Boondi ladoo recipe (Tirupati boondi laddu)

Tirupati boondi ladoo recipe with video and step by step photos – Learn how to make boondi laddu at home. Boondi ladoo is a popular traditional Indian festive sweet made with gram flour, ghee, sugar, nuts and cardamom powder.

Tirupati boondi ladoo is considered to be one of the most precious prasadams by devotees. The aroma and taste of ladoo from Tirupati Balaji temple is the best among any other ladoos.

Most traditional Telugu speaking people make boondi ladoo for almost every major occasion in a family like Engagement, wedding, baby shower and then after having a baby.

These are sent with the bride as a gift to her In-laws place after every occasion. Usually some hundreds to thousand are made for most such occasions to give as return gifts.

I made these tirupati boondi ladoo following a video from YouTube. The original recipe is to make 5001 boondi ladoo which I scaled down to a size which even a newbie can easily try.

These turned out really good and delicious. These can be made by a single person even if the recipe is doubled without a helping hand.

To make anything more than that will surely need a help since the mixture has to be rolled to balls while it is warm.

The only step I have not followed in this recipe is the blending, since it is not clear in the original video. Not sure if the mixture is partially blended. For the method I have followed the way we make at home.

More ladoo recipes
Besan ladoo
Coconut ladoo
Rava Laddu

Tips to make boondi ladoo

Important notes:
1. To make these boondi ladoo recipe, I have used ghee for frying the boondis since tirupati ladoo is made that way. However you can fry them in oil.

2. The actual unique aroma comes from the edible camphor that is used. But be cautious while you buy edible camphor since these days most commercially sold are synthetic pacha karpooram which are also toxic.

Traditionally pacha karpooram was made from leaves and was also considered to be healthy. You can completely skip it if you do not have a good one.

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Tirupati boondi ladoo recipe

Boondi ladoo recipe

Tirupati boondi ladoo is a popular Indian sweet made using gram flour, ghee and sugar.

Prep Time5 minutes

Cook Time35 minutes

Total Time40 minutes

Servings12 ladoos

AuthorSwasthi

Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )

For boondi batter

• 1 ¼ cup besan or 115 grams gram flour (sifted or sieved)
• ½ to ¾ cup water ( approximation)

Other ingredients

• Ghee as needed for deep frying
• 6 elaichi or 2.5 grams green cardamoms
• 12 cashews or 20 grams
• 15 raisins or 10 grams
• 5 grams rock sugar or kalkandu or patika bellam (1 tsp)
• 1 Pinch edible camphor (pacha karpooram) (optional)

For sugar syrup

• 1 ¼ cup sugar or 225 grams (I used organic fine sugar)
• ¾ cup water

How to make the recipe

Making boondi for ladoo

• Measure all the ingredients and keep them ready.
• Add besan to a large mixing bowl and pour water just as needed to make a free flowing batter that is not too thin or too thick. Please check the step by step photos to understand the consistency.
• Heat up the ghee or oil in a kadai until hot enough.
• Pour little batter over the boondi ladle to check if the consistency is right. You must get them right in round shape. More details in the step by step photos below.
• Pour one large ladle of batter over the boondi jhara and spread the batter continuously to drop the batter in the shape of boondi.
• Stir and fry just until the bubbles begin to reduce.
• Do not fry the boondi till crunchy but fry them just until the raw smell goes away.
• Drain them to a large bowl.
• Continue to make more boondi in batches until all the batter finishes.
• In the same ghee or oil, fry cashews until light golden, then add raisins.
• When they plump up remove them to the boondi bowl. if using rock sugar add it to the bowl now.

Making syrup

• Add sugar and water to a pot. Boil until 1 string consistency. Turn off the stove.
• Next add cloves, cardamom powder and edible camphor. Mix well.

How to make boondi ladoo

• Add boondi, cashews and raisins.
• Mix well and set aside until the sugar syrup is absorbed completely.
• This may take about 5 to 10 mins. But keep checking.
• Take small portions of this mixture and make ladoos.
• Cool boondi ladoo completely and store in a air tight jar.

Video

NUTRITION (estimation only)

Calories: 275kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 10mg | Potassium: 132mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg

If you are a beginner or new to Indian cooking, I highly suggest you to check the supporting step by step photos for best results. Step by step photos with description available below after the recipe card.

Preparation

1. Keep all the ingredients ready as mentioned in the recipe card.

2. Make a batter of the flour by adding water little by little, just as needed.

3. The batter has to be free flowing yet neither too thick nor too thin. Before making boondi, we will have to check whether the consistency of batter is right to get them correctly round shaped.

Since the boondi to make ladoo is not fried to crunchy (they are just partially cooked), the batter should not be made as thin as we make for the khara boondi otherwise they will soak up lot of ghee or oil.

4. While you make the batter, heat up the ghee or oil. Tirupati ladoo is made using only ghee, so I have used ghee here.

Making boondi for boondi ladoo

5. There are different ways of checking the batter consistency. I check using my boondi jhara/ ladle directly. When the ghee turned very hot, I have added little batter to my ladle. Try with just one tbsp of batter.

6. Boondi turned out to be good in shape after adding 1 tbsp water to the initial batter I made. To get them right make sure you follow these steps:

a. Ghee or oil has to be very hot (not smoking hot) otherwise boondi may not hold shape and may turn flat. They have to fried on a medium flame.
b. If the batter is too thin then the boondi may turn flat or soak up lot of ghee. In this case add a tsp to tbsp of flour and mix well.
c. If it is too thick, then you may get tailed boondi. Then add a tsp of water and mix well.
d. You will have to adjust the consistency until you get them right.

7. Pour 1 ladle of batter to the boondi ladle. This recipe needs spreading the batter through out the boondi jhara with another ladle to help the batter drop off easily to the hot oil. This spreading is needed for 2 reasons:

a. Since the batter is not very thin, spreading the batter helps to drop the boondi quickly and easily with in few seconds.
b. Secondly we do not need to wipe off the boondi jhara with a cloth or tissue after every batch if we are going to spread it using another ladle.

8. As soon as the boondi is dropped, lot of bubbles come up.

9. These will begin to cease as the boondi gets cooked. When the bubbles begin to reduce, I removed the boondi.

10. At this stage they need not be crunchy but must be cooked enough for the raw smell of flour to go away.

Frying nuts and raisins

11. I have fried cashews in the same ghee. When they are half done, i added the raisins as well.

12. Switch off the stove and add these to the boondi along with rock sugar. Set this aside.

Making sugar syrup for boondi ladoo

13. Add sugar along with 3/4 cup of water to a pot.

14. Begin to make the sugar syrup by boiling on a medium heat until it reaches a one string consistency.

15. Check the string consistency by taking little sugar syrup from the spoon in between your thumb and forefinger. When you stretch it gently, you will be able to see the string consistency.

While the syrup boils, you will need to keep checking until you get this one string consistency. As soon as you see it has reached the one string consistency, then switch off the stove and move the pan aside.

16. Add cardamom powder, cloves and edible camphor. Mix everything well.

17. Add fried boondi now.

Making boondi ladoo

18. At this stage there will be lot of sugar syrup in the pan.

19. All the sugar syrup will be absorbed in a short time depending on your indoor temperature. It took less than 10 minutes for me and the mixture was warm. When the mixture cools down, you will notice the syrup has been absorbed completely , this is the right stage to form the boondi ladoo.

20. Take small portions of this and make balls. We will get about 12 boondi ladoos for this recipe. If you want to make the size of tirupati boondi ladoo, then you may get about 4 to 5.

Allow boondi ladoo to cool completely and store in a tight jar.