Easy Rava Ladoo made with semolina, ghee and sugar. Quick, easy treat to make for the festive season.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 12
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup rava/sooji (165 grams, I use fine rava)
  • ½-¾ cup granulated white sugar (100-150 grams, adjust sweetness to taste)
  • ¼ cup +1 tablespoon ghee (melted)
  • 2 tablespoons cashews (broken)
  • 1 tablespoon golden raisins
  • ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
  • 1-2 tablespoons more ghee or milk (as needed)

Method

  1. Take a heavy bottom and put it on medium-low heat. Add rava to it. Using a spatula, stir continuously and roast the rava until it's fragrant. This takes around 7 to 8 minutes. Once roasted, rava becomes aromatic. You don't want to brown the rava for this recipe so be careful and stir all the time and roast on medium-low heat only. Once done, transfer it to a plate and allow it to cool.
  2. Once the rava is done, add sugar to a blender. I have used granulated white sugar here, do not replace this with powdered/icing sugar. Blend the sugar into a powder.
  3. Once the rava has cooled down a bit, transfer it to the same blender (along with sugar, no need to remove the sugar from the blender). Pulse few times to blend the rava as well. Do not make a fine rava powder here, we want the ladoos to have some texture. Set this aside.
  4. Now, heat a pan on medium heat and add 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon melted ghee to it. Add broken cashews and roast for 1 minute until they start turning light brown in color. Add raisins at at this point, cook for around 45 seconds until raisins plump. Remove pan from heat.
  5. Add the powdered rava and sugar mixture to the hot ghee and nuts in the pan. Also add 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder.
  6. Using a spatula, mix until everything is well combined. The rava should be nicely mixed with the ghee. The ghee is hot, so don't use your hands at this point. Now, let this cool down a bit until you can manage to handle the mixture in your hands.
  7. While the mixture is still warm (but not hot), take a small portion of the mixture and press between your palm for 30 seconds. Then roll between your palm to give it a round shape. Make all ladoos similarly. You will get around 11 to 12 ladoo from the mixture.
  8. If you are unable to make ladoos, and it's breaking, add 1 tablespoon melted ghee and bind. Start with 1 tablespoon and add more as needed. You can also add 1-2 tablespoons of milk in place of ghee here but keep in mind that adding milk reduces the shelf life of the ladoos and also changes the texture a bit.
  9. Store the ladoos at room temperature for 10 days and enjoy.

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.