Til gur ke laddoo for Lohri and Makar Sankranti
तिल गुड़ के लड्डू
Sesame and jaggery, rolled warm. The only thing that can go wrong is boiling the gur too hard, and this recipe tells you exactly when to stop.
Lohri and Makar Sankranti · Prep 10 min · Cook 15 min · Total 30 min · Makes About 15 to 18 laddoo · North Indian dessert
In our part of Uttar Pradesh, Makar Sankranti lands at the same moment as the jaggery season. The cane is in, the kadhais are working, and the first gur of the year goes straight into til laddoo. The timing is not a coincidence: the festival sits exactly where the harvest does.
They are also the least fussy sweet in the house. Two ingredients, one pan, and a window of about a minute in which they must be rolled.
The one thing to get right
The jaggery must be cooked to a soft ball and no further. A syrup taken too far sets hard and glassy, and what you get is chikki in the shape of a ball. Taken off the heat the moment a drop in cold water gathers into a soft ball, it gives a laddoo that holds and that you can still bite through.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (about 150 g) White sesame seeds (safed til)
- ¾ cup (about 150 g) ShuddhGaon jaggery powder
- 1 tsp, plus a little for your palms Ghee
- 1 tbsp Water
- ¼ tsp Cardamom powder
- 2 tbsp Roasted peanuts, coarsely crushed
Method
- Roast the til Dry-roast the sesame in a heavy pan on a low flame for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring constantly. It is done when the seeds turn a shade darker and start to pop. Tip them onto a plate so they stop cooking.
- Crush a handful Pulse about a third of the roasted til once or twice in a mixie, or crush it in a mortar. Partly crushed til binds far better than whole seeds.
- Melt the jaggery In the same pan on a low flame, put the ghee, the water and the jaggery. Stir until it melts, then let it bubble gently for 2 to 3 minutes more, until it froths and a drop in cold water gathers into a soft ball. Take it off the heat there.
- Fold everything in Add the cardamom powder, then the sesame and the peanuts, and fold quickly until every seed is coated.
- Wait one minute Let the mixture sit off the heat for about a minute: hot enough to shape, cool enough to touch.
- Roll them Grease your palms with ghee and roll walnut-sized balls, pressing firmly so they hold. Work fast, because the mixture stiffens as it cools. If it hardens before you are done, put the pan back on the lowest flame for twenty seconds.
- Cool and store Leave the laddoo on a plate until they are completely cold and firm, then store them in a dry airtight jar.
With our jaggery
Either form of ours works. The powder melts in about two minutes and is easier to measure against the til; the cubes take a minute longer and need breaking up first, but melt down just as cleanly. What matters more than the form is the heat under the pan. Our jaggery has nothing added to it to control how it sets, so a low flame and a bowl of cold water are the only timer you need.
Tips from our kitchen
- If they refuse to hold The syrup stopped short of soft ball. Return the mixture to the pan and warm it on the lowest flame for a minute, stirring, then roll again. Add a spoon of jaggery only if there was too little syrup to coat the til.
- If they set too hard The jaggery was cooked past soft ball. Nothing is lost: press the mixture into a greased thali, cut it into diamonds while warm and call it til chikki.
- Keep water beside you A bowl of cold water to dip your fingertips in makes rolling a hot mixture much easier than greased palms alone.
Questions people ask
- What is the ratio of til to gur for laddoo?
- Equal weights: 150 g of sesame to 150 g of jaggery, which is 1 cup of til to ¾ cup of jaggery powder. That makes 15 to 18 laddoo.
- Why are my til laddoo too hard?
- The jaggery was cooked too long. Take it off the heat as soon as a drop in cold water gathers into a soft ball. Cooked further, it sets as hard as chikki.
- Is tilgul the same as til gur laddoo?
- Yes. Tilgul is the Maharashtrian name for the sesame and jaggery sweets exchanged at Makar Sankranti. In Bihar the pounded version is tilkut.
Worth reading alongside this
- Gur ki chashni: syrup stages
- The gur festival calendar
- Til and gur at Sankranti, the way our village makes it
The jaggery this recipe is made with
- ShuddhGaon Jaggery Powder Pouch — The same fine gud powder in resealable 500 g and 1 kg zip pouches
- ShuddhGaon Jaggery Powder — Fine gur shakkar that melts into tea, coffee and milk
- ShuddhGaon Jaggery Cubes — Pure sugarcane jaggery, cut into ready-to-use cubes
- ShuddhGaon Jaggery Combo — Cubes for the cup, powder for the kitchen