mixture right. After seeing the video, i tried it yesterday and it came perfect.
Thanks….
October 27th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Hi Aunty,
My husband and I just love your recipes. I am in Australia and for the first time in my life, I tried Besan ke laddo and they came out just how mummy makes them at home. I told her and she was thrilled. Thanks to your website and recipes. Your recipes are great to follow and I like your food without onions etc.; I am personally not a great fan of onion, garlic. Thanks once again!
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:43 am
Sorry madam, the information is very much there. I overlooked !!
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:40 am
When to mix the sugar, Madam !!
The write up does not have this infn !!
October 16th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Our Auntie Manjula is doing well for our new generation as our new generation is losing interest and having more interest eating take outs and dining in restaurants, I hope all the recipes will help the new generation in taking some interest.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I think Auntie Manjula is the best, her all recipes are all simple and so easy to follow there is nothing hard about her recipes everything is just straight forward and simple.
I think Auntie Manjula is one of the best ones I have come across.
Keep it up God give you long life and hope those who do not know how to cook learn from you and keep that Indian tradion alive.
God bless you
Aziz
October 15th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
This recipe worked well when I made it a few weeks ago.
The ladoos will be quite soft when you form them, but as they cool to room temperature they should firm up as the butter cools down and is less liquid.
If the problem persists, don’t add all of the butter at once in the beginning. Start with maybe a 1/4 cup and add a spoon or two at a time until you like the consistency of the besan in the fry pan.
Jaya
October 15th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
manjula aunty , today i tried the besan ladoo
the quantity of ghee or butter is i think a bit high beacause after roasting besan it was not hard. i was trying to make balls but the was coming like a peda .
October 15th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I added 4 Tbs of sooji and ladoos were perfect but I there was a little bit of ‘khatta’ taste ; then i was told that it was because of sooji because sooji when roasted gives a bit bitter taste. Is it true ?
Actually my mom doesn’t add sooji at all and she uses a thicker besan……even they taste yummy.
October 15th, 2008 at 7:58 am
hi aunty,
excellent recipie which reminds me my mother thanks
October 6th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Hi Hina,
I used 2 Tablespoons of sooji as written in the recipe. I don’t think that 4 Tablespoons is necessary, especially since it appears that too much ghee was the reason for the ladoos not coming out right.
Follow the quantities in the recipe and you should have good results. I made these a few weeks ago and they came out good. Write back after you make them again.
Jaya
October 6th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Hello Jaya.
Once again thank you for helping me.
I will try to follow your procedure i think i over did it with the ghee, but can i ask about the amount of sooji? Should i stick to 4TBS?
Thank You.
October 5th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Hi Hina,
Based on your description of how it went thin, I would suggest not adding all of the ghee in the beginning because that’s the only other way the mixture can go thin.
Try using 1/4 cup ghee and start blending the mixture. Add a spoon or 2 more of ghee and mix it in. And then add more a little at a time until you think the besan has absorbed as much ghee as it can without becoming too thin. This way you can control the consistency of the mixture. You can always add ghee, but you can’t take it back out.
The mixture, while heating, should be soft and moist, but not thin or runny. Does this sound like it might help? Jaya
October 5th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Hi Jaya.
Thank you for the response :). I added 4 TBS of sooji, when the mixture started heating it didn’t harden at all but went very thin like melted chocolate. So what i did i added more besan in it, it improved a little but not much difference as i took the mixture off the heat i allowed it to settle for 5 mins just warm enough for me to handle it to make the ladoos. The ladoos turned out flat and in the end looked like biscuits.
Where did i go wrong?
October 4th, 2008 at 9:39 am
HI MANJULABEN,
I REALLY ENJOYED WATCHING THE LADOO RECEIPE. AND I AM GOING TO TRY AND MAKE IT SOON AS DIWALI IS ROUND THE CORNER.
EVERY ONE IN MY HOUSE LOVES THE LADOOS.
U R DOING A GR8 JOB.
GOOD LUCK
NISHA
October 4th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Hi Hina,
It’s possible that you started shaping the ladoos while the mixture was still too warm. Does that sound likely?
Another idea is to re-check your measurements (such as that you used a tablespoon and not a teaspoon for the sooji, etc.).
Reply back if you still have questions. Will certainly try to help you.
Jaya
October 4th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Hi Jaya,
I made the ladoos but they didn’t turn out well, because the mixture was very thin for some reason and i couldn’t shape them properly so the ladoos turned out flat
I added half cup ghee and 1 1/2 cup of besan and 4 tbs sooji, i don’t understand what went wrong. 
October 4th, 2008 at 1:32 am
hi manjula can i exclude fine sooji for this recipe
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Hi Hina,
Step #2 and #3 explain it quite well. If you use these steps and watch Aunty’s video as a guide, it should come out good. There is no “perfect” time to remove the besan from the heat, BUT the 7 to 10 minutes is a safe guideline to use. It’s not too much time or too little time.
Don’t be too concerned. You should make the recipe following the steps above and you will impress yourself with the results.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Hello Aunty,
Hope you are well since the time. I love your recipe seems like the only decent one i’ve come across so far. My question is about the heating part. Approximately how long do i heat the besan for? and is it necessary for me to constantly stir? Finally how will i know that the besan is ready and should be removed off the heat, how will i know what state it should be in to confirm that it is ready?
Thank you once again.
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:10 am
Dear aunty ‘
thanks once again this I tried yesterday came out excellent you are superb.
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:15 am
Namaste Manjula,
Have you the recipe of a dessert that I find in Paris indian shop : soan padi ???
i’m going to try your basen ladoo, thank you
September 21st, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Hi Aunty,
I love you recipe so much. I am from Malaysia. I love Indian food so much. Keep uploading more and more recipes. Thanks a lot
September 17th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hi Pritika, I am sorry I did make a mistake, it should be 4 tablespoon of sooji. This should not make too much of the difference, if you used less sooji ladoos should be little more buttery. May be basen was not fried enough or fried on higher heat.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Hi Aunty,
I love this sweet and was happy to find such an easy demonstation of making it. However, when I did try it was upset to see that it didnt come out the way it looks in the video. I think the problem is that the video mentions 4 tablespoons of sooji but the written steps say 2 table spoons. I unfortunately was following the written steps….it would be great if you could let me know the correct proportions.
Thank you,
Pritika.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Hi manjula anty,
I like your recipes soo much. your demo is so good, I practiced so many recipes by
seeing your web site they came in a good way , thank you very much anty,we are happy by seeing your web site.
September 14th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Dear Auntyji,
I made besan ladoos yesterday and they came out very well. The pistachio garnish makes them look even better!
I did not have almonds, so i used broken pieces of cashews and it still tasted great. Jaya
September 13th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Hi Manjula Aunty,
Thanks for the recipe. I made this besan ke laddoo. It turned out good. The only problem that I faced was that I did not get the same color as you did . I roasted the besan for 10-14 min and I used Ghee.
What besan did you use.
Thanks
September 12th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Maheen, I use the “benefit to pain” ratio in these decisions. For mixing in the nuts and sugar to a small quantity of besan, just use a spoon. The mess of cleaning up a food processor for just a few whirls of the blade means there’s too much pain for not enough benefit in my opinion! However, it all changes if you have someone else to do your dishes!
Happy Cooking.
September 12th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
hello manjula aunty,
WOW another grt recipe frm you.
believe me making any mithai for me was never possible,until i stumbled upon your website.
you make it so easy.
you are great….GOD BLESS YOU.
September 12th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Manjula,
Can we use food processor to mix besan mixture after step 4?
Thanks for this recipe, one of my favorite desert!