Boondi (bundi) Ladoo
September 21st, 2008 filed under Desserts, Vegan
Boondi Ladoo is a great, mouth watering snack-time dessert and is a must have at all special occasions all over India. Boondis are very small, round deep fried balls that have been soaked in fragrant sugar syrup. After soaking, the syrup is drained and the syrup infused boondi are formed into balls (ladoos).
This recipe makes 8 ladoos.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup gram flour (besan)
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water adjusted as needed
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon sliced almonds
- 6 green cardamom pods (ilaichi)
- Oil to deep fry
Utensils:
Perforated Spoon, Skimmer, or Ladle:
The critical part of boondi making is to use the right kind of utensil for the batter to drop through the holes into the hot oil to form the little pearl shaped fried balls. To accomplish this you need to use a flat skimmer, strainer or perforated ladle that has several round holes on the surface, each about the size of a whole black peppercorn.
Candy Thermometer: Use this to measure the temperature of the sugar syrup at the “half thread” stage of boiling.
Method
- Crack open the cardamom pods and remove the seeds. Crush the seeds and keep aside.
- Put the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil on medium-high heat. When the syrup comes to a boil, turn the heat down to medium and stir to dissolve the sugar. Let it simmer until the syrup is about half thread consistency or 220 degrees on the candy thermometer.
- Mix the gram flour with water to make a smooth pancake-like batter or slightly thicker than dosa batter.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. The frying pan should have at least 1 1/2 inches of oil. Tip: To test if the oil is the right temperature, drop a pinch of batter into the oil; if it rises immediately without changing color then the oil is ready to start frying the
- Hold the skimmer about 1 to 1 1/2 inches above the oil over the center of the frying pan with one hand. With your other hand pour some of the batter onto the skimmer to cover all of the holes without spilling over the edge of the skimmer. Tip: if you hold the skimmer higher than 11/2 inches above the oil boondi will not be round.
- The batter will start dropping through the holes into the oil. If the batter doesn’t drop right away through the holes, pour the batter on the skimmer back into the batter bowl, mix a little more water to the batter and start again. Drop enough boondi into the oil so they just cover the surface of the oil in frying pan in a single layer
- Fry them until the sound of sizzling stops and boondis are light gold in color but not crispy! Lift the boondi out of the oil with a slotted spoon (this allows excess oil to drip back into the frying pan) and put them directly into the warm syrup and mix.*
- Before making the next batch of boondi, wipe clean the skimmer. This helps to keep the boondi round.
- Repeat the process of making boondi and adding to the syrup with rest of the batter. You may have to adjust the heat in between making boondis.
- When finished frying the boondi, let them soak in the syrup for few minutes.
- Add the crushed cardamom seeds and sliced almonds to the syrup.
- Now drain off the excess syrup.
- If the boondis are still hot, let them sit only until they are warm enough to handle - don’t let them to cool off. If the boondis become cold you will not be able to form them into ladoos.
- To make the ladoos, scoop up some of the boondi mixture into your palm with a spoon. Gently squeeze the mixture between both palms to shape into a round ball about the size of a golf ball. As you are squeezing some of the syrup will come out. You can make the ladoo larger or smaller if you have a preference.
- As you finish making each ladoo, put it on a plate and continue on to make the next ladoo.
- As the Ladoos cool to room temperature they will become firm but they should still be moist.
- Ladoos will keep at room temperature in a covered container for up to 10 days and for one month in the refrigerator.
Tips
- If the syrup is not of the right temperature, you will not be able to form the ladoos.
- If the boondis cool down to room temperature before being shaped into balls, the sugar will crystallize.
- If you are not able to make ladoos, don’t worry. You can still enjoy them as “meethi boondi” or sweet boondi.
- *If you like the boondi for raita or making some other salty snack don’t add to the syrup.
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November 5th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Hello Hamida,
Your skipper with smaller holes will work; most probably batter should be little thinner. Please experiment little bit.
November 5th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
hello manjulaji
i have a skimmer but it has smaller holes than the one that you have. Can I still use that to make laddoo? Do I have to do something to the batter ( make it thicker or thinner)? please let me know so i can make it.
thank you
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:36 am
you r simply GREAT MANJULA AUNTY…..BY JUST WATCHING U COOKING THERE…..I FEEL I AM AT HOME ….
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Hello manjula aunty ur all recepies r really very very good.u r not only a good cook but also a nice person whos helping all cookery lovers…. thanks..with regards
HINA GULZAR KHAN.
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
Hi Aunty
Your recipes are excellent, have tried boondi ladoo and masala peanut. Can you plz lt us know the recipe for moong dal halwa.
Thanks n Regards
Radhika
October 31st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Namaste Aunty,
Thanks for the simple and delicious recipes. What all i tried from ur site is really came out great..now my husband belives that i’m good cook..
Thank u sooooo much….
Regards,
Poonam
October 29th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Hello Jaya Aunty,
Thank you very much from bottom of my heart for very simple and amazing recipes. I really appreciate your and your partner’s( how helps you to make these all videos) hard work to make these all videos. Thanks again, and your a great cook.
Take care.
Priya
October 27th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Hi Monica,
Good question!
No, the two are very different types of flour.
Graham flour is coarse wheat flour.
Gram flour is made from chickpeas.
Jaya
October 27th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Is Graham Flour and Gram Flour the same?
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:53 am
Hi Sindhu,
You can’t know without the thermometer. The boiling syrup looks the same at 210 degrees as it does 230, so there is not visual way to tell the difference. Only the thermometer can tell you that the syrup has reached the one thread or 230 degree mark.
Hopefully you can locate a candy thermometer either in a store or on-line.
Jaya
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:06 am
hi manjulaji
how can i know the sugar syrup is half thread consistency with out the candy thermometer. If there is a way please let me know.
thanks
sindhu
October 15th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
dear manjuji all your recipes are very nice it is not only delicious it is a feast for our eyes thank you very much
October 13th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Hello Manjula ji
Just one word for you & your recipes “Mindblowing”……..Thanks a lot for wonderful recipes with video. You don’t believe that now i can try any recipe from your site without any fear. You are doing a great job. Thanks once again & God Bless you. Take care. bbye
October 9th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Manjula,
Thank you so much for all the wonderful recipes and videos. You are a gift, and I think your food is so delicious, and your demonstrations just take the fear away, and make me want to try new things. I did not know that there were two different types of Ladoos, but I think my favorite is the Boondi Ladoo. You should make a book with all your recipes. I know I would buy one, and they would make nice gifts. Thank you for all your efforts!
October 9th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
thankyou very much munjulage by posting this recipe.thank you very vrey much
bye
September 27th, 2008 at 9:26 am
hi, thnak you for the recipe of bengali rasagulla. I am going to try it out tomorrow. in the meantime can you clarify if the rasgullas have to kep in the presurre cokker till the whistle goes off (and if so till how many whistles) or only till 7 minutes. thnks, mamta
September 24th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Thank you so much for the boondi ladoo recipe. I noticed the recipe right after writing to you once again to request it. Thank you so much. I shall try it as soon as I am able to. Thank you once again, and your a great cook.
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
thanx manjulaji for both recipes.i want to ask one thing if we want to make boondi for raita n want to store them then what to do.bcoz if we buy from market they remain crispy for long time.only besan boondi does not remain crispy.what else is to be added to make raita boondi crispy n in what proportion n can be stored. thanx i know u always give response.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:25 am
thread stage = 230-233°F or 110-111°C which is 80% sugar concentration.
Another way is to drop a small spoonful of the hot syrup into cold water, if it forms long strings of hardened sugar it indicates the “Thread” stage.
I haven’t tried this, but this is how it was done before candy thermometers.
Thread is the first stage on the thermometer. If the syrup in cold water forms a lump the temperature has gone higher than thread stage.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:29 am
Hello Auntyji
This recipe looks great. i tried today but failed. I think i have fried the Boondi till crisp. once again i will try to perfect it. I have one question. i don’t have the thermometer with me, so how to check the half thread consistency? i felt my syrup is a bit watery, but on cooling it became thick. please tell me the technique.
Thank You
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:34 am
hello aunty,
i m palak shah & i m living in MIAMI ,FLORIDA.
thank u so much give us a nice receipe, & i love boondi ladoo, i love so much.
& really ur all receipe is very understable & vry easy receipe.
we are jain & we don’t eat onions,garlic & potatos so your receipe is very heplful to us. i made almost every receipe.
thank u aunty & hope in future you give us nice & more receipe videos. i m waiting ur new receipe.
thank u
palak