Rava Ladoo is an Indian sweet made from semolina (sooji or rava), whole wheat flour, sugar, ghee, dry fruits and flavored with cardamom. These are shaped into balls that are called ladoo or laddu.
These melt in mouth treats are the perfect type of sweets for Diwali or other festivals, or simply when you crave them!
Today's Rava Laddo recipe is a very basic and simple Maharashtrian style recipe requiring very few ingredients and no advance preparation as such.
Mom made Rava laddu every year for Diwali along with other faral (snacks).
Between Rava and besan ladoo, I am a little biased towards these as I like their texture (crunch) more.
This rava laddu is
- Made with rava (sooji) and whole wheat flour
- easy and simple to make
- Doesn't need sugar syrup
- guaranteed delicious
- can be made in advance
- has a great shelf life
Rava ladoo is also known as suji ke laddu in Hindi or Ravyache ladu in Marathi.
There are multiple ways in which you can make Rava laddu recipe.
Some call for just basic ingredients like rava, sugar, ghee, cardamom, and nuts while some use rava in combination with fresh or desiccated coconut.
I love those Rava Coconut ladoos too that my mom makes, but I'll share that recipe some other time.
For today, I'm excited to share my mom's rava ladoo recipe that she makes with rava (sooji) and whole wheat flour. I know right, whole wheat flour??
Trust me, that was my reaction too when she told me the ingredients. But you just have to try it!!
Wholewheat flour is the secret ingredient to get those perfect ladoos.
It helps bind the ladoo still keeping them soft yet not making them crumbly and gives them texture too. Here is how to make those perfect rava ladoo!
Recipe Ingredients
- Rava: Use a fine variety of semolina or sooji.
- Whole wheat flour: Also known as atta, helps with binding.
- Ghee: Clarified butter.
- Cardamom powder: Cardamom adds those sweet notes and flavor.
- Dry fruits and nuts: coarsely chopped Cashews add a nice crunch and Raisins for garnishing.
- Milk: I prefer to use whole milk, but you can use 2% if you prefer or vegan alternatives.
- Sugar: Using white granulated sugar that is powdered.
Step by Step Instructions
Grind the sugar in a grinder to get a powdered texture. Keep aside.
1 - Heat a pan on medium low heat and add the rava to it. Roast stirring intermittently for 10 mins or until you get a nice aroma of the Rava.
2 - Then add the wheat flour to it and roast again for 10 mins. Make sure you roast on medium to low heat as we dont want the Rava or wheat flour to turn brown in color.
3 - Next add the ½ cup Ghee and mix well.
4 - Then add the raisins and cashews.
5 - Add the milk and mix again.
6 - Switch off the heat and allow the mixture to cool a bit. It should be light.
7 - Once the mixture is lukewarm add the cardamom powder and powdered sugar and mix well so that all is well incorporated.
8 - Now take a small portion in your hand, press gently between your palm and finger to form a rough ball (golf ball size), and then smoothen it by rolling it in the palms of both hands.
Garnish by pressing a raisin on the top of the ladoo. Set aside.
Repeat these steps to form remaining Ladoos . I was able to make 16 ladoos.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Use fine rava (sooji) for making this ladoo. The coarse variety will not work well and your ladoos will crumble.
- Don't skip whole wheat flour. It acts as a binding agent and also adds to the ladoo texture.
- Roast Well. The key to good rava ladoo is roasting the rava and whole wheat flour well. Always dry roast first and then roast again in ghee until aromatic. Do not brown them. Always keep it on medium-low heat!!
- Use powdered granulated sugar. The confectioner sugar doesn't work that well here.
- Make ladoos while the mixture is still warm.
- If you feel that the ladoo is crumbling then add some more ghee and mix again. Then form the balls.
- If you add too much ghee then you may notice the balls don't retain their round shape and fall flat. Don't worry let them set/harden a bit at room temp or in the refrigerator for a few minutes and then reshape them. They should hold the shape now.
Frequently Asked Questions
Once the ladoos are cooled, place them in an airtight container. They will stay good at room temperature for about a week or store in the refrigerator to extend their shelf life for up to a month.
Rava, ravva or rawa is also known sooji is a drum wheat product and a form of semolina. It is usually whitish to pale yellow in color and used in many sweet and savory recipes.
Semolina contains gluten so should be avoided if you have gluten sensitivity.
This rava ladoo recipe is not made with sugar syrup (or pak) or by cooking the sugar. Here we are mixing the powdered sugar to lukewarm rava mixture so the laddu will become firm on cooling as the ghee solidifies but not hard.
Yes, replace sugar with jaggery. Use jaggery powder and grind it just like we did with sugar so it's a fine powder. Then add it to the rava mixture, just like sugar, and mix and bind the ladoos.
More Indian Desserts and Sweets
Hope you enjoy this Rava Ladoo recipe!! If you give this recipe a try, please rate by clicking stars ⭐️ in the recipe card. Thank you ❤️ ! You can also follow me on Facebook | Instagram to see what’s cooking in my kitchen!!
Rava Ladoo | Rava Laddu
Ingredients
- 1 cup fine rava sooji or semolina
- ½ cup whole wheat flour atta
- ½ to ¾ cup Ghee
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
- ¼ cup cashews coarsely crushed
- 2 tbsp golden raisins
- 1 tbsp milk
- ¾ cup white granulated sugar
Instructions
- Grind the sugar in a grinder to get a powdered texture. Keep aside.
- Heat a pan on medium low heat and add the rava to it. Roast stirring intermittently for 10 mins or until you get a nice aroma of the Rava.
- Then add the wheat flour to it and roast again for 10 mins. Make sure you roast on medium to low heat as we don't want the rava or wheat flour to turn brown in color.
- Next add the ½ cup Ghee and mix well. Then add the raisins and cashews, milk and mix again.
- Switch off the gas and allow the mixture to cool a bit.
- Once the mixture is luke warm add the cardamom powder and powdered sugar and mix well so that all is well incorporated.
- Now take a small portion in your hand, press gently between your palm and finger to form a rough ball and then smoothen it by rolling it in the palms of both hands.
- Garnish by pressing a raisin on the top of the ladoo. Set aside. Repeat these steps to form the remaining Ladoos. I was able to make 16 ladoos.
- Serve them fresh or once the ladoos are cooled, place them in an airtight container and eat it as a dessert or snack
Notes
- Use fine rava (sooji) for making this ladoo. The coarse variety will not work well and your ladoos will crumble.
- Don't skip whole wheat flour. It acts as a binding agent and also adds to the ladoo texture.
- Roast Well. The key to good rava ladoo is roasting the rava and whole wheat flour well. Always dry roast first and then roast again in ghee until aromatic. Do not brown them. Always keep it on medium-low heat!!
- Use powdered granulated sugar. The confectioner sugar doesn't work that well here.
- Make ladoos while the mixture is still warm.
- If you feel that the ladoo is crumbling then add some more ghee and mix again. Then form the balls.
- If you add too much ghee then you may notice the balls don't retain their round shape and fall flat. Don't worry let them set/harden a bit at room temp or in the refrigerator for a few minutes and then reshape them. They should hold the shape now.
beautiful laddus..delicious!!
Wishing u a very happy Diwali,Shweta 🙂
Awesome ladoos. Love it