#98 Rawa Laddoo for the Sweet Tooth

Although it is Vishu today, I realized I am not ready to make my own Sadya yet since I have been busy with cooking for a pot luck Vishu Sadya at a friends's home. I had to go out of town last weekend to visit a sick person, leaving me no time to decide on a menu or groceries for our big festival Vishu. Besides, I am not organized enough to plan my meals as you may have noticed....LOL.  Inevitably, I do plan on cooking up my own feast in my kitchen when my girls come home next week(since N is an ardent lover of Sadya feast).  I will keep everyone posted on what finally pops up on the menu.

Well, anyway I decided I to make laddoos today. Laddoo is a sweet treat with a wide variety of flavors and textures and very popular not only in India, but also in Guyana, Trinidad and Tabago, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. For Hindus, this is served as an offering at Poojas and distributed as prasadam afterwards. Normally made from some form of roasted flour like gram flour or wheat flour and mixed with sugar and formed into balls laddoos can be eaten anytime of the day preferably with a cup of coffee. Rawa Laddoo is one such variant and by keeping the key ingredients(ghee, semolina or rawa and sugar) the same, you can bring in a number of variations to this recipe too. For instance I have replaced raisins with Prunes but you can use any type of dried fruits and nuts such as walnuts, almonds, macadamia or dried cranberries.

Ingredients:
Rawa/Sooji or Cream of Wheat- 1 cup
Sugar- 1 cup
Ghee- 1/4 cup
Cashews- 2 Tblspns
Prunes chopped- 3
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tspn
Dessicated Coconut- 2 Tblspn
Milk as needed for mixing

By the way, I just heard that Shirley from Luxury Haven is having a beautiful giveaway of the most amazing handmade gifts for Mother's day. What is even more special about this event is that her 82-yr young Mother has made these herself... well worth the effort and love that went into making them...so please check it out @
http://luxuryhaven.blogspot.com/2011/04/mothers-day-handmade-accessories.html

Method:
1. Dry roast the rawa in a skillet for a few minutes in a little ghee until the aroma is beautiful.
2. Add coconut to the rawa and stir for a minute. remove the mix from fire. Powder the mix -if desired.
3. Roast the cashews in ghee and then the prunes and mix with the rawa.
4. Add cardamom powder and cool for a few minutes.
5. While still warm, sprinkle a little milk and mix well to moisten it well enough to form cherry sized balls.