Rava Laddu Recipe

     Rava laddu is a very easy sweet to make. A lot of variations can be done in this. Mom had made this couple of times, when she was here in USA. The most recent one was on a weekend, specially made for our first wedding anniversary. She made it along with thattai. 
     Even before making this version of laddu, I had been picturing it mentally, to make use of the kutti krishna doll, presented by Venkat, Mani's friend during Golu. :P What a planning !!!
Generally we don't make much of this laddu. Even if we do, it would be a simple version of roast and grind rava, add sugar, ghee, roasted cashews and shape them into laddus. But, this time, the occasion being special, we made this with some more additional ingredients - cardamom powder, raisins and sweetened coconut flakes (as it was readily sitting in the fridge :D). Ultimately, with so many ingredients, this version turned out to be rich and yummy !!


Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 20 mins || Yields: 9 || Category: Festival sweets/Laddu

Ingredients:

1. Rava - 1 cup (100-150gm)
2. Sugar - 3/4 cup
3. Ghee - 2 to 3 tbsp
4. Cashews - 10 to12 broken
5. Raisins - 10 to 15 (optional)
6. Dessicated coconut - 2 to 3 tbsp (optional)
7. Cardamom powder - 2 tsp
8. Salt - a pinch

Method:
1. Dry roast rava till nice aroma wafts. Then mildly powder it in a mixi. (should still be a little coarse ). In the same kadai, heat ghee.  

 2. To the heated ghee, add cashews, raisins and fry till the cashews turn brown and the raisins look bloated. Then add grated coconut/dessicated coconut and roast well. Reduce the flame to low and then add the coarsely ground rava. Mix the ingredients well.

 3. Then add powdered sugar and then increase the flame to medium.  Add cardamom powder, edible camphor, salt and mix well until all the ingredients have blended and then switch off the flame.  Cool the mixture in a plate. When the heat is moderate enough to handle, make small laddus out of it

Suggestions:

• If desired, sprinkle 1/4 cup milk after adding powdered sugar and mix the ingredients well. Adding milk gives a binding effect but it reduces the shelf life of the laddus.
• I did not add edible camphor as I don't like its smell.
• I used ready-made sweetened coconut flakes.
• If the mixture looks a little sticky, refrigerated it for 15-20 mins and then shape them into laddus.