Groundnut Laddoos ~ Peanut Balls Neivedyam for Ganesh Chaturti!

During our recent trip to my sil home, my elder sil had made us these yummy Groundnut laddos along with Sesame laddos. Both were simply out of the world tasting! Though we make Sesame Ladoos for all Ganesh Chaturti, I don't remember Amma making the Peanut laddos that often. Though we literally rock and roll in peanuts. We love everything with Peanuts! So you can imagine my surprise at realizing that I haven't actually made these laddos till now.

We decided that for this year's Vinayaka Chaturti, this is what we are going to make. And yes after the hectic traveling from Tirumala, these laddos and payasam was easy to make. With the kids running around crazy, Athamma and I had to struggle getting these things ready for the pooja. I had asked Amma to get us the Ganesh idol, so Konda missed the chance of shopping for the pooja. We get the usual things along with the Idol, the fruits and flowers specially for this pooja.

Since some of you wanted to see more pictures of Tirumala Temple, you can check out my memories of the Trip in my other blog!

Though I had already blogged on Rice balls, this time these were done differently and hence look different too. Finally we were able to make Peanut Laddos, Sesame Laddos, Rice Flour Laddoos, Senaga pappu Payasam and few more things..With so many sweets I was sorely missing the gugulus. We normally make Channa Sundal but didn't have time to soak them.

Groundnut Laddoos ~ Peanut Balls

Groundnut Laddos ~ Peanut Balls Recipe

Roasted Peanuts - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Ghee - 3 -4 tbsp
Cardamom powder a pinch (optional)

Method to prepare:

• Dry roast the peanuts in a pan, till they are well cooked. You can know they are done when the outer skin starts having black spots. The technique lies in rotating the peanuts well and not allowing them to rest on the hot kadai. This way they get cooked by the heat at the same time not get burnt.
• Cool and remove the skin.
• Grate the jaggary and take both peanuts and jaggary in a mixie and process it for couple of times. You can run it till you get a good solid texture. If you want it to be a bit coarse, you can remove after couple of pluses.
• Remove to a bowl, add hot ghee. Mix the mixture with spoon and after couple of minutes, take a handful and see if you can hold them as balls. If the mixture holds its shape well, you can continue making the laddos. Else add some more ghee and continue till it gets over.
• We can add the cardamom after you make a powder of both peanuts and jaggary.
• These laddus normally stays good over a week when stored in an air tight container.
  
  Note: Normally in most dishes, I melt the jaggary to remove the impurities, but since in this ladus, its not possible, I buy the ones that are more white and usually comes in molded shape. The Jaggary that sold as a ball has some impurities.
  

Hope you all had a great Festive day!