Recipe: Sharad's Ragi Laddus

You don't have to wait for a festival to have certain types of laddus. You can deviate from your general healthy lifestyle by, at the end of the day, popping one or two of these Ragi Ke Laddus that contain millets, seeds and gud by Chef Sharad Tenguriya. Reduce the jaggery to suit your tastes and requirements and substitute the ghee with cashew butter.

Chef Tenguriya, with nearly 15 years experience under his belt, is the executive sous chef at Fairmont Jaipur. He worked earlier with the Leela group and Trident.

Ragi Ke Laddus

Servings: About 20-25 laddus

Ingredients

• 600 gm ragi or finger millet flour
• 100 gm pumpkin seeds
• 200 gm ghee
• 200 gm jaggery
• 10 gm green elaichi or cardamom powder + little extra for garnish

Method

• In a saucepan, gently toast the ragi flour over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until it emits a nutty aroma.
  In another pan, toast the pumpkin seeds in a little of the ghee until light golden.
  Keep aside.
• Grind the jaggery and the toasted pumpkin seeds (keep a few seeds aside for garnish) in a mixer/blender to a coarse powder.
  Combine the jaggery and pumpkin seeds mixture with the toasted raagi flour, remaining ghee, and the cardamom powder.
  Mix well.
  Lightly grease your hands with the ghee.
  Take a small portion of the mixture and shape into lime-sized balls.
  Garnish each laddu with a few pumpkin seeds and a dusting of cardamom powder for a finishing touch.

• REDIFF FOOD