Rava laddu....Festive special

Rava laddu is my daughter's favourite laddo.I love preparing different types of sweet during our hindu festivals like nagpanchami,Ganesh chaturthi and Diwali without fail.People of north karnataka and Maharashtra prepare this Rava laddo especially during ganesh chaturdashi and Diwali.As i said in my earlier post ,indian festivals are incomplete without sweets.Even I enjoy preparing many types of laddos and this one is my favourite too,as it is simple and can be prepared with or without ghee.My daughter likes moist laddus so on ganesh chaturthi i prepared with ghee and added littel besan instead of grated coconut.

Prep time: 15mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 45 mins
Yield: 20 medium sized laddus
Ingredients

• 2cups Bombay Rava/semolina
• 21/4 cups Sugar
• 1/4 cup Gram flour/Besan
• Few strands of kesar/saffron 
• 1/2tsp Cardamom powder
• 1/2 cup Ghee
• Roasted cashewnut and raisins for garnishing

Cooking Directions

1. Mix bombay rava/semolina, gram flour and ghee and roast over low flame till it changes its color to light brown, switch off the gas and  transfer this to a wide plate.
2. Now take a heavy bottom pan, add sugar and few strands of saffron.Pour enough water to cover The sugar completely and set to cook on low flame. Allow the sugar to dissolve slowly, stirring once in a while, when completely dissolved, raise the heat and allow the syrup to boil. Do not stir when the syrup is boiling, this will affect the consistency of the syrup.once its started boiling then keep checking the syrup by taking little syrup with a help of a wooden spoon and take little between your thumb and forefinger and check to see that the syrup forms a single strand as you pull your fingers apart,then immediately switch off the fire
3. Slowly stir in the the semolina to avoid forming lumps.
4. Stir in the cashews, raisins and cardamom powder
5. When warm enough to handle, squeeze a handful of the mixture between your fingers and palm to form small balls.

Note:-

1. Do not over boil your sugar syrup otherwise you will end up with hard powdery rava mixture.If it happens then all you have to do is just sprinkle some warm milk and proceed with your laddoos...
2. Do not store in an airtight container immediately,let it remain on a plate at least for 6-8 hours.

Variation:-

Here is my 2nd version of rava laddos. In this i have not used ghee or any other fat, instead  I've dry roasted semolina and  mixed with the sugar syrup.This is good for those who are health concious .These laddos are bit hard compared to  ghee laddos but really good for people like me who wants to avoid ghee.As we all know during festival its impossible to avoid sweets but at least we can cut down calories by not using ghee by preparing some healthy sweets and desserts like this.
All you need is :
Rava and sugar 1:1 proportion and no need of besan. If you want can add a tbsp of grated fresh coconut (roast separately until its dry on non-stick pan ) and mix it with rava before adding sugar syrup and the rest is  same as ghee rava laddos.