Hello everybody! Am still in "Holi" mode! While part of me misses all the fun and revelry associated with this festival in India, another part says "come on, you get to celebrate multiple times, so what if its on a smaller scale"!
The thing is, Holi fell on 27th March which was a working day. So hubby & kiddo went to work and school respectively. But then the little one had a half day and then we got to go for the Easter Egg Hunt along with a photo op with the Easter Bunny in our community. This was followed by a "mini" holi celebration of sorts with a few friends. Oh wait, there was also and accident involving a pointed pencil, an Easter egg and a rushed visit to the pediatrician to get a tiny hand bandaged (don't get me started on that!), but that was forgotten in the over all excitement of the day!
And tomorrow is another get together for some more color play followed by a potluck dinner - more masti, more magic!
Now, ghujia is a staple as far as holi is concerned for me. But since I had planned on making some for the weekend celebration, I wanted to make something else on the actual festival. The time constraint led me to think of making rava laddoos. To give it a "holi" feel, I added some food color and made tiny colorful laddoos! My little one got a real kick out of popping these small balls into his mouth :)
Generally I make these bigger, without food color. I also add some coconut and cashew nuts. But I was out of coconut and had no time to run a grocery errand. Also, couldn't add the nuts as my son is allergic to them and I had neither the time nor the patience to make two separate batches, one with and one without nuts, which is what I normally do. By all means, feel free to omit the food color and include the coconut and nuts, though to be honest, I did not really miss the coconut or the cashews!
Preparation & Cooking: 20 minutes (excluding 30 minutes cooling) Makes: 30 approx.
Ingredients:
Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1 cup
Sugar - ½ cup
Water - ¼ cup
Saffron Essence - ¼ teaspoon
Cardamom/Elaichi Powder - ¼ teaspoon
Maida/All Purpose Flour - 1 tablespoon
Ghee - 1 tablespoon
Food Color - As many as you want - a pinch of each
Method:
- Roast semolina with ghee till it turns slightly golden brown and gives off a nice aroma.
- Boil sugar, water and saffron essence till the sugar dissolves completely then add in the cardamom powder.
- Gradually add in the semolina and the maida, stirring constantly till all the sugar syrup is absorbed, making sure there are no lumps. Switch off the flame, close and keep aside for about half an hour till the mixture is cooled and is relatively thicker and easier to shape into balls.
- Separate the mixture into equal portions for the different colors, add a pinch of food color to each portion, knead and roll into smooth balls.
Voila! Colorful laddoos for a colorful festival!!