Putnala/Dalia/Roasted Chickpeas Laddu

I made these dalia laddus a couple of weeks ago when I wanted something sweet and had little time on hand. I had originally not intended on including coconut in the recipe but I only had 11/2 cups of dalia and when I added them to my the jaggery syrup it looked a little runny and I frantically started looking in the cabinets for something to thicken it up. I found coconut. I used the shredded coconut found in the baking aisle. You could substitute that either with dried chopped coconut (if you like the coconut crunch) or the coconut powder you get in the Indian stores. You can omit the coconut completely and just use about 2 cups of dalia.

Software
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• 2 cups dalia/putnalu
• 1 cup jaggery/bellam/gur
• 2 caradamom pods, de-seeded and powdered
• 4-5 tbsp coconut powder/shredded coconut used for baking
• approx. 1/3 cup water

Hardware
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One saucepan

Method
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• Put the saucepan on low heat, add the jaggery add just enough water to cover the jaggery, don't add any more water than necessary.
• Stir well and the jaggery should start to dissolve. Increase the heat to medium-high.After the syrup starts to bubble up, reduce the heat to low. After about 5 min, test the consistency of the syrup by dropping a drop in a bowl filled with about 1/2 inch of water. If the syrup drop retains its shape and does not disintegrate, then the syrup is ready.
• Turn off the heat, add the caradamom seed powder, coconut(if using) and the dalia. At this point, the mixture should not be runny at all, if it is add more dalia or coconut as needed.
• After it cools down a bit, put ghee/clarified butter on your palm and make lime ball size balls/laddus.

This recipe will make about 15-18 laddus. These will keep outside in an airtight container for 3-4 days.