Ladoo is one of the most out­stand­ing Di­vali desserts. Its sig­na­ture yel­low colour and dis­tinct flavour pro­file set it aside from oth­er pop­u­lar desserts around this time. The im­por­tance of ladoo how­ev­er, stems from its us­age in pu­ja and it be­ing the favourite sweet of Lord Ganesh.

San­dra’s recipe is tra­di­tion­al, homey and de­li­cious. We sug­gest get­ting your kids or friends to help you roll the ladoo.

IN­GRE­DI­ENTS

1 pound ground split peas

2 cups sug­ar

2 ta­ble­spoons veg­etable ghee

1 ta­ble­spoon car­damom or elaichi pow­der

Oil, for fry­ing

1 cup pow­dered milk

¼ tea­spoon pow­dered yel­low food colour­ing

½ cup con­densed milk

1 tea­spoon gin­ger

DI­REC­TIONS

1 In a medi­um bowl, mix ground split peas, pow­dered milk and food colour­ing with wa­ter un­til a soft, thick paste forms.

2 Heat a large pot with oil for fry­ing.

3 Form lit­tle balls from the split pea mix­ture and fry for 2 to 3 min­utes or, un­til gold­en-brown.

4 When the balls have cooled, grind them us­ing a food proces­sor or blender un­til they form a pow­der-like con­sis­ten­cy.

5 In a small pot, boil sug­ar and one cup of wa­ter un­til the mix­ture be­comes thick and sticky.

6 Add the sug­ar-wa­ter syrup to the split pea mix­ture and com­bine well.

7 To form smooth ladoo balls, rub a small amount of ghee be­tween your hands.

8 Take 2 to 3 ta­ble­spoons of the mix­ture in your hands and squeeze tight­ly then, start rolling it in­to a ball be­tween your palms. This process needs to be done be­fore the mix­ture turns cold in or­der to en­sure that the ladoo balls are formed smooth­ly.

9 Re­peat this process un­til mix­ture is done.

10 Serve af­ter din­ner. En­joy!