001 - The Auspicious Start - Laddu (Tirupati Style)

THE THOUGHT:

Lord Venkateshwara, is considered to have more religious shrines than any other God amongst the Hindu religion. Now why does he feature in my first ever blog about food???

One of the many places Lord Venkateshwara is famous and has a lot of devotees thronging his temple would be Tirupati. One other reason why Tirupati is possibly so famous for would be the Laddu's that they offer as Prasadam. Truth be told! They are possibly amongst the best sweets that I have had till date! Rank No. 1. As I start my blogging career, I'd wanted to start off with something which is common amongst the Lord, devotion, heaven & FOOD! And no other thought crosses my mind when I think of these 4 aspects! So here I go, with my first ever recipe, The Tirupati Laddu!

(Please note, that this recipe may not turn out to be the exact same way as Tirupati, cuz frankly speaking, it's just impossible.... & 2) If it does turn out to be the same.. I would be booked for a copyright violation!)

Ingredients:

Besan - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 ¼ - ½ cups

Cardamom – 1 (Cuz I really don’t like a lot.. Although you can add more if you love the taste to be a lot more stronger)

Clove – A couple of them

Cashews - 4

Saffron – a few threads

Raisins – Just a few

One tablespoon - diamond Sugar

Dry Camphor - a pinch

Oil - to deep fry

How to Cook!

Heat up 1/4 cup water in a heavy bottomed vessel and dissolve the sugar completely in it.

Add the carrdamom, dry camphor, to it and remove from the fire / heat.

Add 1/4 cup water to the besan and mix it to obtain a thick batter

Heat up oil in a kadai and when it starts to smoke, reduce the heat to medium.

Hold a plate with holes (or a laddle with holes used while frying) over the hot oil and pour the besan batter over the plate.Small drops of it will fall in the hot oil and fry as small balls. Remove these promptly (without becoming too crisp) and drain off the excess oil.

Add these in batches to the hot sugar syrup.

Continue to work on the batter to prepare all the boondi out of it. Add the small cashew pieces (fried in ghee) and the cloves and stir the boondi in the sugar syrup to mix uniformly. While it is still warm, form small balls out of it and firmly hold in the palm to round up the balls. Make sure that the laddus are all firm. Try to work as quickly as possible, because as the syrup cools down, you may not be able to form firm laddus.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT... PERFECT LADDU's... WELL NOT AS PERFECT AS THE HOT ONES IN TIRUPATI! WE WERE CLOSE AT LEAST!

DO LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS. MAIL ME @ karu2345@gmail.com

Regards

Karthik "Foodie" GB

www.ideasforfood.blogspot.com