Festive Spirit- Til Ka Laddu

Wish you all a very happy ‘Makar Sakranti’. Did you know that this festival is celebrated in most parts of India to mark the winter harvest every year and is known by different names in different regions- ‘Makar Sakranti’ in north India, ‘Bihu’ in eastern India, ‘Maghi’ in north west and ‘Pongal’ in South and many other names as well.

With it’s endless health benefits, Sesame seeds when mildly roasted and mixed with Jaggery syrup turns into this delicacy which is almost synonymous to this festival in India.

Super easy to make and can be stored for long time, this sweet is traditionally considered to be an excellent choice during Indian winters and is known to boost immunity in addition to several other benefits.

When I was a kid, my mother used to make this a day before the festival. However, we were allowed to eat it only after the traditional Puja (worship ritual) ceremony was performed on the morning of the festival. That meant, that I had to live with the aroma of this sweet for more than 24 hrs but could not get my hands on it!

I almost forgot this ritual for last 15 years since I have never been home in January. Recently, I have been reading a lot about traditional Indian foods and their health benefits and this sweet caught my attention and reminded me of the good old childhood days. In addition to Sesame seeds, I have started adding Jaggery in my food habits replacing white sugar.

One positive thing which happened over the past 9 months, due to pandemic, is the realization that we can almost cook everything at home. And, the long road to kitchen is not that long after all. So I thought of trying my hand at it and enjoy this amazing delicacy.

Prep Time: 5 mins; Cook Time: 20 mins

This sweet can be whipped up very easily with 3 simple ingredients and you can find them easily at any Indian grocery store.

Things you need

1.25 cup Jaggery (I used powdered Jaggery but cubes are also fine)
1.5 cup Sesame Seeds (White, Brown or Black depending on your taste preference)
1 tbsp Desi Ghee (Clarified butter, traditionally available in Indian grocery stores)

Let’s make it

Til Ka Laddu (Sesame Seed Balls) Take the Sesame seeds and roast it in a wide pan on a low flame.
Stir continuously to ensure that all the seeds get uniformly roasted but also don’t over roast them. (They can get over roasted easily if you leave them on a high flame or if you don’t stir them continuously).
Once, the color start getting darker, take the seeds out and spread them on a large plate to rest.
While the Sesame is cooling down, it’s time to make the Jaggery syrup.
To make the syrup, heat the pan, put 1 tbsp of Desi Ghee in the pan and add the Jaggery.
Let the Jaggery melt in the pan and keep stirring it. Once it melts and becomes frothy, we need to test if it’s ready.
Jaggery Test- Take a bit of Jaggery in a spoon and drop it into a bowl of water. The jaggery will combine together to form a ball. Check the ball by pressing with your hands to make sure it’s not sticky. Else, keep stirring the Jaggery.
When ready, put the Sesame into the Jaggery paste and immediately switch off the flame.
Immediately mix the seeds into the Jaggery paste before it cools down to make sure that Jaggery is evenly coated on the seeds. (Jaggery paste will become very thick once it cools so make sure that you mix it well immediately). Shift the mixture into a bowl.
Let it cool for few minutes but not for long, else the mixture will get hard.
Next step is to make the ladoos (balls).
Grease your hands with cold water
Take small amount of Sesame mixture in your hands and start shaping them in the form of Ladoos.
Yay! it’s done and it’s now time to enjoy the sweets!