Laddu

Because this month is the yoga festive season celebrating the birth of Krishna, of course this month’s recipe has got to be an incredibly yummy exotic sweet that Krishna likes to eat.   There’s a song written by the great saint Bhaktivinode Thakur that describes and lists all the varieties of food that Krishna is offered. Here are some of the sweets that He eats:

Sweets made with milk, sugar and sesame, rice flour cakes; thick cooked-down milk; cakes floating in milk; and sweet rice. Sweet rice that tastes just like nectar due to its being mixed with camphor. There are bananas, and cheese (like ricotta) which is nectarean and delicious. There are buns made with white flour and sugar; buns filled with cream; laddus; and dahl patties boiled in sugared rice.

They are all so incredibly yummy that it was hard to choose which recipe to give. In the end laddus won! Laddu is made with butter, chickpea flour and icing sugar. The chickpea flour gets roasted in the butter which gives it a delicious, nutty taste and combined with the sugar it become a delicacy that melts in your mouth.

It’s easy to make, and the secret is to roast the chickpea flour until it is a light chocolate colour as this gives it heaps of flavour and takes away any bitterness.

This is definitely the sort of sweet fitting for such a special time of year!

 

Ingredients:

4 cups chickpea flour (also known as besan)

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

 

Garnish

1 Tbsp almond slivers

 

Directions:

Heat the ghee or butter in a deep non-stick pan. Add the chickpea flour, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 13 minutes, stirring continuously.

Turn the heat off and stir in the sugar and cardamom.

When it has cooled enough to be handled press it to a thickness of 1 -2 cm in a flat tray and sprinkle with almond slivers and leave to cool.

When cool it can be cut into about 18 pieces or rolled into small balls. It will keep refrigerated for two weeks but it’s never lasts that long in my house!

 

By Vrndavan Dasi

Founder and Principal of Veda Yoga Teacher Training