Tilache Ladu | Traditional Sesame seeds Ladu
Tilache ladu's are speciality of Makar Sankranti in Maharashtra and Goa. These sweet til ladu’s are prepared using sesame seeds, jaggery, chana dal and peanuts. Unlike usual ladu; this Til ladu is hard and crunchy or may be semi hard with chewy texture.
Ingredients
- 200 gms sesame seeds mix of white & black
- 50 gms roasted chana dal roasted split chickpeas
- 100 gms peanuts
- 200 gms chikki jaggery
- chopped dry coconut chunks optional
Instructions
- Take a pan and dry roast sesame seeds on a low heat. Once seeds start making crackling sound, remove the pan from heat and keep it aside.
- Next roast peanuts over low heat until all the moisture is removed and it tastes crunchy. At this point you could see light black spots on the surface of peanuts. Take aside roasted peanuts and remove its skin.
- Now the important step; melt jaggery over low heat. It takes approximately 10-15 minutes for chikki jaggery to melt. Once it starts melting; take a little amount between two fingers and it should roll into a ball. If this ball dropped into a glass of water it should sink to the bottom. If your jaggery ball pass this test then it’s ready for the next stage.
- If you prefer hard ladu's; then in addition to above water test, try to drop little piece of melted jaggery on a plate and it should make a sound. Also see if this hard jaggery piece snaps easily; that will result in crunchy texture. We prefer semi soft ladu's with chewy texture so we melted the jaggery until it reaches soft ball stage.
- Be careful while melting the jaggery; too much heat can spoil it. It might burn or turn hard and cannot be used for the recipe.
- Once jaggery is melted; turn off the heat. Add roasted seeds, peanuts and chana dal with melted jaggery.
- Combine everything well together and our mixture to roll ladu’s is ready.
- While the mixture is still hot; apply water to your palm and roll small ladu’s with the prepared mixture.
- If mixture cools down while making ladu; heat it slightly and start rolling again. As mentioned earlier, If mixture cools down then it’s difficult to roll them. So, reheat the mixture carefully until it's soft enough to handle and roll small balls. Repeat this step until all ladu’s are ready.
- You can store them in an airtight container for upto 30 days at room temperature.
Notes
- Preferably use chikki jaggery for the recipe; results might differ with normal variety of jaggery. Chikki jaggery melts relatively faster and binds the mixture well. But it also turns hard quickly and that makes it difficult to handle.
- Roasted chana dal is readily available in the market. It is light yellow coloured and used for tempering or to make chutneys. It is also known as bhajaki dal in Maharashtra/ Goa. Picture attached for reference.
- Black sesame seeds are optional; you can use white sesame seeds only.
- Roll the ladu's while mixture is hot. If mixture cools down or difficult to handle then heat it slightly until its soft enough to handle.
- Dry coconut chunks are also optional but I recommend using it.