Janmashtami was celebrated with great élan in our part of
the world. Janamashtami marks the birth of Lord Krishna. Krishna
epitomizes unconditional love. Krishna is
absolute. To understand Krishna is to
understand the reality of life. His teachings tell us to accept all
contradictions and act accordingly and not complain because; no one has a right
to the end result. He tells us to live without ego. To be egoless is to be
nothing- this is absolute reality, this is Krishna .
This Janamashtami, we made Coconut laddus to offer to Lord
Krishna. I added a handful of all the dry fruits and nuts and seeds that I
could find at home. These laddus turned out to be chewy and coconuty and were
delicious. We enjoyed the prasad very
much.
Here goes the recipe-
Coconut Laddu /
Coconut balls with dry fruits, nuts and seeds (Vegan)
Ingredients
100 gms (about 1 ½ cup) desiccated coconut
¾ cup sugar
½ cup water
15 almonds chopped
15 cashew nuts chopped
10 pistachios chopped
5 figs chopped into small pieces
2 tablespoons golden raisins
2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
4 cardamoms
Method
In a deep bowl mix together desiccated coconut, chopped
nuts, raisins, figs and seeds. Peel the cardamoms, powder the seeds and add to
the mixture.
Take sugar and water in a heavy bottomed steel wok. Turn on
the heat. Let the syrup simmer till it becomes thick and just reaches one
string consistency. Turn off the heat.
Add coconut mixture and stir well so that the syrup and dry
ingredients are mixed well.
Let it rest till it cool downs a bit and it is comfortable
to make laddus.
Take about two tablespoons of this mixture and press between
palms evenly to get a walnut sized laddu. Repeat till the mixture is over.
My notes-
It is very important to get the right proportion of sugar and mixture. After
mixing dry fruits, nuts and seeds to desiccated coconut, measure with a cup.
Now the quantity of sugar will be exactly half of this measure (or a little
less if you don’t want very sweet laddus)
It is very important to get the right consistency of syrup.
Laddus will not bind well if the syrup is not of one string consistency. If the
syrup is of two string consistency, the mixture will harden even before you
begin to make laddus. However, you can add water and boil the syrup again to
get the desired consistency.