BANDAR LADDU

Located some 60 Kilometers from Vijayawada, Bandar- also called Mahilipatnam- is a town which is  the capital of Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh.  Bandar is Famous for its sweets and beach. Bandar laddu and Bandar halwa are spellbinding for food lovers. There are only a handful of sweet recipes which get their name from the place where they are originated.......Bandar halwa, bandar laddu, Kakinada Kaja, Aatreyapuram putharekulu, Bombay Halwa, kasi halwa and a few more. The taste, flavor and texture of Bandar laddu is awesome. This melt in mouth sweet is also exported to many countries from bandar and it recently got its Geographical indicator tag. 

Also called Thokkudu laddu, this sweet is prepared with Bengalgram flour, jaggery, ghee and nuts. As the name suggests the sweet is hand pounded in a Rock pestle and mortar.  My Mother in-law is famous for making sweets and especially this one. No one other than her in my Family makes this most delicious preparation. Although the process is time taking and tedious, its worth waiting. Today I experimented making the sweet and I am hopeful my son and husband likes it.

I used half and half of sugar and jaggery. Can also use only sugar or only jaggery. 

INGREDIENTS

• Bengal gram flour                        1 cups
• Sugar                                            1 cup
• Jaggery                                         1/2 cup
• Cardamom powder                       1/4 tsp
• Ghee                                             1/2 cup
• Oil                                                for deep drying
• Nuts                                              chopped cashews, almonds(optional)

PROCEDURE

• Take the besan in a wide bowl, add a spoon full of ghee. Add enough water and make dough which is not too thick or too watery. The consistency should be as shown below.

• Take a chakli or murukulu maker and fill it with the  besan batter

• Heat the oil in a deep vessel and make the chakkiralu. Use the medium hole sized disc while making the chakkiralu. Do not over cook the chakkiralu. They should be cooked from inside but should not change the color. 

•  Once they are cool grind to a very fine powder. Takes about 4-5 minutes to grind in a mixie.

•  Keep the powder aside and make the sugar and jaggery syrup.  Mix the sugar and jaggery with a cup of water and bring it to a boil. The syrup should get the right consistency.  It should attain  a one thread consistency. If the syrup is too thin the laddus will be flat and if the syrup is too thick the mix will be crumbly and the ghee will separate from the mixture. 

• Once the syrup gets the one thread consistency, switch off the flame, add the ground chakkiralu powder, cardamom powder, ghee. Mix well.

•  Transfer the mixture to a traditional  pestle and mortar and start pounding. For a easy version transfer the mixture to a  wet grinder. Grind it till you get a smooth consistency of the mixture. 
• Transfer the mixture to a plate, grease your palm with ghee and make laddus when the mixture is still warm. At this stage you can add the nuts while making laddus. I like the  laddu taste as is, so I skipped the nuts. 
• Enjoy with any savory.