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Besan Ladoo

South Asian · 30 min · Easy · 8 balls

Besan Ladoo

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Chickpea flour toasted in butter until it smells like biscuits, then rolled into sweet cardamom balls. No baking, no setting. Just patience at the pan.

~310 cal per serving — Calories are approximate, per serving — a guide only.

gluten-freesoy-free
Plan it:

Method

  1. 1

    Toast the flour

    ⏱ 20 min

    Melt the vegan butter in a heavy skillet over low heat, add the chickpea flour and stir continuously for 15–20 minutes. It will go from pale and raw-smelling to sandy, darker gold and unmistakably nutty. Low and constant is the only way: it scorches in seconds.

  2. 2

    Cool it down

    Scrape the mixture (loose, sandy and glossy with butter) into a bowl and let it cool until just warm. Adding sugar to a hot mixture melts it and the ladoo will not hold a shape.

  3. 3

    Sweeten and roll

    Stir in the powdered sugar and crushed cardamom, then squeeze small handfuls firmly and roll into balls, one per serving. Press a few chopped pistachios into each.

  4. 4

    Set

    ⏱ 30 min

    Leave to firm up for 30 minutes. They keep two weeks in a tin.

Notes

Contains pistachios (tree nuts). The color of the toasted flour is the flavor: pale means raw and chalky. If the mixture seems too dry to roll, add a teaspoon more melted butter. Humidity changes how much it needs.

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