MotiChoor Ladoo - మోతీచూర్ లడ్డు - Dusherra & Diwali Special - గాయత్రి వంటిల్లు

Preparations:

Cover the stove (leaving the burner on which we are going to place the pan & fry boondis) and some portion of surrounding area with aluminum foil as batter may splatter all around while making boondis and it would be easy to clean later when covered with foil.

Place pan on the stove burner. Now near this pan create a higher platform which is higher in height than the pan on the stove. Here I have used a stool and a grinding stone to create the higher platform. One may also use a big stool or any container which is sturdy and is of sufficient height.

Take two plates and spread paper napkins in them and keep them nearby.

Making Boondi:

Here I am using a plastic measuring jug to mix the batter. Take gram flour into the plastic jug and mix with a whisk to break all lumps. Then add milk and some portion of water and mix with whisk to a smooth paste. Then add water slowly and mix to form a thin and smooth batter. Do not add all the water at once otherwise lumps would form in the batter.mix batter to a smooth consistency without any lumps. To be doubly sure strain the batter by passing it through a sieve and ensure that batter is lump free. Once batter is mixed to a smooth texture check the consistency of the batter. Dip the whisk and lift it and observe. If batter falls as a string then that batter is thick for making motichoor laddoos. Add little water and mix well and check again. Add water very carefully---just add little and mix and check. Batter should be too thin---when batter is lifted with whisk it should fall as drops. Till the required consistency is reached, add water to batter little by little and mix well. Here I have added 185ml water to batter after adding milk and mixed well to form a smooth batter. Then I have strained the batter and then I added around 10ml water little by little and mixed batter to get the required consistency. Cover the batter jug till oil is heated in the pan.

Add oil in the pan on the stove. Also add ghee to the oil. Adding ghee to oil gives a tasty flavor to the boondis. Heat the oil in the pan. Place a plate nearby to keep the boondi ladle in it. Add few drops of batter with the back of a spoon to check whether oil is sufficiently heated or not. If batter settles at the bottom of the pan and slowly rises up that indicates that oil is NOT sufficiently hot to make boondi. If batter comes up as soon as we add it to the oil that indicates that oil is sufficiently hot.

While adding batter to the boondi ladle do not add batter where holes are not there. If batter is added in such area in the ladle where there are no holes then it spreads and falls from the holes nearby that area and we get bigger sized boondis. So remember to add batter in the ladle where there are holes. Lower the flame and add sufficient batter into the ladle which is held above the oil in the pan. Now hit the handle of the ladle on the higher platform so that batter falls into the oil as tiny drops. Hit the ladle in a rhythmical way so that we get even sized boondis. Add sufficient batter to the oil in the pan and then remove the boondiladle and place it in the plate in inverted position so that remaining batter falls into the plate without clogging the holes. Fry boondis on high flame stirring with a slotted ladle for even frying. Remember that boondis should be slightly crisp but should not change color to golden. Using a medium sized slotted ladle remove as many boondis as you can from oil in one go. Place the slotted ladle with boondi in it in the bowl in slanted position so that excess oil drains into the bowl. Remove the leftover boondis in oil using a tea strainer which has a fine mesh. Remember that boondi should not change color ---so one has to work fast to removeboondis from oil. Observe that extra batter got collected into the plate beneath. After few minutes when oil is drained from boondis into the bowl, transfer theboondi on to paper napkin in the plate and spread in a single layer with the back of a spoon. Paper napkin soaks excess oil from the boondis. Also transfer theboondis in the tea strainer on to the paper napkin. After a while transfer the boondi from the paper napkin into a bowl. Observe the paper napkin---even after draining oil from the boondi by keeping it in slant position in a bowl, it appears drenched in oil. Remove this paper napkin and spread a fresh one in the plate. Now repeat the process of making boondi as mentioned above till all batter is used up and collect the boondi into the bowl.

Take a big wide plate and spread paper napkins in it. Once all the batter is made into boondis add the boondis to the paper napkins in the wide plate. If batter is thick we cannot make motichoor boondi and if batter is thin we can make motichoor boondi but they absorb lot of oil. So we need to remove that excess oil by spreading the boondi on paper napkins and repeat this process by changing the paper napkins. Spread the boondi in the plate in a single layer so that paper napkins absorb oil from the boondis. Keep this aside for few hours to drain oil from boondis.

Making Laddoos:

Carefully transfer the boondis in the wide plate into a bowl. Observe the paper napkins which have absorbed lot of oil from the boondis.

For beginners when making motichoor laddoos there would be some wastage even though one is careful. Let us see where one can go wrong and there would be wastage. When batter is added to the oil by hitting the ladle, if batter falls on the edges of the pan we do not get boondi but batter gets wasted. While removingboondis from oil one has to be fast and have the appropriate ladle to remove them from oil. If boondis are removed lately from oil then they change color to golden or brown and that boondi is not useful for making motichoor laddoos and thus there would be wastage. After making boondi weigh it and record the weight. Then spread the boondi on paper napkins and remove excess oil. After removing oil from boondis weigh it again and record the weight. Observe the weight in the boondi before and after spreading on paper napkins and it varies. As oil is included in the boondi and when we remove that oil by spreading on paper napkins that weight differs. So I feel it is right to take sugar according to the prepared boondi than according to the gram flour taken. So I am using 400gms boondi and to it I have taken 160gms sugar that means for every 100gms of boondi I have taken 40gms of sugar.

Crush cardamoms and remove seeds. Add cardamom seeds to a mortar along with edible camphor and little sugar. Crush the cardamom seeds and camphor using a pestle. Granules of sugar help in crushing cardamom seeds to a fine powder. Cover the powder with a lid to retain aroma till use. Heat a small pan and add melon seeds into it and fry stirring. Observe that after few seconds melon seeds start swelling. Fry stirring the melon seeds till they start spluttering in the pan. Then transfer the roasted melon seeds into a plate and keep it aside. Take a deep and wide pan and add sugar and water and heat it. Cook the sugar mixture stirring with a ladle till all the sugar dissolves well. Then add lemon juice and continue cooking. Adding lemon juice to sugar syrup prevents crystallization. Cook the sugar mixture till it reaches 105^oC on candy thermometer. There is no need to attain any threads but the sugar syrup should be slightly thick. When syrup reaches 105^oC on candy thermometer lower the flame and add cardamom-camphor powder, roasted melon seeds and boondi and mix well. Mix the mixture fast so that all the boondis fully absorb the syrup. Cover the pan with a lid and keep this aside for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and mix the mixture well. Transfer the mixture to a wide plate and mix well with fingers. Take a fistful of mixture and shape into a ball pressing between fingers. Smoothen the laddoo in the palm and place it in a plate. Repeat making laddoos with the remaining mixture and place them separately in the plate.

Take a microwave safe bowl and add pistachios and some water into it. Place this bowl in microwave oven and cook on high power for a minute or till water starts boiling. Then remove the pistachios bowl from oven and keep it aside for a while. Take a pistachio and press between fingers and observe that peel comes off easily. Peel all the pistachios and cut each of them vertically into four parts. Garnish the motichoor laddoos with the pistachio pieces and serve. Make thesemotichoor laddoos for parties or functions so that guests would enjoy them. To make these laddoos appear more attractive place each laddoo in a paper cup and arrange them in a glass bowl and observe that they appear so tempting. Cover and store the laddoos or give them as a gift to friends or relatives. Remember that these laddoos taste yummy and no one can stop eating with just one. With the measurements given above we get 20 motichoor laddoos. With the points discussed in Motichoor Laddoos Technicalities” and the process mentioned above I hope one can easily make these tasty laddoos at home.

Points To Observe:

Moti is a Hindi word which means pearl in English. Boondis used in making these ladoos appear as tiny pearls for which it got the name motichoor laddoo.

Usually Laddoos are made with a special variety of gram flour which is slightly coarse. But in all shops we do not get this laddoo besan easily. So I tried makingladdoos with normal besan which we generally use to make pakoras and bajias at home. Even with this normal gram flour also I could comfortably makemotichoor boondis and laddoos.

Milk is added to the batter to make motichoor laddoos. When batter is poured through jhara, boondis get shrunk because of the milk in the batter and fall as tiny pearls in the oil.

Remember to mix batter to a thin consistency. If batter is thick then even when motichoor boondi jhara is used we get big boondis only. If batter is thin then theboondis absorb more oil. Add water little by little and check the consistency. When batter is lifted with a whisk and if it falls like a string then batter is thick and if the batter falls like drops when lifted with a whisk that is the right consistency to make motichoor boondis. Here I have added milk and 185ml water to gram flour and mixed well and then strained the mixture and added 10ml water little by little and mixed with whisk and checked till right consistency is reached. If batter is thick it also spreads underneath the jhara (between holes) and falls as lumps or as big boondis depending upon the consistency of batter, into the oil. Batter should be that thin that when added to the jhara and dropped, the underneath portion of the jhara should be clear of batter that means the batter falls straight into the oil through the holes without spreading between holes.

Here I have used refined sunflower oil to make motichoor laddoos as refined oil is odor less and colorless. Remember to use fresh oil but not used oil or elselkaddoos would not taste good. However add some ghee to oil to get ghee flavor to the boondis and thus to laddoos. One can even make laddoos entirely with ghee also but once ghee is heated to higher temperatures gives a burnt smell and hence I have avoided. Also ghee is too costly for a purse and also to health. Any how everyone has a personal choice and one can experiment for one self.

Use right ladles to make boondi. First read and watch another movie named “Motichoor Laddoo Technicalities” in my website before making Motichoor Laddoos.

Cover the surrounding portions of the pan with aluminum foil so that it would be easy to clean the mess of splatters of batter.

Create a higher platform higher than the pan on the stove---use any heavy things so that they remain steady and sturdy when the boondi ladle is hit on it. In olden days people used to keep a metal bucket with water in it or use a grinding stone to create this elevated platform.

Keep sufficient paper napkins handy as we require almost a bundle.

I have used a plastic jug to pour batter as it would be light and easy to handle when working with both hands.

While mixing batter add water slowly so that there are no lumps in the batter. As you have observed in the movie, even after mixing the batter to a smooth consistency when strained there were lumps in the strainer. If lumps clog the holes of the boondi ladle we get uneven shaped boondis. So see that batter is lump free.

Heat oil well before making boondis. Even if oil is not sufficiently hot, boondis absorb oil. Remember to heat oil thoroughly for any gram flour preparations which are fried in oil. Gram flour fluffs up when oil is thoroughly hot. If oil is too hot then the tiny boondis get fried in a jiffy and turn brown in color. So remember to heat oil to the required level---when circles start appearing in the oil, that stage is the required stage. Do not over heat oil. First heat oil, then lower the heat and addboondis and then increase heat and fry boondis.

Moti choor boondi jhara is a heavy ladle so take care and hold it with both hands or else it may fall into the hot oil and cause accidents. Here I have used jharawhose number is one and which has funneled holes. These funnel shapes give a perfect shape to motichoor boondis. For household use we do not get thesejharas easily available in the market. Search for these jharas in shops which sell utensils for hotel and catering requirements.

Take a big pan to fry boondis. When jhara is placed above the pan there should be some surface area left surrounding the jhara. If jhara and pan are of same size then batter falls on to the sides of the pan when hit with the jhara---that much batter would get wasted.

Hit the boondi jhara in a rhythmical way so that we get even sized boondis otherwise we get uneven boondis.

To remove fried boondis from oil we need a mesh type ladle as the boondis would be too tiny. A tea strainer is a best option but as the handle of the tea strainer would not be that big enough so may be inconvenient to remove boondis without touching the hot pan. But be careful and use a tea strainer, if mesh type ladle is not available. One can even use a normal slotted ladle but it would take some time as boondis may fall again into the oil through the holes. As the boondis are too tiny they get fried very soon in hot oil and if not removed from oil they turn brown in color and turn crisp. We need soft boondi to make laddoos but not crispboondi—so remember to remove fried boondi from oil while they are still yellow in color---do not fry boondis till they turn golden or brown in color. So we need a mesh type ladle as we need to take out the boondis all at once.

After batter is dropped through jhara into the oil place the jhara in a plate in inverted position so that the excess batter drops into the plate without clogging the holes. If holes are clogged then in the next batch boondis would fall in big size or uneven size.

After removing boondis from oil place the ladle along with boondis in it, in slanted position so that oil drains out. Then spread them on paper napkins and wait for few seconds. Then transfer them to another paper napkin and spread to remove oil. So for every batch of boondi spread that boondi twice on paper napkins and remove excess oil. Then collect that boondi into a bowl. Finally when all the batter is made into boondis, again spread that boondi twice on paper napkins and remove further excess oil. If batter is thick we cannot make motichoor boondi. As batter is thin boondis absorb lot of oil. Consuming more oil is not good for health so we need to remove that excess oil by spreading on paper napkins which absorb that excess oil from the boondis.

If batter falls on the sides of the pan then it gets wasted. If boondi turns golden in color before removing it from oil, then also it gets wasted as crisp boondi is nit used to make motichoor laddoos. Weight of the boondi before and after spreading on paper napkins varies due to the oil content in them. So with all these wastages, it would be difficult to arise at a measurement of sugar proportionate to the gram flour taken to make boondis. So I measure boondi after oil is removed from them and then take sugar according to the boondi measurement. This way even if batter gets wasted one can mix again and make boondis. If excessboondis are made---do not worry use that boondi to make boondi raita or use it in chat preparations.

Add lemon juice once sugar is fully dissolved in the water---lemon juice prevents crystallization of sugar. Unlike normal laddoos, motichoor laddoos are softer in texture.

For motichoor laddoos we do not cook sugar syrup till it reaches one thread consistency-- It should be nearer to one thread consistency. It is advisable to use a candy thermometer for perfect results. Cook syrup till it reaches 105^oC on a candy thermometer. Then immediately lower the flame and add the spice powder, roasted melon seeds and boondis and mix. Cook the mixture till boondis absorb all the syrup and then switch off the flame.

Here I have used edible camphor and cardamoms to flavor these motichoor laddoos. Usually rose water is used to flavor the laddoos but I have added edible camphor and cardamoms to give South Indian touch.

While making laddoos observe that palm would be shining with oil---which indicates that, there is still oil left in the boondis. Do not squeeze and remove that oil while making laddoos---otherwise they have a dry taste and they don’t taste well. Motichoor Laddoos would definitely have oil in them---accept that and eat moderately. Halwais or shop people make motichoor laddoos with hydrogenated vegetable oil or vanaspati so that even when kept for a longer period they do not taste oily and also vanaspati sets at room temperature and cannot be seen with eyes---only when touched we feel that they are oily. That is the reason commercial laddoos appear soft but firm because of the vanaspati binding whereas homemade ones are soft but not that firm as oil does not set at room temperature and hence appears loose.

These laddoos can easily be made by a single person but if support of another family member is there then it would be further easier--- but remember to be co-operative and have co-ordination so that job can be done easily.

In market we get orange colored motichoor laddoos. I preferred not to add color to make laddoos as I heard that it is carcinogenic.

Motichoor laddoo is a delicacy which is enjoyed by all age groups. However there is lot of oil in this sweet which is not that healthy---so eat in moderation and enjoy the taste.

Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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