Recipe: Celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi 2021 with delicious Churma Laddoos

Festivals are meant for eating lip-smacking delicacies and finishing off a week's worth of sweets in one day. We all get a cheat-day pass on these special occasions. With one of the most auspicious Indian festivals, Ganesh Chaturthi, right around the corner, we all have another excuse to have our hearts fill. But instead of going out, isn't it better to cook a tasty sweet dish at your home and relish the fruit of your hard work while staying safe. Well, we have a suggestion - Churma Laddoo.

As we get ready to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi on September 10, this Churma Laddoo recipe will not only be a hit at your home, but can also be offered as a bhog to everyone's beloved deity - Lord Ganesh. This Rajasthani sweet dish, prepared with minimal ingredients, tastes heavenly. Today's finger-licking recipe of Churma Laddoo is by Chef Sanjyot Keer. It can be whipped up in just 25-30 minutes with 5-10 minutes prep-time, and you will get about 12-14 medium-size laddoos with the recipe.

ALSO READ: Ganesh Chaturthi 2021: Go eco-friendly with these edible Ganesha idols

Ingredients:

500 grams (3 and 1/4 cup) of Karkara atta

1/2 cup of ghee

3/4 cup of lukewarm water

300 gm (1+1/3 rd cup) of ghee (for shallow frying)

1/4 Jaiphal (grated)

250 grams (1+1/2 cup) of gud/jaggery

Poppy seeds to coat

Method:

Add Karkara atta and ghee in a mixing bowl and rub it well. Make sure the flour sticks, and when pressed with your hands, it should form a shape.

Once the ghee and atta are combined well, gradually add lukewarm water and knead to make a stiff dough.

As the dough quantity is a little more and you have to knead a stiff dough, it becomes tricky to knead, so you can divide the dough into equal portions and knead in batches. This makes the work easier. Make sure to knead the dough for a good 2-3 minutes.

After kneading, cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Then, equally divide the dough into small portions, press and shape it randomly like a stick. Try not to make a thick stick, or it may remain raw from inside.

Set a wok or a pan on low flame, add ghee and allow it to heat moderately for shallow frying these sticks. Once moderately heated, shallow fry the sticks on low heat until they turn crisp and golden brown in colour.

Fry them from all sides by turning carefully. If you have a thermometer, use it and fry the sticks by keeping the temperature around 140.

Once fried, remove and allow to cool down completely. Now, crush it with hands and transfer in a mixer grinder, use pulse mode and grind until coarse in texture.

Grind in small batches if possible. Further, pass it through a sieve, and make sure to use a sieve with bigger holes.

Grate 1/4th of the whole Jaiphal and mix it well with the ground churma.

Use the same ghee for frying the churma and heat it until it's moderately hot. Add gud and cook until the jaggery melts completely. Make sure not to overcook, or else it'll harden after it cools down. Sprinkle a dash of water and mix once.

Add the melted jaggery and ghee to the powdered churma mixture and mix well.

Take sufficient amount of filling and shape them in laddoo. Don't press it hard while shaping because the ghee will oose out. You can choose to shape the size of the laddoo as per your preference. Once shaped, lightly coat the laddoo with poppy seeds.

Your Choorma Laddoos are ready. You can store them in an airtight container as it stays good for a couple of days.

(Recipe: Chef Sanjyot Keer)

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