Pottukadalai also called roasted gram is a protein-rich lentil usually used in coconut chutney. Amma and paati make this for Diwali and as a child, I have never liked this delicious sweet. Later after I got married, I developed a sweet tooth and started liking this. Amma used to bring a big box of maa laadu and nei urundai (pasi paruppu urundai) for us whenever she visited us post-wedding. The recipe is similar to the rava ladoo recipe, but we do not roast the pottukadalai in this recipe. Also, check out our boondi ladoo recipe, besan laddu, chocolate coconut ladoo and atta ladoo
In a mixie jar add 1 cup of pottukadalai. Grind this into a fine powder. No need to roast the pottukadalai | roasted gram If you are making in bulk you can grind this in the rice mill too.
Sieve this once. Keep aside.
In the mixie jar add ¾ cup of sugar. If you want you can reduce 1-2 tbsp too. Add ¼ tsp of cardamom powder or 4 cardamom pods. Powder this well. Never put this along with pottukadalai and send it to the rice mill for grinding. In the rice mill, they don’t grind sugar as it will get melted in the heat. Powder at home and store-bought castor sugar have some corn flour, so I am not sure how it will work for maa ladoo.
Add the powdered sugar mix to the sieved flour. Mix this well. You can sieve both for even mixing too.
Now add ¼ cup of ghee in a pan and melt this. Add 2 tbsp chopped cashew nuts to this and roast till golden.
Add the hot ghee to the flour and sugar mixture. Mix well with a spoon.
When it is warm, take small portions and make ladoos. If you feel it is dry, add 1-2 tbsp of hot ghee. By any chance, if the ghee is more, powder 2 tbsp of pottukadalai and add to this. Repeat this for the rest of the flour and store this in an airtight container.
This stays good for 10 days at room temperature.
Notes: Do not add milk in case you want to reduce the ghee. It will reduce the shelf life. I used ¾ cup of sugar for 1 cup of pottukadalai, and felt I should have reduced 1-2 tbsp. You reduce according to your preference. Maaladoo | maaladdu is a super easy sweet for Diwali.
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