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BANKA LADDU

A quintessential winter laddu made of edible gum, dry fruits, nuts, seeds, ghee and jaggery.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Indian, Telangana
Keyword: Laddu, Vegetarian, Winter special
Servings: 25 Laddus
Author: Shravani Abhishek

Equipment

  • Blender
  • Saucepan

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup Banka or Edible Gum
  • 1 cup Cashews
  • ½ cup Almonds
  • ½ cup Khajoor or Dried dates or use medjool dates
  • ¼ cup Dried coconut
  • ¼ cup Pistachios
  • ¼ cup Walnuts optional
  • ¼ cup Jeedi palukulu or Marking nuts optional
  • ¼ cup Melon seeds optional
  • 1 cup Jaggery powder Or use powdered sugar
  • 1 cup Ghee

Spices

  • 1 tsp Pepper powder
  • 1 tbsp Sonti podi or ginger powder
  • 2 pinches Nutmeg powder

Instructions

Preparing laddu base

  • Grind the cashews, almonds, pistachios, walnuts to a fine powder and add it a large mixing bowl.
  • Now grind the dried dates to a fine powder and add it to the mixing bowl.
    Notes : If using medjool dates, just chop them up, grind to a smooth paste and fry the date paste in ghee for 4-5 mins until it loses its raw smell and turns into a lump.
  • Now grind the dried coconut, marking nuts, melon seeds separately and add it to the mixing bowl.
  • Now the crucial ingredient, Banka or Gond or edible gum Add it to the blending jar and grind to a fine powder. And transfer this powder to the mixing bowl.
  • Time to add in pepper powder, sonti podi or ginger powder, ground nutmeg, jaggery powder to the mixing bowl with all ground nuts and seeds. Give everything a really good mix.

Heating the ghee

  • Now heat a saucepan, add ghee and bring it to a smoking hot point. Turn off the heat.

Let's roll some BANKA LADDUS now!!

  • Take 3 cups of laddu base ie., all the powders to a smaller mixing bowl, make a well in the center and add few tbsps of piping hot ghee.
  • Start bringing the laddu mixture and ghee together, and try to bring everything together to a tight sticky dough consistency.
  • When the laddu mixture is still hot and pliable, take a heaped size portion of it in a spoon or in your palms. Roll the mixture and Shape in a round laddu. 
    Note : In case the laddu mixture is too hot intolerable, then do wait for some minutes. Avoid burning your hands. If the mixture does not hold shape, then add 1 to 2 tablespoons of hot ghee.
  • Place the rolled laddus onto a wide plate, and repeat the process for the remaining laddu mixture.
  • Leave the rolled laddus to dry overnight or 4-5 hours at room temperature.

Storage instructions

  • Transfer the dried banka laddus to a clean and dry Airtight container. These laddus stay good upto 6 weeks.

Serving suggestions

  • Serve laddu with a warm glass of milk or just as is.

Notes

  • If you cannot find dried dates, use medjool dates instead, just chop them up, grind to a smooth paste and fry the date paste in ghee for 4-5 mins until it loses its raw smell and turns into a lump.