Ingredients:

• 1 cup- besan (gram flour)
• 1/2 cup -almonds, coarsely powdered
• 1 cup- sugar, powdered
• 3/4 cup -ghee
• 1/2 tsp- cardamom, powdered
• 1/4 tsp- Saffron food colouring (optional)

Method:

1. Mix the powdered sugar and food colour. Keep aside.
2. Dry roast the besan in a wide pan, breaking lumps if any.
3. Take care not to burn the besan while roasting. Set aside.
4. Melt ghee in the same pan, then add the roasted besan.
5. This can be tricky, as the besan initially thickens in consistency.
6. This step is the longest and takes about 15-20 minutes for both these ingredients to bind together.
7. Stir continuously.
8. Besan changes to golden brown colour and gives out a sweet aroma.
9. Add coarsely ground almonds and keep stirring for another 5 minutes or till completely combined.
10. Add powdered sugar and mix well.
11. Once the sugar is added, the mixture tends to loosen a bit.
12. Excess heat melts the sugar and may start bubbling.
13. Hence, keep the heat low or you may even remove the pan from heat right after adding the sugar.
14. Stir well to form an evenly brown mixture.
15. Once all the ingredients are mixed, the consistency will change. The mixture becomes manageable.
16. At this point, add the powdered cardamom or a few drops of cardamom extract to the mixture.
17. Transfer the mixture to a plate. Do not cool it completely, as it will be hard to shape the ladoos and it will fall apart.
18. It should be warm to touch with bare hands.
19. Grease your palm with a little ghee and shape the mixture into small ping pong sized balls.
20. Even if you have a dry mixture, the ghee from your palm will help hold the ladoos in shape.

Recipe courtesy of CherylRajkumar