Chocolate Laddu ~ Diwali Mithai with a Twist ~ Nutritious Ladoo for Kids

In a nutshell, this is what I did - Made a laddu from "Health mix powder" and coated it with melted chocolate. I added some more cashews and roasted gram/fried gram/ pottukadalai to the health mix powder which is predominantly Ragi! Nobody really loves Ragi/Millet so if you have to sell something with Ragi, it better have something inviting, and what's better than chocolate!!!

CHOCOLATE LADDU/LADOO

Kids would throng to it because of the outer choco covering and moms are happy because you know the secret ingredients - millet (ragi), corn, barley, wheat, cashews, roasted gram (pottu kadalai) and much more!


Let me get to the specifics quickly -

I Used -

Manna Health Mix powder

Ingredients of the Health mix powder

 

Manna Health Mix powder - 1 cup (You can also make your own kanji maavi/ sathu maavu or use any other commercially available brands)
Cashews - 1/2 cup
Roasted gram/ Fried gram / Pottukadalai/ Dalia - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1 1/2 to 2 cups
Water - to cover the sugar
Cardamom powder - a generous pinch
Ghee - 1 tsp + 1 tsp

Semi sweet chocolate/Dark chocolate - 100 g

How To -

Roast the health mix powder (sathu maavu mix) with a tsp of ghee for about 3-5 minutes on a pan.

In the mixer, make a fine powder of the cashews + fried gram (pottukadalai). I used my Indian mixie.

Mix 1 and 2 powders.

Heat a pan and add water and sugar. Add cardamom powder as well. When it reaches a certain consistency and you can see bubbles rising up for 2-3 minutes, it’s ready.  Switch off the stove. It's ok if you want to wait a few minutes for the syrup to cool down.

Take a big bowl and add the sugar syrup slowly to the powders (roasted health mix powder + cashew nut + pottukadalai powder).

First it forms some lumps. Keep adding some more sugar syrup until it all comes together into a sticky mass and you can easily form laddus. Ensure that the sugar syrup is evenly incorporated into the powders. Use gloves to do this whole process of mixing.

Apply melted ghee (the other 1 tsp; use a little for every 5 laddus) on your palms and make small laddus/balls.

   Tip : You can taste at this stage (before making laddus) to check if the sweetness level is sufficient. If too sweet, just add a little more Health mix powder and mix. If not sweet enough, then add more sugar syrup.

Healthy Laddus before coating with chocolate

 Coat the balls with slightly melted chocolate OR grated chocolate (according to the looks n texture you prefer). I melted the chocolate in a microwave for 2 minutes.

 

 

Immediately After Coating with Melted Chocolate

Keep the chocolate laddus in the fridge for atleast an hour so it doesnt stick to your hands anymore.

Chocolate Laddu/ Laddoo ready to eat!

Your nutritious chocolate laddoos are ready to be devoured! :-)