Coconut laddus

Desert Marathon Day 1:

It’s the festive season coming up with rakhshabandhan and Ganesh chaturthi being the closest, followed by dassera and diwali, seems to be never ending! And the best and most awaiting part of festivals other than shopping for new clothes is FOOD! Mostly “mithaai” taking over completely, that one cant ignore it.

As I was battling with my mind for quite a few days about what recipes should be posted on the blog next, my savior in disguise turned out to be my husband! I  was discussing with him about my problem and he instantly came up with a superb solution saying, “why don’t you post 7 laddoo recipes for seven days nonstop since rakshabandhan is coming up?” I jumped with joy and gave him a tight peck on the cheek and thanked him for such a wonderful idea! Couldn’t be happier and it was such a relief!

Since that was done, now was the time to lay out all the laddoo recipes I knew that I learnt from mom, aunt, etc. I also just thought to add other desert recipes and not just laddoos for a wider variety. It didn’t take me much time to sort it all out and I was ready with my to-do list. First thing was shopping for all the ingredients and hubby dearest did it for me in a jiffy. Each day I would do all the cooking preparations during my kid’s nap time as that’s the only time my mind and body are at peace.

As a child and even as a teenager I never really had a liking for sweets and neither for coconut. The thought of eating coconut would make me feel weird, so I always used to be pretty far from it. The only dish I liked were the two varieties of coconut chutney that my aunt would make. Apart from that it was a big NO! But after I met my husband, things changed pretty drastically. He has a sweet tooth and I guess I began to like sweets since then. During my pregnancy I would literally hog on sweet delicacies and used to be surprised with myself. During my second trimester I had to take a blood test and to my surprise my sugar levels went up pretty high! I was shocked and was in disbelief that it was actually happening to me at such a young age. The doctor warned me that I better keep a check on my sweet food intake as women are more easily prone to diabetes during pregnancy. So obviously I cut down on it majorly.

Coming to the recipe, coconut now by the way is my most favourite ingredient. I use it in curries, sweets, rice etc and the reason for this is probably my mother in law. She’s from kerala and they, as everyone knows breathe on coconut and curry leaves! These two ingredients have to be present in almost all the dishes that they prepare. So post marriage I somehow never hesitated on trying out the coconut based dishes that she would cook. I don’t know why! And this coconut laddoo recipe was the first that popped up in my head when I was getting ready with my list. Its extremely easy to make, specially because there are just two ingredients and you have a mouth watering fudgy dish in your hands!

Ingredients:

400Gms condensed milk (I used milkmaid)

3 cups desiccated coconut

Cooking process:

1: In a heavy bottomed pan pour the condensed milk and 2 cups of desiccated coconut and mix without taking your eyes off because you do not want it all burnt. Cook for about 5-10 minutes on low flame till the milk starts coming off the sides of the pan and a sticky dough like texture is formed.

2: Allow it to cool and shape them into laddoos with the palm of your hands.

3: Roll them into the remaining desiccated coconut and serve.

Tip:

There's no need to use sugar as condensed milk contains enough of it.

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