Maa Laadu is a smooth and nutty flavoured laddoo made with powdered pottukadalai, powdered sugar and ghee.
Table of Contents
What is Maa Laadu?
Maa Laadu also known as Maladu is a typical South Indian quick laddoo recipe made with readily available fried Bengal gram, powdered sugar and Ghee. Maa is a short word for maavu, meaning flour in Tamil.
It is a laddoo that my mother used to make as an extra sweet for Diwali. Every South Indian kid growing up in the 80s and 90s will have distinct memories of this laddoo being eaten at Diwali and exchanged between households. At the end of the 3 days of Diwali, we used to have different versions of the same Maa laadu from multiple houses.
What are the ingredients for Maa Laadu?
The principal ingredient in Maa laadu is Fried Bengal gram or Pottu Kadalai in Tamil or Huri kadale in Kannada. The other ingredients used in Maa Laadu are powdered sugar, cardamom powder and Ghee.
The ratio of Pottu Kadalai : powdered Sugar: Ghee is 1: 3/4: 1/2. So for every cup of fried gram, you will need 3/4 cup the measure of powdered sugar and 1/2 cup measure of ghee. You may also use 1:1 ratio of pottu kadalai and powdered sugar if you prefer your maa laadu really sweet.
Bengal fried gram/ Pottu Kadalai / Huri Kadale – How is it made?
To make Bengal fried gram, you roast black Chana dal at a high temperature. This makes the skin pop off, leaving behind the dal in a fried form, which is ready to eat. This fried gram is further split into two sections, making it to look like dal.
This roasted Bengal gram makes a fantastic snack along with peanuts and jaggery. We also use roasted Chana dal as one of the major ingredients in chutneys served at Bangalore eateries.
How to make Maladu?
Getting the ingredients ready
Take a cup of white sugar and add it to a mixer jar. Pulse the mixer until you get powdered sugar. Measure out 3/4th cup of sugar and keep aside.
Take a few pods of cardamom and pound them in a mortal and pestle until you get cardamom powder. Remove the skins of the cardamom pods (use the skins for making tea or you can add them to the jar containing tea leaves).
Prepping the Pottu Kadalai
You can start off by placing a pan on medium flame and roasting the Bengal fried gram on a low flame for under two minutes. This is to ensure that the fried gram crisps up just a little, but so that it gets easier to make the powder without lumps. Make sure to not allow them to turn brown during the roasting process. (You can skip this step if you are short on time). Allow the roasted gram to cool down. Once cool, add to a mixer and make it into a fine powder.
To the same pan, add a teaspoon of ghee and roast the cashew nuts into a golden brown. Take them out and keep aside in a container.
In the same pan, melt the rest of the ghee if it is in the solid form.
Rolling the laddoos
Now take a large bowl and add the powdered Pottu Kadalai and powdered sugar and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Add the cardamom powder and mix well too. Next, add the ghee and roasted cashewnuts and mix well with your hand. The laddoo mixture should neither be too wet with the ghee or too dry.
Take small quantities of the laddoo mixture and start rolling them into balls. The size of the laddoo is completely up to you.
Storage and Shelf Life
Once the Laddoos are cool, store them in an air-tight container.
You can store it on the shelf for up to a week since it has ghee and sugar. You can store them in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
FAQs
If the pottu kadalai laddoo mixture is dry, add one more teaspoon of ghee and mix well.
If the mixture is too wet with the ghee, it will be OK. The roasted gram flour will absorb the ghee as it cools down. If you feel that the mixture is still too wet, add a teaspoon of besan/kadala maavu and mix well.
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Recipe
Maa Laadu | Fried Bengal Gram Laddoo
Ingredients
- 1 cup Bengal Fried Gram | Pottukadalai 180g
- ½-¾ cup Powdered Sugar 90g
- ½ cup Ghee melted
- ½ tsp Cardamom Powder
- 10-12 Cashew nuts
Instructions
- Prepare the powdered sugar if you do not have it. Melt the ghee and keep aside.
- Roast the pottu kadalai over a low flame for 1-2 minutes. This is done just to remove any moisture that the dal might have. It also helps with powdering the gram easily. Once done, allow it to cool down.
- Once cool, grind the fried Bengal gram to a smooth powder. Keep aside.
- Pound the cardamom pods to get 1/2 tsp of powder.
- In a small pan, roast the cashew nuts in a teaspoon of ghee until golden and crisp.
- To a big bowl, add the powdered pottu kadali, powdered sugar, cardamom powder and mix until combined well.
- Next, add the roasted cashew nuts and melted ghee to the bowl.
- With the use of your hands, mix all the ingredients well. Start rolling the laddoos with this mixture until all of it gets used up.
- Your Maa Laadus are ready!
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