Recently I shared paneer laddu, and I am back with another laddu recipe. This time it’s the til laddu. Festivals, especially Indian festivals, are all about food, and this til laddu or ellu urundai is quite popular, and we make it during Sankranti/Pongal, the Indian harvest festival. Our household makes plain sesame seeds balls, aka chigali, for all the festivals. While we use only black sesame seeds and jaggery for chigali, for this laddu, we use peanuts and other nuts/seeds of our choice along with sesame seeds making it much more nutritious.
Healthy snack
This ellu urundai is a healthy snack you can make all year round, like the maaladu. It’s a guilt-free nutritious snack for both kids and adults. I have used peanuts, but you can make it without peanuts and include other seeds like sunflower seeds and make it nut-free too.
Ingredients required
Nuts and seeds: For this laddu, I have used black and white sesame seeds, peanuts, and pumpkin seeds. Sweetener: We sweeten this laddu up with jaggery. You can also give this laddu a try with palm jaggery. Flavor enhancer: We add green cardamom/ground cardamom and ghee to add more flavor. Yes, ghee also adds flavor. You can bind the laddu even without ghee. But if the mixture is too dry, you can add little extra ghee. Optional ingredients: You can add other nuts like cashews and almonds in small quantities and ¼ to ⅓ cup of dry coconut. Make sure to roast them as well.
Dietary specifications and storage suggestions
This til laddu is a gluten-free laddu recipe. You can skip peanuts and use sunflower or pumpkin seeds to make a nut-free version, or skip the peanuts altogether but reduce the jaggery amount. Ghee is optional; feel free to skip it for a vegan version. Yield: The below measure yields 15 to 18 small lemon-sized laddu.
How to make til laddu
Heat a pan when it is hot, and add the white sesame seeds.
Roast over medium-low heat until it .turn light brown and starts to pop. Transfer it to a plate and let it cool.
Add the black sesame seeds to the same pan and roast over medium-low heat until it starts to pop. Transfer it to a plate and let it cool.
Next, add the peanuts to the same pan.
Roast until it gets light brown spots, transfer it to a plate, and let it cool.
Now, add the pumpkin seeds to the same pan and roast them till it becomes light brown.
Here are the roasted sesame seeds, peanuts, and sunflower seeds. Once they are cool, let’s pulse them together.
First, add the roasted peanuts to the food processor and pulse them twice or thrice. Next, add the sesame, white and black, and the sunflower seeds and pulse them 5 to 6 times. Do not blend them in one go.
Now add the jaggery and the ground cardamom. And pulse again till the jaggery blends in well.
Transfer this to a plate and add the ghee. Mix well and separate the lumps if there are lumps or the mix is clumped together.
Take a small amount of the ground mix, and shape it into a small round ball. The natural oil from the seeds and nuts will help you bind the laddus. If the mixture is dry, add 1 tbsp of ghee and make the laddus.
Similarly, make the sesame seeds laddu with the remaining mix. Here is the close-up shot of sesame seeds laddu.
And here is the inside of the laddu. It’s soft and stays good for up to a week, even without refrigeration.
Recipe Notes
As we are not making jaggery syrup and adding jaggery directly, make sure to use good quality jaggery without any impurities.Instead of ground cardamom, you can use green cardamom pods. Roast them along with white sesame seeds or black sesame seeds and pulse them along with them. Make sure to use unsalted peanuts and pumpkin seeds. Adjust the ghee and jaggery measure to taste.
VVK tips
This recipe is an easy beginner-friendly recipe. The critical thing is roasting the nuts and seeds separately. Roast all the ingredients separately over low-medium heat. Do not rush this process.Use the pulse mode to grind the ingredients. Do not grind them in one go, as they will become clumpy. The mixture might seem dry, but the natural oils from sesame seeds and peanuts will help bind, and laddu will firm up.
Frequently asked questions
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