Motichoor Ladoo (Boondi Ladoo Recipe)

Prerna Garg
May 4, 2016
4 min read

Motichoor/boondi ladoo is one of the Indian sweets that I really really love. Though, I love all kinds of sweets and desserts, these are the ones that I can make really well too. So the other day when I was really craving for ladoo, I thought why not make them at home. Yes, that sounds insane. Like who makes motichoor ladoo at home, dude? But they are really simple. Trust me, with the recipe below, anyone can make them at home.

Now, most of the times motichoor and boondi ladoos are synonymous however there is a slight difference between the two. The difference between them is in the size of the boondi. Motichoor is the fine/small boondi (usually crushed/churned) and boondi ladoo are made of bigger boondi.

MOTICHOOR LADOOS

Below is the recipe for motichoor ladoos:

Ingredients:

For Sugar Syrup:

1 cup sugar - Syrup will take more time with powdered white sugar so I suggest using sanding sugar
3/4 cup water
4-6 saffron threads (kesar) - This is optional. Saffron lends a natural light orange colour to the syrup

For Boondi:

1 cup gram flour (besan)
3/4 cup water
A pinch of saffron powder (kesar) - I used saffron threads and crushed them nicely between my fingers
Oil for deep frying
Handful of nuts like almonds, pistachio
A pinch of crushed green cardamom without the skin - I didn't use these since Mr. P is not too fond of their flavour (choti elaichi powder)
1 tablespoon oil for binding the ladoos

Method:

Prepare the sugar syrup:

Take the sugar, water and the saffron threads in a pan and heat the pan. You will notice that the sugar starts to dissolve in water and the saffron threads would start to lend an orangish colour to the syrup.

The sugar syrup needs to be of one-thread consistency. The thread consistency defines the thickness of the sugar syrup. Take a drop of sugar syrup on your thumb and try and pick it with your finger. If only one string rises, it is a perfect one-thread consistency. Be careful when you place the drop on your finger, it could be really really hot!

Prepare the gram flour batter:

While the sugar syrup is heating, take the gram flour, saffron powder/crushed threads and water and mix them well in a bowl. There should be no lumps of the flour and the consistency of the batter needs to be flowing - neither too thick, nor too thin.

Pour the batter (This part is a little tricky but a lot of fun):

Heat oil in a kadhai/wok. The oil should be hot enough to fry. You would be needing two ladles - one to fry the boondi and one to pour the batter into the oil. For pouring the batter, take a ladle that has small round holes in it (like this .) Once the oil is hot, place the second ladle onto the kadhai and pour little batter onto it using a spoon. You will notice drops of batter falling into the kadhai through the ladle.

Fry the boondi:

Fry the boondi in lots. Pour little batter onto the ladle and let the boondi fry. They should be golden brown in colour - not too soft, not too crisp. If the boondi become too crisp, they will not absorb sugar and if they remain too soft, they will taste uncooked. Repeat this step till all the batter is fried into boondi.

Add the boondi to sugar syrup:

As you take the boondi out of the kadhai , drain the oil very well and directly put them into the pan of sugar syrup (by now your sugar syrup would be prepared with one-thread consistency.) The sugar syrup needs to be hot when you put out of the into it. If the sugar syrup turns cold, it will start to crystalise. No problem though, you can quickly reheat it. Make all the boondi and keep adding them to the sugar syrup. Mix well in between so that all the boondi dip in the syrup.

Blend the boondi + syrup:

Since, motichoor ladoos require smaller boondi, take the boondi dipped in sugar syrup in a blender. Add only 2 teaspoons of warm water if you think the boondi is too dry or crisp, otherwise blend it directly. You need to churn it only 2-3 times since too much blending will hamper the binding of the ladoos.

I didn't need to add water since the boondi was soft and could be easily blended. Once, you've blended the boondi, take it in a pan. This is how the boondi will look like post blending:

Bind the ladoos:

Mix the powdered green cardamoms in the blended boondi. Apply oil on your palms and take a small amount of the boondi mixture and shape the ladoos.

The mixture needs to be a little warm when shaping them otherwise the texture wouldn't come properly. Shaped ladoos can be refrigerated to make them firm. Even if you don't immediately refrigerate the ladoos, the shape will not be lost but the ladoos will remain soft.

Once the ladoos are shaped, you can place the nuts on top of the ladoos for decorating the ladoos. The ladoos can be served immediately and can also be stored in the fridge for upto a week. If refrigerated, then reheat the ladoos in the microwave for about 10 seconds to make them soft before eating.

Did I tell you Mr. P loves motichoor ladoos? He wasn't expecting them today and he was pleasantly surprised when he came home and saw a plate full of ladoos kept on the breakfast counter waiting for him :) :)

Below is the recipe in short -

Click on the recipe card to download a copy on your device.

Hope you try out the ladoos. Trust me, homemade ladoos taste way better than the market ones.

Happy cooking and enjoy these delectable motichoor ladoos! You can even try making pan kulfi or coconut kulfi which are going to be perfect for the warm weather.