KOKANI-MUSLIM STYLE METHI CHE LAADU

All my childhood years I have seen every winter without fail my grandmother would make these laddus. Packed with the nutritional goodness of fenugreek (methi) seeds, jaggery, ghee and much more, these laddus have a peculiar bitter-sweet profile. While in our Kokani Muslim community we generally relish these as a winter sweet, women who are in their early post-natal months too are prescribed to consume these.

Every household has their own rendition of arriving at the recipe which has usually been passed down from one generation of ladies in the family to the next by mere word of mouth.

​Here is my rendition of the recipe for arriving at crumbly textured methi che laadu for celebrating #LadduDay today:

Yield: 10-12 laddus/spheres
Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients:
• 2 tsp Fenugreek (methi) seeds powder
• ¾ cup Semolina (suji/rawa)
• 1¼ cup Scraped fresh coconut
• 1¼ cup Jaggery
• 5 tbsp Ghee
• ½ tsp Green cardamom powder
• 1 pinch Salt

Method:
1. Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a kadhai.
2. Add the semolina to the kadhai once the ghee melts and roast on a low flame till the semolina changes colour from white to light brown.
3. Remove semolina from the kadhai and keep aside.
4. Heat the remaining ghee in the same kadhai on a low flame.
5. Add the cardamom powder, scraped coconut, salt once the ghee melts and cook till the water leeched from the coconut dries up.
6. Remove coconut from the kadhai and keep aside.
7. Add jaggery to the same kadhai and allow it to melt. Simmer on low flame till you achieve a one-thread consistency syrup.
8. Add the semolina, coconut-cardamom mixture to this jaggery syrup and cook on low flame for 5 minutes mixing continuously.
9. Add the methi powder to the mixture and cook for another minute.
10. Pull the mixture off the stove and immediately start shaping it into spheres.
11. Allow the laddus to cool down completely before storing them in an air tight container.

​Do try the recipe and let me know how it turned out.

Till then, HAPPY #LADDUDAY HAPPY EATING...