Desserts and Sweets

Coconut laddoos

On October 4, 2011 by

Hi, I have been missing in action as I have been very busy with certain things which leave me with no free time to update my blog 🙁. Since the festive season is going, I have taken a break and have been cooking a lot, especially sweet dishes. Being a Bengali, I predictably made roshogollas first, but I forgot to take pictures. It was for a little party at home and all of us gobbled 30 of them in one night! I plan to make some more tonight and will post the recipe tomorrow. Till then here is a recipe for coconut laddoos. These are easy to make and store, require very few ingredients and less time and can be eaten on any occasion or whenever you crave something sweet.
Prep time: None if you use readymade grated coconut; 20 min if you have to grate coconut
Cooking time: 20 minutes plus 15 minutes to make the balls           Servings: 25 laddoos
Ingredients:

Grated coconut: 350 gms
Sugar: 1 cup
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
Bay leaves: 2
Ghee: 2 tsp
Full cream/ whole milk: 1 cup
Milk powder: 1 cup
(I did not have sweetened condensed milk or Milkmaid here. If you get that, use 1 can Milkmaid instead of the milk and milk powder, and reduce the amount of sugar by half as Milkmaid already has a lot of sugar.)
Method:

1) Grate fresh coconut or use grated coconut available in packets like I did.
2) In a pan, add ghee and sauté the grated coconut in medium flame for 2, 3 minutes.
3) Pour the milk and sugar (or milkmaid) and keep stirring. Add milk powder (not required if you are using milkmaid) and keep stirring. Check the sweetness and accordingly to your liking, add around 1 cup sugar, less if you are using sweetened condensed milk.
4) Add cardamom powder and bay leaves.When the mixture become sticky, remove from heat as you don’t want it to darken.
5) Wet your palms and take small portions to make the balls while the mixture is still hot. Roll the balls lightly in a plate full of grated coconut; this is optional, it just looks pretty. Leave them like that for at least one day so that the laddoos harden.

You can also flatten the mixture on a plate with a spatula and make barfi shaped incisions in them and leave it overnight. That way you will have coconut barfis.
Enjoy!
Coming soon: Roshogollas, Gulab jamuns, Palak matar paneer, Garlic naan, Vegetable Biryani, Honey chilly fish, Vegetable quiche and A’s smashed potatoes and fried salmon.
Written by

Meghalee Das is a former journalist, who occasionally writes as a freelancer. She loves traveling, camping, hiking, kayaking, gardening and of course, cooking. Currently she is doing her MBA from Texas State University and updates her blog whenever she gets the time!