Rava Coconut Ladoo - Pakatale Rava Laddu
Rava Coconut Ladoo is a delicious, soft, melt in mouth sweet ball made during the festive season. These are made with semolina, freshly grated coconut, sugar, and ghee.
Ingredients
- 2 cup Semolina
- 1 cup Coconut grated, frozen/fresh
- 1 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cup Water
- 1 tsp Cardamom powder freshly ground
- 7-8 Saffron strands
- 2 tsp Mixed nuts(Almonds, Cashew nuts, and Pistachios) chopped
- 2 tbsp Raisins golden
- 2 tbsp Ghee thick
Instructions
Roasting
- Heat some ghee in a wide pan. Add the semolina and roast it for about 7 minutes on low medium heat.
- Transfer the freshly grated coconut to the pan, mix, and roast everything together for 12-15 minutes. Do not leave the pan unattended and keep stirring the mixture continuously on low heat. Turn off the heat and set it aside.
Making The Syrup
- Add sugar and water to a pot and bring it to boil on medium high heat.
- Lower the heat and let the syrup cook for about 4 minutes. Set the heat on the lowest setting to check for 1 string consistency. It might take 2-3 more minutes to form a correct consistency until then keep on cooking the syrup. Do not overcook or undercook the syrup.*Check out the tips section before making the sugar syrup.
- Turn off the heat, add cardamom powder, and some saffron to the sugar syrup.
- Transfer the rava and coconut mixture to the syrup.
- Add the raisins, nuts, mix everything well, and cover the pan with a lid. Set it aside to cool down for about 30-45 minutes until it becomes firm.
Shaping
- Using your fingers separate the mixture which is clumped together to form smooth balls.
- Take 2-3 tbsp of ladoo mixture and shape it into a smooth round ball. Repeat the same step with the remaining mixture and form ladoos.
- Keep the ladoos on a plate to air dry them. After 1 hour, they will completely get dry and then you can store them in an airtight container.
Notes
- Use a medium or fine semolina for making the rava coconut ladoo.
- If you have a coarse semolina then you can grind a little for this recipe.
- If you are using frozen grated coconut then thaw it on a countertop for 20 minutes before adding it to the rava. You can warm the coconut in a microwave for 1 minute as well.
- Use a heavy bottom wide pan for roasting the rava and coconut.
- Roasting the rava and coconut continuously and patiently on low heat is very important. If you roast it on medium high heat, it will be roasted from outside and will turn dark in color and make the ladoos hard.
- One string consistency is when a single thread is formed which doesn’t break when your forefinger and thumb are pulled apart gently. To check the 1 string consistency of the syrup, lift the spoon and let it cool, then with the help of your thumb and forefinger stick the syrup between and pull apart gently.
- While making the sugar syrup, try to follow the already tested timings which is described in the post for not overcooking or undercooking the syrup.
- If you overcook the sugar syrup, rava coconut ladoo will turn hard. If you undercook the syrup, ladoo will turn sticky and will not form a good shape.
- When the sugar syrup is overcooked and you can not form a ladoo then, you can add 1-2 tbsp of warm milk to the mixture. You can make a thin sugar syrup by adding 1-2 tbsp of water with 2 tsp sugar and cook it in the microwave until bubbly.
- When the sugar syrup is undercooked and ladoo is looking sticky, cook the mixture for 1-2 minutes in the microwave. You can add 1-2 tbsp roasted semolina in the mixture to make it firm before shaping the ladoo.