Rakhi as well known festival for mainly Indians is celebrated grandly by siblings enjoying and savouring every moment that particular day. To make it a thing to remember that siblings have an unbreakable bond, sisters tie rakhi to their brothers and offer them, sweets, with an arthi as a custom. Brothers gift their sisters with anything of their interest.
Coming to the sweets of the rakhi festival, both North and South Indians usually make a different variety of laddoo,besan laddoo,coconut laddoo andsuji/rava laddoo. Some even make barfis like kaju and badam barfis.
BESAN LADDOO
NOTE:1 cup = 250ml, 1 tablespoon = 15ml, 1 teaspoon = 5mlREQUIREMENTS
- Parchment Paper
- Mixing Bowl
- Thick Bottomed Kadai/Pan
INGREDIENTS
- ⅓ Cup Of Sugar
- 2 Green Cardamoms
- 1 Cup Of Gram Flour / Besan
- ¼ Cup Of Clarified Butter / Ghee
- Edible Silver Foil for Garnishing (Optional)
- Almond/Cashews/Pistachio Silvers for garnishing (Optional)
DIRECTIONS
- In a blender or mixer, powder the sugar and the cardamoms together.
- Add the ghee to the heavy-bottomed pan and heat to melt it completely.
- Add the besan/gram flour to the hot ghee and cook on a low flame.
- Stir and mix the residue until the ghee completely merges into the flour and the texture appears to be crumbly.
- Add a little bit more ghee (approx ½ spoon if required) and mix well again.
- Until the besan mixture turns roasted, stir and cook on a low flame.
- In around 5 to 8 minutes, the besan mixture starts to moisten a little and it looks like the mixture comes together.
- On a low flame, stir and cook for about 5 to 7 more minutes until the mixture turns smooth and the ghee leaves the sides of the pan.
- A big smooth lump of the mixture smells so fragrant and transfer the hot mixture to a large bowl where the mixture turns runny with the ghee oozing out.
- Add the powdered sugar to the hot but warm mixture.
- Make the mixture into small round-shaped laddoos.
- Garnish the besan laddoos with nuts of your choice such as cashews, almonds and pistachios silvers and edible silver foil and store them in a tight container.
COCONUT LADDOO WITH JAGGERY
INGREDIENTS
- 2 Cups of Fresh or Frozen Grated Coconut
- ¼ Teaspoon of Cardamom Powder
- 1 to 2 Teaspoons of Ghee
- 1 Cup of Grated Jaggery
- 10 Chopped Cashews
- 10 Chopped Almonds (Optional)
DIRECTIONS
- Heat 1 Tsp of ghee and fry the chopped cashews/almonds in the heated ghee.
- Keep the fried cashews aside and in the same pan, mix the grated coconut and grated jaggery together well.
- After the jaggery melts, test the taste and add more if needed.
- Mix, stir and cook until the coconut jaggery mixture smells flavoured, and good, turns thick and binds together well.
- Add the fried nuts and the cardamom powder.
- Transfer the coconut laddoos into an air-tight container and store it at room temperature. These laddoos last for about 6 to 7 days.
SUJI/RAVA LADDOO
INGREDIENTS
- ¾ Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup of Semolina/Suji/Rava
- ¼ Cup of Ghee
- 10 Raisins
- 10 Chopped Cashews
- 1 Teaspoon Cardamom Powder
- ½ Cup of grated Coconut
DIRECTIONS
- Add suji and the grated coconut to a pan. Dry roast the mixture on a medium-low flame for about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Stir continuously until the mixture turns to light golden colour. Turn off the flame when you can smell the aroma of the mixture.
- In a blender, add the cardamoms and sugar to make it into a fine powder.
- After the suji cools down, add it to the same blender with the sugar-cardamom fine powder.
- Blend the mixture to a coarse powder. Taste and add more powdered sugar if needed. Transfer the mixture into a mixing bowl.
- Add ghee to a pan and fry the cashews until they turn a light golden colour.
- Now add the raisins and stir for about 30 seconds on a low flame. Turn off the heat.
- Pour the hot ghee along with the fried cashew nuts and raisins into the suji laddoo mixture.
- Take small portions of the mixture into your palm and make them into round-shaped laddoos.
- Store them in an air-tight jar at room temperature and eat up within 3 weeks.
KAJU BARFI
INGREDIENTS
- 1 Cup of broken Cashew nuts (Kaju)
- 1 ½ Tsp of melted Ghee
- ½ Cup of Sugar
- ½ Tsp of Elachi/Cardamom Powder
DIRECTIONS
- Blend the cashew nuts in a blender into a fine powder and keep them aside.
- Combine the sugar and ¼ cup of water in a pan. Stir and cook on a medium flame for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Now add the fine cashew powder to the above mixture, stir well and cook again for about 2 minutes on a medium flame.
- Add the cardamom powder and ghee to the mixture and stir well.
- Apply ghee to the plate and transfer the Kaju barfi mixture to it by spreading it evenly.
- Allow the Kaju barfi mixture to cool for about 4 to 5 minutes and cut them into equal-sized diamond shapes.
- Store the barfis in an air-tight container.