Sometime back, I was stuck with extra coconut and didn’t want it to go to waste. Of course, you can grate and freeze it, but I decided to whip up something more traditional, something to satisfy the sweet tooth – the simple coconut ladoo.
For peeps who don’t know what a Ladoo is, it means a sweet ball. It is a popular Indian dessert and will find endless flavour options. But the traditional recipes use a lot of white sugar which I swapped for jaggery. This recipe is simple and uses few ingredients.
I prefer grating coconut by traditional graters as they provide better textures and don’t let the coconut milk out too much. Please avoid using a mixer for this, there will be too much liquid and won’t yield great ladoos.
Coconut Jaggery Ladoos Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups of freshly grated coconut ( 1 big coconut)
3 TBSP of Suji (semolina)
1 cup of Gur (Jaggery)
2 TBSP of Ghee (Clarified butter)
2 TBSP of almond slivers
1 tsp of Eliachi powder (Cardamom)
- Dry roast the semolina on low flame until it turns aromatic. Ensure you stir it continuously to avoid burning. Once done, keep it aside.
- Dry roast the almond slivers in a pan. Do not brown too much.
- In a deep pan, add ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add the grated coconut to it and roast for about 5 mins on low flame. Mainly to get the moisture out, do not let the coconut burn or get colour.
- Add the suji and mix well.
- Now add the jaggery and keep stirring until it has melted. Jaggery will thicken the mixture slightly.
- We don’t want to cook too much as ladoos will become hard, once the mix cool. As a quick test, take a small portion and cool it down. Roll it into a ladoo and if it holds together its done.
- Switch off the flame and add the cardamom powder and almonds. Mix well and let the mixture cool down a bit.
- Grease your palms with ghee and take a spoonful of mixture and roll it into a ladoo (round ball). Store them in an airtight container.
Notes:
As we are using fresh coconut, it can spoil fast so please store it in the fridge or room temperature in winter for a couple of days.
The colour of ladoo will depend on the jaggery that you use.
I prefer small bite-size ladoos. I eat one to satisfies my sweet tooth and at the same it’s portion-controlled. Everything in moderation and in with reason is good.
