Besan ladoo recipe/ besan ke laddu recipe:

besan laddu

               BESAN KE LADDU is delicious, creamy and melt-in-mouth dessert ball often made during festivals and special occasions in all over India. There are many different varieties of laddu made in India; BESAN KE LADDU is the most popular among them.

             BESAN LADDU is made from besan or gram flour roasted with ghee or clarified butter in a kadhai flavoured with powder sugar and cardamom powder and shaped tight into a round ball. Again, it is decorated with almond and pistachios.

              This soft and creamy besan laddu is healthy and rich in nutritions. it is very handy to make as it needs less ingredients. People make this laddu in various ways. I have shared my version of recipe, which is very easy and delicious.

Ingredients for besan ke laddu:

1. Besan or gram flour – 2 cups

2. Ghee or clarified butter – ½ cup

3. Powder sugar – 1 cup

4. Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

5. Chopped cashew, almond and pistachio – ½ cup

How to make besan laddu:

·        Take ghee in a pan and heat it.

·        Add besan and mix very well.

·        Roast on low flame until the beasan is well combine with ghee.

·        Keep roasting on low flame. If the mixture turns dry, add one tbsp of more ghee.

·        After 10 to 12 minutes, it will become light and slight liquid form.

·        Continue roasting on low flame. After 20 minutes, the besan starts releasing ghee.

·        Keep on roasting until the besan turns golden brown.

·        Add chopped nuts and continue to roast.

·        For making the besan granulated sprinkle water one or two tbsp in it and mix. Repeat the process three times, so that the besan will become granulated and ready to give a good result.

·        This roasting process may takes 30 minutes or more. Donot overcook the besan.

·        Transfer the mixture to a plate and allow it to cool.

·        Take one cup of sugar and 3 to 4 cardamom in a blender jar and make a powder out of it.

·        Once besan is cool, add powder sugar in it and mix well. Make sure everything is well combined.

·        Now grease your palm with little ghee and take a small portion of besan mixture with your palm. Make a tight ball of desired size out of it.

·        Make all laddu in this process and decorate the laddus with chopped nuts.

Poda pitha/raja special poda pitha/ black gram and rice cake:

poda pitha

        PODA PITHA OR BLACK GRAM AND RICE CAKE is an authentic odia recipe which is made with rice, lentils, grated coconut and jaggery or sugar. This recipe is generally made at the time of Raja festival that is a three days-long festival celebrated in Odisha. Various pithas are made during this festival among them poda pitha is the main. 

                   PODA PITHA is a slow cooked pitha. It is made by slowly baking fermented rice and black gram with sugar and coconut. There are many versions of poda pitha like, lau poda pitha, kheera poda pitha, chaula poda pitha or rice poda pitha, janta poda pitha. Preaparation style also varies. It can be made in cooker or inside kadai or we can bake it in oven.

                  PODA PITHA is a lightly sweetend pitha so, it goes well with ghuguni (yellow matar curry), potato curry with gravy or any curry with gravy. It is also served with mutton or chicken curry. Its crust is slightly brunt and hard, while the inside is soft and white.

Ingredients for making poda pitha:

·        Black gram or urad dal( biri) – 1 cup

·        Rice – 2 cups

·        Grated coconut – 1 cup

·        Thinly sliced coconut – ¼ cup

·        Cashew – 2 tbsp

·        Raisin- 4 tbsp

·        Crumbled Paneer – 1 cup

·        Sugar- 1 ½ cups

·        Ghee- 2 tbsp

·        Salt- ½ tsp

·        Grated ginger – ½ tsp

Preparations for poda pitha:

1. Wash and soak rice and urad dal separately for 5 to 6 hours or overnight.

2. Grind rice and urad dal into fine paste.

3. Mix very well and keep the batter for 5 to 6 hour for fermentation.

4. After 5 hours, give the batter a good mix and keep aside.

5. For making stuffing in a pan, take grated coconut and sugar. Then add paneer, one tbsp raisin and one tbsp cashew in it. Fry the mixture until it becomes dry completely.

6. Heat ghee in a pan and fry rest of the cashew and thinly sliced coconut. When it becomes golden brown, transfer it to a plate and keep aside.

How to make poda pitha:

1. Grease a baking dish in which you will bake the poda pitha. ( you can make this poda pitha in pressure cooker or kadai or pan. But here, I have baked it in oven.)

2. Add sugar, a pinch of salt, grated coconut, grated ginger and raisin in fermented batter and mix well.

3. Now spread half of the batter in greased baking tray and spread the paneer –coconut stuffing on it.

4. Spread another half over the stuffing. 

6. Bake the pitha in preheat oven at 180 degree for 20 to 25 minutes.

6. Before de-mould it let it cool completely.

7. Cut it into pieces and enjoy it.