Dry roast sesame seeds on a low to medium heat till you begin to get a nice nutty aroma. Keep stirring to toast them evenly. Good quality sesame also splutter/ sizzle.
Avoid over roasting as they tend to turn bitter quickly. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Recipe 1 - How to make Sesame Ladoo
Crush or break down the roasted peanuts slightly with the base of a bowl/rolling pin or in a small hand mortar pestle. (Don't powder, check pic in the post)
Reserve 2 tbsps sesame seeds in a small bowl. Add the rest to a grinder or food processor. You can pulse/ grind/process to a fine powder depending on your machine. Do not over do.
Add grated jaggery and cardamom powder. Grind or pulse them until the mixture begins to release oils. If the mixture is still dry, add a tablespoon ghee and process again until the mixture looks greasy.
Mix-in the crushed peanuts and the reserved sesame seeds. Take portions of this to your fingers and press down against your palm to shape them to ladoos. You will get about 12.
Store sesame seeds ladoo in an air tight jar and handle with moist free hands.
Recipe 2 - Make Til ke Laddu
Take a small bowl with ¼ cup of water and keep it ready aside to check the syrup consistency.
Heat jaggery in the same pan along with water.
Optional - Once dissolved you can also filter it to another bowl to remove the dust particles. Rinse the pan and pour back the syrup to the pan.
Boil the jaggery syrup on a medium flame stirring often until it reaches a ball consistency.
The syrup reduces, turns to deep color & turns frothy. To check add a tsp of the syrup to the bowl of water we prepared earlier.
The syrup should stay in there in the bowl without dissolving. Gather the jaggery and make a ball. You should get a soft ball that turns firm upon cooling. It should not be too soft and should not turn to a brittle.
If the syrup hasn't reached that consistency yet, continue to cook for few more minutes.
When you get the correct ball consistency, turn off the stove. Add cardamom powder and sesame seeds. Mix well.
Let the mixture cool down a bit. Then quickly dip your palms in water just to moisten and scoop out 1 tbsp of the mixture to your palm and shape to ladoo.
Be quick at this stage and keep dipping your hand in water as needed to avoid burns.
Roll the entire mixture to balls when the mixture is still hot. Cool the til ladoos completely and store in air tight jar.