Chickpea Pearl Truffles - Motichoor Laddu
A delectable and irresistible dessert from India, Motichoor laddu is a melt-in-mouth truffle made with fried chickpea pearls (boondhi) colored with turmeric and flavored with edible camphor, cardamom and cloves.
Ingredients
For Batter
- 1 cup chickpea flour
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 tsp ghee
- Turmeric powder for color, a pinch
For sugar syrup
- 1.5 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup water
- Turmeric powder for color, a pinch
- Edible camphor a pinch
- 3/4 tbsp ghee
- Lemon juice 2 drops
- 3 cardamom
- 1/4 cup sliced pistachio
- Oil/ ghee for frying
Instructions
- Prepare the batter
- Mix together chickpea flour, ghee and turmeric powder in a bowl. Add little by little water to the flour and mix without lumps. Make a medium thin batter.
- Cover and let it rest for 20 minutes. Add a little more water (after 20 minutes) if it becomes thick upon resting.
- Heat oil / ghee in a pan on high. For making the boondi (pearls), you will need a perforated ladle with many small holes.Keep good care not to burn your hands.
- Hold the ladle 1.5 inches above the hot oil in the pan. Pour half cup batter into the ladle and gently tap on the ladle. The batter will drop through the holes into the hot oil.
- Since the droplets are falling to super hot oil, it will get fried immediately. So take out the boondi (pearl droplets) from the oil with a strainer before it changes the color (don't over fry).
- Continue with the remaining batter. After all the droplets are fried, let it rest for 20 minutes.
- Make the sugar syrup
- In a pan mix the water, sugar, ghee, turmeric powder and lemon juice. Heat on medium flame until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Now reduce the heat to very low. Add the fried droplets into the sugar syrup. Add the edible camphor and mix well.
- Cook it in very low flame until all the syrup is completely absorbed and the boondi (droplets) just leave the sides of the pan.
- Remove from heat. Powder the cardamom and cloves and add into the boondi-syrup mixture.
- Add the sliced pistachios and mix well to combine. Let it cool down.
- When the mix is cool enough to handle, make it into small lemon size balls. The melt in mouth truffles are ready.
- Let it sit for 4- 5 hours before serving.