Rawa ladoo

Last weekend was spent mostly on cleaning as I have a few friends staying with me for a few days for diwali. Sunday afternoon I found sometime to start making my diwali treats. First on the list was rawa ladoo. The only sweet I would make for Christmas back home was rawa ladoo and that too only the making balls part, out of the already made rawa mixture. My aunt always made the right mixture and she was the one who taught me how to make these.

Ingredients:

Fine Rawa - 1.5 cups
Sugar (powdered) - 1.5 cups
Ghee (melted) - 1/2 cup (can be increased upto 3/4 cup)
Cashews (chopped finely) - 2 tbsp
Raisins (chopped in half) - 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Dry roast rawa in a pan till the raw smell disappears. Be careful to not let it turn brown. Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a seperate pan and fry cashews and raisins till they turn golden brown. Add this to the rawa mixture. Finally add the ground sugar to the mixture and mix well. Since I used fine rawa I did not grind it else both rawa and sugar have to be ground together and then cashews and raisins should be added. Let the mixture cool to a warm temperature that you can handle. I usually take a part of the rawa mixture and then add a little of the melted ghee and sprinkle milk and make small balls with it. I do this in batches as it is easier to make and the mixture doesnt get too dry before making the balls. Let the balls harden a bit and serve. You need to know the right proportion of ghee and milk to make the balls and that takes practice. If you add too much milk the ladoos turn out to be too hard. If that happens dont loose heart, just microwave the ladoos for a few secs and they will turn soft again.