Besan Laddoo

Besan laddoo is a festival sweet of Sindhi and pan-South-Asian cuisine, made from besan (chickpea flour) roasted in ghee until deeply aromatic, mixed with powdered sugar and cardamom, and shaped into round balls studded with chopped nuts. The roasting is the key technique: the besan is stirred constantly in melted ghee for 15 to 20 minutes until the raw smell is gone and the kitchen fills with a deep, nutty aroma. The colour changes from pale yellow to golden. Sugar, cardamom and nuts are added, and while still warm, the mixture is shaped into balls by pressing between the palms. The ghee acts as the binder; as it cools, the laddoos firm up into dense, crumbly, intensely nutty spheres that keep for weeks. Made for Diwali, Eid and weddings across Sindh and the subcontinent.

A dense, crumbly, deeply nutty sphere that melts in the mouth, the roasted besan and ghee giving a warm, caramel-like richness, the cardamom bright, the nuts crunchy. Sweet but not cloying, with a toasty depth that makes it hard to stop at one.

The technique is the long roasting of besan in ghee. Ghee is melted in a heavy pan, besan added, and the mixture stirred constantly over low to medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes. The besan must be roasted slowly: too fast and it burns, too slow and the raw taste persists. The colour change (pale to golden) and the aroma change (raw to deeply nutty) signal readiness. Powdered sugar (about half the weight of the besan), ground cardamom, and chopped nuts (almonds, pistachios) are stirred in off the heat. The mixture is allowed to cool until warm but still pliable, then shaped into balls by pressing a handful between the palms. The ghee firms as it cools, binding the laddoos. Under-roasted besan gives raw-tasting, loose laddoos; over-roasted gives bitter ones.