I am from Bengal, in case you din’t know already. And we are known to be “sweet” people ~ Mishti (sweet in Bengali)!
Apart from the fact that our language is considered mishti, we have our weakness for anything thats sweet..especially from old west part of Bengal (before partition). My mother being one of them – we have had our share of sweetish curry, sweetish meat gravy, sweetish bread, sweet Cake or sweet snacks, sweet sweet & sweet drink..that includes tea or coffee with the amount of sugar worth a fortune!
Over the time, our tastes and kitchen rules have changed, flavours evolved and dessert choices altered. From the quintessential Bengali Rosogolla to payesh we have moved to variants of laddoo or even kheer stuffed puff pastry.
But who can beat an Indian classic?
None!
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Today my post is on one of the most love, eaten and sold sweet in any part of India. You are in India or ever have been here, I bet you have had a laddoo of some sort. If you haven’t, consolations to you!
This one is motichur/motichoor ke laddoo which is a popular variant among besan laddoo, bundi laddoo, khoya laddoo etc. These are had in almost any occasion, be it a festival, wedding, party, religious puja as shagun (token of good wish) or just like that!
I am taking a homely way out & not using any food colouring (which I highly discourage. Some studies on them are crazy!) Or readymade thickening agent like many sweet shops do. No no no!
That by no mean means mine are tempting addictive in any way 🙂
The ingredients I have used are so simple and made from scratch.
The colour is NOT the vibrant orange that you see in the sweet stalls or by caterers but they taste just as delicious!
To give it some thick moist texture I will use some khowa/khoya (concentrated milk solid), which can be readymade but I made it from scratch.
Lets get started with his Puja / party special dessert 😀
Homemade Motichur laddoo - No added colour
- Servings: 7-8
- Difficulty: easy
You will need :
– A mixing bowl
– A wok/kadai or pan (to make bundis, make sugar syrup & khowa(if not readymade))
– a colander/ holed laddle or spoon
(Picture below)
Ingredients :
For the motichur/bundi
– Besan/ Bengal gram flour, 1 big cup
– Semolina/ sooji, 1 tablespoon
– Milk, to make the batter
– oil + ghee mixture, 1:1 ratio or as loved, for deep frying
– saffron in milk, for colour (optional)
– Khowa, 2 tablespoon (readymade store bought or homemade* scroll down to know more)
– Seeds of big black cardamom/Elaichi, 2 teaspoon ( optional)
– cashew nut/raisin, to garnish (optional)
For homemade khowa/milk solid
– milk (preferably full fat), 1 cup
[You can buy readymade unsweetened khowa from a store too]
For sugar syrup
– Sugar ,1 cup
– Water, 3/4 cup
– Green Cardamom/elaichi powder,
1 teaspoon or paste of 2
Method :
For the khowa/khoya/milk solids
♡ In a wok/kadai/non-stick pan, pour in milk and boil it in low to medium flame. Keep stirring to avoid burning or sticking to pan. Depending on the fat and milk content, it will take from 10-25 minutes. You can easily do this while making the motichurs on another gas top/stove.
For the motichur/bundi
♡ In a mixing bowl, add the besan/bengal gram flour, semolina/sooji with milk at normal room temperature. Add in some saffron/kesar strands in warm water for colour. The batter should be of flowing consistency with no lumps.
♡ Take a wok/pan, put in the oil + ghee and heat it.
Pour in the batter through a colander or holed laddle/spoon. (PICTURE BELOW)
♡ Fry them to a soft consistency (not too crispy), keep aside on a kitchen napkin. These are your Bundis.
For the sugar syrup
♡ In a wok/kadai, add the sugar and water. Add the elaichi/cardamon powder/paste,mix very well.
Cook till string like sticky consistency.
Assemble
♡ Now, pour the sugar syrup in the oil soaked bundi. Coat every bit and grind it into finer motichur/motichoor. Dont grind too fine or it will be hard to mould them into round balls.
♡ Mix the khowa, Black cardamom seeds, (a teaspoon of ghee if you want) with the motichur/motichoor and mould the between your palms into round balls of your desired size.
Add a cashew or raisin on top to garnish.
Hope you enjoy trying this Indian Classic sweet for puja, occasions, festivals, or just to treat yourself 🙂
You may want to check other Sweet dishes or desserts too!
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Love & Luck,
Roy ❤ ❤
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