Methi Laddu


This month’s Magic Mingle is hosted at Vaishali’s Ribbon’s to Pasta’s and the magic ingredients for this month are methi seeds and coconut. This is an unusual combination but this is where the challenge becomes interesting. Methi is very bitter in taste and I usually use it in tempering sambar or dhal. Otherwise I use methi powder in pickles. So when the challenge was to use methi seeds as the star ingredient, I browsed for a recipe. The first result which came was methi laddus. This is a great post partum diet. There are so many versions of these laddus in the web. I selected the recipe from Nishamadhulika. But that recipe didn’t use coconut. So I adapted the recipe and added coconut also. The process of preparing these laddus was so interesting. The laddu uses edible gum. This is the first time I am trying to use edible gum in my recipe and I was so concerned. I fried the gum in ghee and it popped out as given in the recipe but the pieces were very hard. So I just ground it in the mixer grinder and added it to the methi mixture. After completing all the steps, I was so afraid to taste it as it has a huge amount of methi. I just pinched a little and tried it. For my astonishment, it was not at all bitter. The laddu was so rich and ghee was oozing out of it when I took a bite. After leaving it in open air to dry, they became dry and ghee didn’t ooze out. The crunchiness of the nuts added a great texture. Hubby liked it very much. He couldn’t guess the methi in it.



Click For Printable Recipe
Recipe Adapted from Nisha Madhulika 
Makes 30 Laddus
Ingredients:
Methi/ Fenugreek Seeds-50gm
Milk-1cup
Wheat Flour-150gm
Ghee-3/4cup
Edible Gum/ Badam Gondh-50gm
Almonds-15
Cashew Nuts-20
Black Pepper-5
Cumin Powder-1tsp
Dry Ginger Powder-1tsp
Powdered Cinnamon-1tsp
Cardamom Powder-1tsp
Jaggery-150gm
Powdered Sugar-1/2cup
Grated Coconut-1cup

Procedure:
  1. Grind methi seeds to a fine powder.
  2. Add milk to the powdered methi and mix well.
  3. Let it soak for 5-8hours.
  4. The methi will soak up all the milk and become thick dough.
  5. Heat 1/4cup of ghee in a heavy bottomed pan.
  6. Add the edible gum and fry it until the gum pops out.
  7. Remove it to a plate and allow it to cool.
  8. Grind it to a fine powder in mixer grinder.
  9. In the pan add the soaked methi powder and fry until it becomes crumbly.
  10. Add the ground gum and sauté until it turns brown.
  11. Transfer to a bowl.
  12. Add a tsp of ghee and roast the coconut until golden. Add it to the roasted methi in the bowl.
  13. Add 1/4cup ghee to the same pan and add chopped nuts.
  14. When golden, add the wheat flour and roast until aromatic.
  15. Mix the spice powders and crushed pepper and add it to the flour.
  16. Roast it until the flour turns golden brown.
  17. Transfer it to the bowl.
  18. Heat the remaining ghee and add the jaggery.
  19. Add 4-5tbs of water and heat the mixture on low flame until jaggery melts.
  20. Bring it to boil. Pour the syrup through a sieve into the bowl.
  21. Mix well. Add powdered sugar to the mixture and mix well using a ladle.
  22. Allow the mixture to become warm.
  23. Take small portions of the mixture and shape it into a round laddu.
  24. Finish off with the remaining mixture.
  25. Arrange the laddus on a plate and allow it to air dry for 5-6hours.
  26. Store the laddus in an airtight jar.

Have all the ingredients handy before starting the cooking






Deep fried edible gum looks like this.



Saute the methi paste in ghee.



It will start crumbling when cooking.



Add ground fried edible gum.



Transfer to a bowl once nicely browned.



Add roasted coconut.



Roast nuts.



Add wheat flour to the nuts and roast.



Transfer to the bowl once nicely browned.



Add jaggery syrup.



Add powdered sugar and mix.



Shape into small balls.



Allow it to air dry for 4-5 hours.



Linking this to Magic Mingle #10


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