Diwali in India is not just the festival of lights but also the festival of sweets with each household coming up with a yummy collection of mouth watering home-made delicacies. Though traditional diwali sweets differ across the country, the laddu is one common sweet that adorns the platter of every home. It is in fact the King of Indian sweets. Made into balls with a unique blend of ingredients, laddus are luscious and simply melt in the mouth.

Laddus are mostly made with besan though it is not uncommon to make these sweet balls with other ingredients. Here are two recipes to make delicious and dainty laddus from milk and semolina. These are easy to make and will make your Diwali platter lip smacking and memorable!

Milk Laddu

Ingredients:
10 full cups and one quarter cup of rich, creamy milk
10 cardamoms, powdered
2 cups castor sugar
A pinch of saffron powder
Few drops of essence (any flavor)

Method:
1)Mix together the sugar and powdered cardamoms
2)Boil 10 cups of creamy milk in a wide vessel till it reduces to a thick, fatty mass.
3)Remove this from the fire and keep it covered with a clean cloth for a day till it becomes dry and flaky.
4)Power the above with your hands and mix it into the sugar and cardamom.
5)Add essence and saffron powder to this and make a thick dough adding a quarter cup of milk.
6)Set aside the dough for a while.
7)Shape the dough into small balls. Rub a little castor sugar on the palms while doing this to prevent sticking.
8)Delicious milk laddus are ready to brighten your day!

Semolina Laddus

Ingredients:
2 full and one half cup of semolina
4 cups sugar
350 g ghee
70 g cashew nuts
10 cardamoms, powdered

Method:
1)Fry the semolina in little ghee and powder it with the sugar.
2)Fry cashew nuts and add to the above along with cardamom powder.
3)Heat the ghee and put in a small amount of the mix above. Make into firm balls at once.
4)Repeat the same with the remaining mix and spread out yet another scrumptious sweet and celebrate!

Here are a couple of books on Diwali with sweet recipes to try out!

Buy Celebrate Diwali: With Sweets, Lights, And Fireworks from Flipkart.com

Buy Indian Sweets from Flipkart.com