Besan Churma Laddu

Churma Laddu in Marathi

Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 6 medium laddus

Ingredients
3/4 cup Besan
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 kg ghee
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 tbsp golden raisins

Method:
1) Put the besan into a steel bowl. Pour 2 tsp hot ghee over the besan. Add 3 to 4 tbsp water and knead to a stiff dough. Cover for 15 minutes.
2) After 15 minutes knead again. If the dough is too hard then add few tbsp water and knead again. (Dough should be stiff yet pliable enough to make puris)
3) Heat ghee into a kadai. Divide the dough into 5 portions. Roll into thin discs. Deep fry over medium-low heat.
4) Puris should be crispy. When puris cool down a bit, crumble them and make powder. Sift through a mesh. Crush the remnant chunks which you get after sifting with mortar and pestel. (shortcut - grind puris  when they cool down.)
5) Mix sugar and water into a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. After 3-4 minutes when sugar melts, drip a small drop of sugar syrup into a plate. Take it between thumb and first finger. Close and open to check the strings. When you get 2 strings consistency, turn off the heat. Pour this hot sugar syrup over ground besan puris. Add raisins and cardamom powder. Stir and keep it aside till the mixture becomes thick enough to make laddus.
6) When mixture is thick, divide into 6 equal portions and make laddus.

Tips:
1) The time to thicken the laddu mixture depends on a couple of factors. First is the consistency and second is the climate. If the sugar syrup crosses the two string consistency even a little more, then mixture thickens faster. If you turn off the heat before it reaches to the two string consistency, It will take more time. In cold climate mixture doesn't need much time to thicken and opposite to that in summer or during hot season, mixture takes a little longer to become thick.
2) Fry puris over low heat, so the color wont turn brown. If the color of puris become brown, laddus will also become brownish in color. Hence fry till puris get pinkish color.
3) These laddus taste slightly like bundi laddu.
4) Likewise, churma laddu can be made using wheat flour and little suji (rava). Use 70% wheat flour and 30% suji.
5)  To make approx 45-50 laddus, use around 6 cups of besan and 4 cups of sugar.