Mix the powdered sugar and food colour. Keep aside.

Dry roast the besan in a wide pan, breaking lumps if any. You get pre-roasted besan, but I prefer roasting the besan to get rid of the raw taste and smell.

This does make a difference to the ladoos. Take care not to burn the besan while roasting.

Set aside. Melt ghee in the same pan.

Heavy bottom pan works well as the success of this recipe depends on continuous stirring without burning the mixture at any point. Once the ghee melts, add the roasted besan.

This can be tricky, as the besan initially thickens in consistency. This step is the longest and takes about 15-20 minutes for both these ingredients to bind together.

Stir continuously. Besan changes to golden brown color and gives out a sweet aroma.

Add coarsely ground almonds and keep stirring for another 5 minutes or till completely combined. Add powdered sugar and mix well.

Once the sugar is added, the mixture tends to loosen a bit. Excess heat melts the sugar and may start bubbling.

Hence, keep the heat low or you may even remove the pan from heat right after adding the sugar. Stir well to form an evenly brown mixture.

Once all the ingredients are mixed, you`ll notice the consistency changes. The mixture becomes manageable.

At this point, add the powdered cardamom or a few drops of cardamom extract to the mixture. Your kitchen should waft with the sweet and nutty aroma.

Transfer the mixture to a plate. As the mixture cools, it thickens.

Do not cool it completely, it will be hard to shape the ladoos and it will fall apart. It should be warm to touch with bare hands.

Grease your palm with a little ghee and shape the mixture into small ping pong sized balls. Even if you have a dry mixture, the ghee from your palm will help hold the ladoos in shape.

Store ladoos in an air tight container for 2 weeks. Note: Add only as much ghee as indicated.

Adding more ghee may seem to give a manageable mixture. But, after shaping and cooling the balls, it may flatten and make one big lump.

RELATED RECIPES Wheat puri with besan sabzi Pakoda kurma Badam ragi malt Besan ka halwa Boondi ladoos Ingredients: 1 cup besan (gram flour) 1/2 cup almonds, coarsely powdered 1 cup sugar, powdered 3/4 cup ghee 1/2 tsp cardamom, powdered 1/4 tsp saffron food coloring (optional) (less)

Increase the heat and allow the syrup to boil till it reaches a single-thread consistency. Add 1/4 part of the ghee and stir.

Add besan gradually with continuous stirring to avoid lumps. Stir till the mixture starts bubbling, continue the procees till the besan and ghee is used completly.

Pour ghee everytime you add besan. Continue stirring till you get the aroma of sweet roasted besan and the besan turns out to be little brownish in colour.

Pour the mixture into a greased tray, cool a liitle and cut into square pieces. Note: Everytime you add besan and ghee the mixture should sizzle and froth.

After cooling if the mixture do not turn hard, then heat it for some more time. RELATED RECIPES Paneer Kabab/ Pakora Gujarati Kadhi Pakora Prawn Pakoda Shahi-Paneer Bread Pakora Mysore pa Ingredients: 3/4 cup - besan 3 cup - sugar 2 cup - ghee 500 ml - water (less)

Increase the heat and allow the syrup to boil till it reaches a single-thread consistency. Add 1/4 part of the ghee and stir.

Add besan gradually with continuous stirring to avoid lumps. Stir till the mixture starts bubbling, continue the procees till the besan and ghee is used completly.

Pour ghee everytime you add besan. Continue stirring till you get the aroma of sweet roasted besan and the besan turns out to be little brownish in colour.

Pour the mixture into a greased tray, cool a liitle and cut into square pieces. Note: Everytime you add besan and ghee the mixture should sizzle and froth.

After cooling if the mixture do not turn hard, then heat it for some more time. RELATED RECIPES Cashew pakoda Crispy Vermicelli Pakoras Broccolli pakora Stuffed bread pakoda Spinach pakoda Ingredients: 3/4 cup - besan 3 cup - sugar 2 cup - ghee 500 ml - water (less)

Add milk, flour and 1 cup water. Mix together to make a smooth batter.

Dissolve colour in some water and add to batter. Add more water as required.

Batter should be of running consistency. Take an aluminium or steel cylindrical container.

The height should be at least 12". And diameter 5-6".

Fill half with ghee. Heat.

When ghee is hot, take a 50 ml, glassful of batter. Pour in centre of ghee, slowly in one continuous threadlike stream.

Allow foam to settle. Pour one more glassful in hole formed in centre.

When foam settles again, loosen ghevar with an iron skewer inserted in hole. Place on a mesh to drain excessive oil.

Keep sugar syrup in a wide flat bottomed container to fit in ghevar. Dip ghevar in it, and remove, keep aside on mesh to drain excess syrup .

Cool a little, top with silver foil. Splash a few drops of saffron milk, sprinkle some chopped dryfruit and a few pinches of cardamom powder.

Ghevar is ready to be served (less)

First warm the ghee in low heat. If it is solidified, then it will melt.

Don`t overheat. Warming it is enough.

( Ghee is essential to this ladoo for 2 reasons - for adding flavor and as a binding agent.) In a bowl, sift the chickpea flour.

( I find that mixing the flour later after sifting is much easier and also avoids lumps). Add the semolina and the ghee.

Mix well until well combined. Take a pan (non stick works too).

Drop the mixture and keep the heat in low-medium heat. Now comes the essential part.

Roasting this mixture takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes depending on the heat. Purpose for doing this is to get rid of the rawness of the chickpea flour.

You know it is ready when your whole house is filled with sweetish aroma of the roasting chickpea flour. There won`t be any change in color hence keep your nostrils vigilant and stirring actions continuous.

You don`t want to overheat the mixture (if you increased the heat to avoid constant stirring ;)) - the mixture will become v dry. Meanwhile in the same pan (where you melted/warmed ghee), toss the raisins.

If there is no ghee, add a little to help the raisins plump up. Set aside.

In the same pan, add the almonds and toast them for 1-2 minutes. Set them aside.

Now Remove the Besan mixture from heat and set aside in a bowl to cool. Now add the sugar,cardamom and half of almonds to this mixture.

Take a little of the mixture in your hands. Clump your hands with the mixture to tighten it.

Slowly using your inner palm, rotate it to make small balls. Though the mixture will not look sticky enough - it will get together to form beautiful ladoos.

Depending on the shape of your ladoos - this mixture makes anywhere between 10-20 ladoos. Note: The chickpea flour should be warm and not cool.

We require the mixture it to be warm since this warmness will help the sugar to melt a bit thereby binding the flour - enough to bind it into ladoos. Courtesy: http://chefinyou.

com/ Indian sweet recipes RELATED RECIPES Besan stuffed paratha Urad dal ladoo Ladoo with edible gum Besanwale capsicum Minapa Sunnundalu (Urad Dal Ladoo) Ingredients: 1 to 1/2 cups - besan (chickpea flour) 4 tbsp - sooji (coarse semolina, not flour. i add this for giving texture to the laddu.

optional. instead simply add more chickpea flour) 1/2 cup - ghee (clarified butter) 3/4 th - sugar 4 to 5 tbsp - almonds 1 tbsp - raisins (less)

Cook on a medium heat. When it comes to boil, simmer and keep stirring continuously with a whisk for 30 minutes or until it becomes thick/fudgy and starts leaving the pan.

Be mindful that it could stick to the bottom and brown quickly. So continuous stirring or whisking helps.

Remove from heat and transfer it to a clean wide bowl. Let it cool at room temperature.

If you leave the mixture in the same pan, it would continue to cook. Refrigerate it for 3-4 hours or longer.

Take a pinch of the fudge and roll it into a smooth ball (golf ball size). Place them on a plate or a baking tray lined with wax paper.

Repeat until done. Take the remaining (1/2 cup, add more if required) shredded coconut in a bowl, roll each ball carefully until the coconut flakes coats the balls.

Note: Store in an airtight container. You can keep them at room temperature up to 2 days or refrigerate up to 1 month.

If you are refrigerating it, do remember to take them out an hour before you serve. Variations: You can replace coconut with nuts like almonds, walnuts, pistachios or even a concoction of 2 or more.

Do remember to crush them to tiny pieces using your blender or pestle and mortar. Recipe courtesy: Food for 7 Stages of Life RELATED RECIPES Mushroom do pyaza Garlic pickle Peanut ladoos Special vegetable masala dosa Easy Maida Cake Ingredients: 1 cup - condensed milk 1/2 cup - coconut milk 1 cup - unsweetened coconut (finely shredded) divide (1/2 cup for cooking and 1/2 cup for rolling it finally) 2 tbsp - butter 2 tbsp - mango puree (optional) (less)

Cook on a medium heat. When it comes to boil, simmer and keep stirring continuously with a whisk for 30 minutes or until it becomes thick/fudgy and starts leaving the pan.

Be mindful that it could stick to the bottom and brown quickly. So continuous stirring or whisking helps.

Remove from heat and transfer it to a clean wide bowl. Let it cool at room temperature.

If you leave the mixture in the same pan, it would continue to cook. Refrigerate it for 3-4 hours or longer.

Take a pinch of the fudge and roll it into a smooth ball (golf ball size). Place them on a plate or a baking tray lined with wax paper.

Repeat until done. Take the remaining (1/2 cup, add more if required) shredded coconut in a bowl, roll each ball carefully until the coconut flakes coats the balls.

Note: Store in an airtight container. You can keep them at room temperature up to 2 days or refrigerate up to 1 month.

If you are refrigerating it, do remember to take them out an hour before you serve. Variations: You can replace coconut with nuts like almonds, walnuts, pistachios or even a concoction of 2 or more.

Do remember to crush them to tiny pieces using your blender or pestle and mortar. Recipe courtesy: Food for 7 Stages of Life RELATED RECIPES Diwali savoury nippattu Venthiya Keerai Kara Kuzhambu Corn on the cob korma Chicken liver pepper fry Dark Fantasy Cake Ingredients: 1 cup - condensed milk 1/2 cup - coconut milk 1 cup - unsweetened coconut (finely shredded) divide (1/2 cup for cooking and 1/2 cup for rolling it finally) 2 tbsp - butter 2 tbsp - mango puree (optional) (less)