Health mix ladoo

 I had this mix of nuts that wont stay for more than a month. I wanted to do something with it. In the past whenever I tried a new recipe I ran the risk of it getting rejected by my daughter and husband. Not that I cooked it bad. Just that recipe in its truest sense was not to their taste buds. It was a new recipe anyway and all of us were trying something new, with the possibilities of like and dont like being there in all probabilities. 

   But how else we can venture and expand our choice of food and cuisine if we dont try something new. So I went for it, risking it all, my time and effort. 

Ingredients:
   
               1 cup of Daliya / Pottu-kadalai / Chutney dal

               1 cup of Oats

               1 cup of Shredded fresh coconut

               0.5 cup of Badam

               1 cup of Jaggery powder ( Parrys Jaggery brand I used)

               Ghee

               1 Cup of water


Way to go

• Roast Chutney dal until mild brown in a spoon on ghee and set aside
• Roast oats until raw smell gone in a spoon on ghee and set aside
• Roast Shredded coconit until raw smell gone and gentle brown in a spoon on ghee and set aside
• Roast whole badam until fragnant and mild crispy in a spoon on ghee and set aside
• Cool all roasted items and blend them into a powder. They need not be fine powder. Its ok to have few coarse pieces in there, though not necessary.
• Melt one cup of Jaggery powder with one cup of water. Keep boiling them until we get the soft ball consistency. This is most important. We stick to soft ball consistency and not hard ball consistency
• Once the right consistency reaches, turn off the stuff. 
• Add in ONLY TWO CUPS of the powdered nut mixture, and stir and mix them well
• Add two to three spoons of ghee and mix well. Turn on the stove in low flame for a minute until ghee mixes well.
• Now if the mix is too loose, you can add the powdered nut powder mix in batches of 0.5 cups or lesser at stages, until it comes to a point of right consistency.
• TIP:  I pulled out a small lump of the mix, rolled into the ball to feel how firm it is to hold the shape. If it was too soft, I coated it with the nut powder mixure, mixed it well and rolled it. Continued adding nut mix powder until the ball game to right consistency
• So I did this way for all the balls, instead of directly adding a large quantity to the main dough mix. 

MOST IMPORTANT:  You have to roll them into ball before they cool completely. Because once they cool they dont hold shape any more. 

        Once the balls are done allow them to cool at room temperature. Once cool you will notice they hold good shape but yet gentle to bite and enjoy the taste. This is why we turned off jaggery syrup once it reached soft ball consistency. If it had moved to hard ball consistency, your ladoos would become too hard to bite. If you mix had been slightly coarse, you will get a mild crunchy taste as well. 

   And what was my daugther's and husband's reaction? Of course, they gave a thumbs up, a big one. Which I didnt anticipate. How else I got the confidence to post it here :)