Til gur ke laddoo for Lohri and Makar Sankranti

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 melted, not boiled. A syrup taken too far sets hard and glassy, and what you get is chikki in the shape of a ball. Melted until smooth and just beginning to bubble, taken off the heat immediately, gives a laddoo you can 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Melt the jaggery In the same pan on a low flame, put the ghee, the water and the jaggery. Stir until it is completely smooth and just beginning to bubble at the edges, about 2 minutes. Take it off the heat there.
4. Fold everything in Add the cardamom powder, then the sesame and the peanuts, and fold quickly until every seed is coated.
5. Wait one minute Let the mixture sit off the heat for about a minute: hot enough to shape, cool enough to touch.
6. 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.
7. 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 your own eyes are the only timer you need.

Tips from our kitchen

• If they refuse to hold The syrup was short. Return the mixture to the pan, add a tablespoon of jaggery and a teaspoon of water, melt it through and try again.
• If they set too hard The jaggery boiled past melting point. 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.

The jaggery this recipe is made with

• 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

More recipes with gur

• Sakkarai pongal made with nattu sakkarai
• Gur ki chai, made so the milk never splits
• Thekua, the Chhath prasad made with atta and gur

All jaggery recipes