Coconut Rava Ladoo and Burfi. Vegan Gluten-free Indian dessert balls and bars flavored with cardamom. Dairy-free Recipe

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 10
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Semolina flour (or Brown rice flour for Glutenfree)
  • 1/2 cup Coconut flakes (dried)
  • 1 Tablespoon Coconut oil (optional. Omit to make Oilfree)
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped cashew pieces (optional. Omit to make nutfree)
  • a pinch of salt

Sugar Syrup

  • 1/2 cup ground raw sugar (or use jaggery powder)
  • 3 Tablespoons water
  • 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder (depends on how much you love cardamom:)

Method

  1. In a large pan, dry roast the semolina on medium-low heat for 6-8 minutes until the color changes and it gets fragrant.
  2. Using a blender/processor, blend the coconut flakes to make coarse coconut flour.
  3. Add the blended coconut, coconut oil, salt and cashew pieces to the pan. Mix well and roast for 2 minutes.
  4. (Coconut oil and cashew pieces can be left out to make nut free and oilfree)
  5. Meanwhile, in another pan, make the sugar syrup.
  6. Add all syrup ingredients and bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue to cook at medium low until one thread consistency- 230 to 235 degrees F / 110ºc.(a few minutes).
  7. Add the hot sugar syrup to the roasting dry ingredients and mix well to form a lumpy mixture. (Best results when both contents are hot)
  8. Take off heat. Cool for 2-3 minutes and form balls - Ladoo. Spray a little water if the mixture is too crumbly.
  9. Or Press immediately into parchment lined or greased baking pan to make Burfi. (I used an 8 by 4 inch pan.) The mixture gets too crumbly as it cools. So shape when still warm-hot. Handle carefully.
  10. Cut into squares when still warm. The bars will harden as they cool.
  11. Break into pieces when cool. Store in airtight container for upto a week.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.