Ragi Rava Ladoo Recipe

With Diwali only two days away, here is another classic Indian sweetmeat recipe to help you celebrate  the Festival of Lights.

These little sweetmeats are very tasty and easy to prepare. Traditionally they are made with ravi, or finger millet Eleusine coracana. This plant originated in the Ethiopian highlands it is grown throughout Africa and South Asia. You can substitute any large-grained millet or coarsely ground rice

Ragi Rava Ladoo Recipe

Ingredients:

75g ragi
50g fresh coconut, chopped into pieces
175g grated jaggery (palm sugar)
1 tbsp eleachi (ground green cardamon)
1 tsp butter

Method:

Ravi grains are very hard. It is best to toast then lightly in a dry non-stick frying pan so that they soften (you only need to toast for a few seconds) then turn into a coffee grinder and render to a coarse powder (think semolina).

Grind the coconut in a food processor and set aside.

Melt the butter in a pan, add the coarse-ground ragi and fry for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Turn the ragi mixture into a bowl and mix in the coconut. jaggery and ground cardamom. The liquid from the coconut will be enough to hold everything together.

Shape into balls (about pingpong size), arrange in a serving dish, garnish with a few chopped pieces of coconut and serve.

As variants you can add chopped raisins and hopped almonds or chopped pistachios to the mix.

Accompany with Arabian Coffee.

For more information on Diwali, see the Celtnet Diwali Recipes and Information page.
For more classic recipes from the Indian sub-Continent, see the Celtnet Indian sub-Continent recipes page.