These are one of the quickest to make using very few ingredients for any occasions, festivals or when you have guests home. These are made in almost all South Indian states with the method being almost same. The maladu recipe shared here requires just 4 ingredients sugar, fried gram, cardamoms and ghee. Fried gram also known as roasted bengal gram is the roasted split and skinned black chickpeas. These are mostly used to make chutney, curries and eaten as a snack. I have also used cashews in these maa laddu which are not used by many as they prefer the mouth melting texture. These can also be made with jaggery. The method to use jaggery is slightly different and does not require so much ghee. I have also shared that in the tips below. But use good quality jaggery powder or grated jaggery that does not have any impurities as we don’t melt the jaggery and don’t filter. At home we also make another kind of these fried gram ladoo with jaggery, other ingredients like peanuts and copra. These are called as thambittu unde & are offered to god during Naga panchami and ganesh chaturthi. For more ladoo recipes, you can checkCoconut ladooBesan ladooRava ladoo

How to make maladu

  1. Add sugar and cardamoms to a blender jar. It is good to use seeds than the entire cardamom pods.
  2. Make a fine powder.
  3. Transfer this to a bowl. If you are using a bigger jar, you can just keep it in the jar.
  4. Add fried gram.
  5. Make a fine powder. You may need to scrape the sides and blend again to make very fine powder. Make sure sugar and fried gram turn to a very fine powder.
  6. Set this aside together with the sugar.
  7. Heat 1/4 cup ghee and fry cashews lightly if using. The ghee turns very hot.
  8. Add the flour and powdered sugar. Off the stove.
  9. Begin to mix well. The mixture turn really hot and begins to emit a nice aroma. At this stage the flour must get coated with the ghee well. If you see dry powder, just go on mixing. Sugar begins to melt and helps to bind the flour well. If you see any dry flour, then immediately add 1 tbsp more ghee and mix. Then add another tbsp if needed. I used 2 tbsp extra ghee apart from 1/4 cup.
  10. Allow the mixture to cool down a bit. When it is still warm take small portions of this and make balls. You don’t need to grease your palms. Do not allow to cool down completely. Store maladu in a air tight jar. These keep good for about a month in air tight jars if handled with dry hands.

Tips to make maa laddu

Related Recipes

Recipe card

Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 64Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 22Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 35Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 89Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 8Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 98Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 97Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 12Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 34Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 14Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 5Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 55Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 99Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 53Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 14Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 29Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 14Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 73Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 28Maladu recipe Fried gram or roasted gram ladoo recipe - 42