1.5tbspjaggerypowdered or to taste (grated or crushed jaggery is fine as well)
¼tspground cardamomrefer notes
water to soak sesame seeds
2tspsof sesame oil or gheeif required
Instructions
Soak sesame seeds in water for 20 to 30 minutes.
Drain the water thoroughly. I usually use my tea strainer and drain the water.
Now heat a pan and add the drained sesame seeds and dry roast it until they splutter and pop out.
As they start to splutter, turn off the heat and let it cool completely.
In a mixer jar or coffee grinder, add the jaggery, ground cardamom, and roasted and cooled sesame seeds.
Grind it until the sesame and jaggery are well combined. You can grind it according to your texture preference. Sometimes I grind is smooth and sometimes coarse.
Take a small portion of the ground mix and shape it into laddus. As I mentioned in the post, I shape them into balls for Garuda Panchami or if I am making it for a snack. For the Gowri habba festival, I don't shape them as we have it along with dosa. You can use the same as a filling for sesame kozhukattai. Recipe coming soon.
Notes
If you are not able to shape the ground sesame seeds into laddu, then add ghee or oil. Mix well and shape them. The natural oil from sesame seeds along with jaggery is sufficient and it binds really well. But no harm in adding sesame oil or ghee.
We always soak the black sesame seeds. And I highly recommend soaking. If you are using white sesame seeds, then skip the soaking. You can check out my white sesame seeds laddu recipe as well on my blog.
Adjust the jaggery amount according to your preference. I have used a minimal measure and you can double or triple the quantity. For 1 measure of sesame seeds, use ¾ or an equal measure of jaggery.
You can find how to make cardamom powder on my YouTube channel. If you don't have cardamom powder, you can use one whole green cardamom. Crush it and roast it along with black sesame seeds. You can discard the outer covering and grind it or you can include the covering as well.