Coconut Ladoo

There's nothing better than Indian sweets!  Although I'm not a huge fan of the liquidy ones like kheer, I love almost all the other ones.  Especially the green ones.  haha...It doesn't really matter what type the sweet is, but if it's green...I claim it.  My husband always gets a kick out of that. 

Anyway, I decided to make some coconut ladoos to bring along to my great-grandfather's birthday party.  My very nordic family can't really handle Indian food.  I try my hardest to get them to try it, and usually they do, but even the mildest dish sends my mom into a tizzy and practically puts my grandpa into cardiac arrest.  It's not a pretty scene.  But sweets they can handle, and naan.  haha...they like naan.

Coconut Ladoos are basically balls of shredded coconut held together by sticky, milky mixture.  They are pretty similar to what they call Narkel Naru in Bengali, at least that's what I have come to decide.  I'm pretty sure they're what I had at Durga Puja, and my goodness...they were fantastic!  They're really, really sweet though and not very good for you.  So you'll just want to make sure you don't eat them all!  ...In one sitting at least. ;-)

Ingredients:

- About 4 cups dessicated coconut, I didn't have time to run to the Indian store so I used shredded coconut from the grocery store--it worked good!

- 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 14 oz

- handful of raisens

- 1 tbsp. ghee

- 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

- 3/4 tsp. cardamom powder

Directions:

1.  Place a small fry pan over medium heat, add the ghee and let that get hot.  Once the ghee is hot add the raisens.  Fry these for just a little while, until they start to puff up and change colors.

Be very careful not to burn the raisens, or else you have to start over.  Burned raisens will wreck the taste of the ghee and of the ladoos.

Oops!  I burned the raisens!

2.  Set the raisens and ghee aside.  In a second saucepan add the condensed milk and 3 c. of the shredded coconut.  Mix together.

Keep stirring continuously until the mixture starts to clump together and pull away from the sides of the pan.  This will probably take around 5 minutes or so, maybe 7. 

3.  Add the raisens, ghee, vanilla, and cardamom powder.  Stir to mix. 

4.  Remove from heat.  Let cool for about 10 minutes or until you're able to roll the mixture into balls without burning yourself.  I actually found that the cooler the mixture was, the easier it was to work with.  When it was still a little warm it was very, very messy.  Roll the mixture into balls-- whatever size you choose.  I wouldn't do really large ones though because they really are very sweet.  After you form the ball, roll them into some extra dessicated coconut.  This makes them look like pretty little snowballs!

I hope you enjoy this yummy little Indian sweet!  It's an easy one to start with, and really I think they make a pretty addition to a Christmas platter. 

Well, I'm off!  I have to get ready, my mom is coming over and we're going to get some more Christmas shopping done.  I'm one of those last minute shoppers, bakers, Christmas tree-putter-uppers...everything!  haha... That reminds me, Piyush and I have to put our tree up tomorrow.  We've just been so busy, and we want to do it together since it's our first Christmas together being married and it'll be his first time having his own Christmas tree.  He's been pretty excited about it. 

Until next time...!