Winter is all about eating and when you are grown up in a Punjabi Family, Immunity booster ladoo (also known as Pinniaa) are the delicacies that you savour throughout the cold weather.
These Ladoos are the balls full of nutrients your body requires to fight against the cold and flu in winters. These ladoos keep you cosy and warm in the chilled weather.
People invariably have a perspective that ladoos though incredibly delicious but loaded with calories. So, here are winter special ladoos recipes with a tweak that is effective for weight loss too.
Dates And Nuts Ladoo
Dry fruits can single-handedly make your winters phenomenal, as taking in a handful of them optimize your intake of antioxidants that support fighting disease-causing unrestrained radicals.
Dates and Nuts Ladoo are efficacious in weight loss. Instead of sugar or jaggery, Dates are used for the sweetness in these immunity-booster balls.
Dates Ladoo or Khajur Ladoo are instant and healthiest snacks to munch on as it has dates in enough quantity that you need not add sugar or jaggery.
Ingredients
- Dates/Khajur (without seeds)- 1 Cup
- Ghee or Clarified butter – 1 Tablespoon
- Chopped Almonds – Half Cup
- Chopped Cashews – Half Cup
- Raisins – 3 tablespoon
- Chopped Dry Coconut or Desiccated Coconut – Half Cup
- Poppy Seed/ Khus Khus
How to Make Dates & Nuts Ladoo?
- First of all, Blend seedless dates into a coarse paste without adding any water. Keep the dates paste aside.
- After that add 1 tbsp ghee to a large pan, heat it and add dry fruits to it.
- Roast on low flame until the nuts become crunchy.
- Then add 1 tsp poppy seeds and roast for 2 minutes.
- Add in the dates blend and then mix well. Fry on medium flame smashing dates to mix them uniformly with nuts.
- Saute till the dates start releasing oil. Turn off the gas and let it cool for a minute or 2.
- Don’t cool it completely, or it would not be easy to make ladoo.
- Your immunity booster ladoo is ready to serve. You can store it in an air-tight container for around a month.
Sesame Ladoo/ Til Ke Ladoo
Til ke Ladoo are delicious and healthy ladoos made with just a few ingredients i.e. sesame seeds (til), Jaggery, cardamom powder and desiccated coconut. Your vegan mates can also relish these ladoos as it doesn’t have any dairy product in them.
Moreover, Sesame ladoos are rich in iron and calcium. They keep you warm and full of energy during winters. Also, sesame seeds work magically for your skin and hair.
How to Make Sesame Ladoo/ Til Ke Ladoo?
- Dry roast hulled sesame seeds on low flame in a wide and thick-base pan until it starts spluttering and turn crunchy. keep it aside in a wide container.
- Add jaggery to the same pan with 2 tablespoons of water.
- When jaggery melts properly, you can filter it. This step is only required if there are any dust particles in the jaggery syrup.
- Continue cooking syrup with regular stirring until it becomes thick & reduces in volume.
- To check if your syrup is ready, pour a spoon of jaggery syrup into a bowl of water. The jaggery syrup must not dissolve in water.
- Once your syrup is ready, remove it from flame and quickly add roasted sesame seeds, cardamom powder and desiccated coconut. Blend it well and allow it to cool for a while.
- Dip the tip of your fingers in water and grasp a tablespoon of mixture to make a ladoo.
- You need to be slightly careful while making these ladoos and keep your hands wet to avoid burns.
Tips: Nuts and peanuts can also be added in immunity booster ladoo for extra nutrition and a nutty taste.
Desi Ghee Besan Laddoo
Desi ghee besan ladoo is undoubtedly everyone’s favourite and simplest of all. Besan Ladoos are very easy to make and extremely effective to cure a cold and flu. You only require 3 ingredients and you are done.
Ingredients:
- Besan/Gram Flour 1 cup
- Sooji/Semolina – 2 tbsp (Optional)
- Powdered Sugar – 1/2 Cup
- Desi Ghee – 2/3 Cup
- Cardamom Powder -1 tsp
How to Make Desi Ghee Besan Laddoo?
- Melt desi ghee in a pan. Roast some semolina/sooji until it turns light brown. Sooji is optional, it is just for the texture.
- Add Besan/Gram Flour, stir constantly to roast besan properly.
- Take the pan off the heat and let it cool a little for 5 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar and cardamom powder, Once the blend is not very hot. Mix nicely.
- Make medium-sized balls and serve desi ghee besan ladoo with tea in winter.
Sonth and Methi Ladoo
Sonth or Dried Ginger is among the immunity booster herbs that is renowned for its heat and healing properties. Methi or Fenugreek also holds medicinal effects, it is even incredible for hair growth. Sonth – Methi Ladoo controls blood sugar levels and cures joint pain that is the most persistent issue during winters.
This nutritious ladoo are a powerhouse of vitamins and antioxidants that are significant for pregnant women and breastfeeding moms and also helps in providing warmth to kids and aged people.
Adding nuts in immunity booster ladoo removes bad cholesterol and improves cardiac functions.
Also, Read Health Benefits of Eating Fenugreek Seed
Ingredients :
- Fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) – 100 grams
- Milk – 200 ml
- Clarified Butter (Ghee) – 250 grams
- Jaggery powder- 300 grams
- Chironji – 50 gms
- Almonds – 50 gms
- Cashew Nuts – 50 gms
- Poppy Seeds – 20 gms
- Raisins – 50 gms
- Grated desiccated coconut – 100 gms
- Dry Dates – 50 gms
- Lotus Seeds (Makhane) – 50 gms
- Roasted Bengal gram – 100 gms
- Edible Gum (Gond) – 100 gms
- Dry Ginger Powder (sonth) – 30 gms
- White Pepper Powder – 1 tsp
- Black Pepper – 8 to 10
- Cinnamon – 1 small stick
- Nutmeg powder – 1/2 tsp
How to Make Sonth and Methi Ladoo?
- Grind methi (fenugreek seeds) into a little rough powder then soak it in milk for 5-7 hours as it lessens the bitterness.
- Further, dry roast nuts in a thick bottom pan on a low flame for a minute or two and crush them coarsely. Keep aside.
- Dry roast desiccated coconut until aromatic and a little golden. Set aside.
- Dry roast Makhane (Lotus seed), chop the dried dates and put them in the blender along with black pepper and cinnamon. Make it into powder and set aside.
- Grind the roasted Bengal gram into a fine powder and keep it aside.
- Fry edible gum (Gond) a little at a time in 1/4 cup ghee over low flame, cool and crumble it into a coarse powder and set aside.
- Add remaining ghee, spare 2 tbsp of ghee, in the same pan. Roast the soaked methi on low flame, stirring frequently until it turns golden brown, separating ghee with a nice fragrance. This will take about 20-25 minutes.
- In the same pan, roast powdered Bengal gram & methi for nearly a minute.
- Turn off the flame. Add all crushed nuts, raisin, roasted coconut, lotus seed-dry dates powder, all powdered spices that ha been prepared before along with the fried gond.
- In another pan, add 2 tbsp ghee and jaggery. Let it melt while mixing continuously.
- Mix jaggery syrup into the rest of the blend with a wide strong spatula, turn the mixture over and over.
- Take little amounts of the mixture while it’s hot and make ladoos.
Ragi-Oats Coconut Ladoo
Ragi-Oats Coconut Ladoo is my personal favourite of all the ladoos. These ladoos are packed with umpteen health benefits. Moreover, ragi and milk strengthen bone density. Oats help in regulating blood sugar and promoting weight loss.
Dates are advantageous for cardiac health, whereas honey helps with digestive suffering. Coconut powder not only promotes a healthful heart but also alleviates breathing difficulties.
Ingredients :
- Finger Millet Flour (Ragi) – 1 Cup
- Powdered Jaggery – 1/4 Cup
- Roasted Peanut – 1/4 Cup
- Grated Coconut – 1/4 Cup
- 1 Pinch Of Salt
How to make Ragi-Oats Coconut Ladoo?
- Add ragi flour and salt in a bowl and sprinkle water whilst blending it.
- Mix in the coconut. Steam the mixture with coconut for around 10-15 minutes.
- Spread the prepared mixture on a tray and let it cool.
- Add jaggery flour into the flour mixture and peanuts.
- Make them into lemon-sized balls.
- Roll them over coconut for having a coconut coating over your ladoo. This step is optional.
These are the best hand-picked immunity booster ladoo that you can relish throughout the winters without worrying about gaining weight. Even, these ladoos have plentiful benefits for your health, skin and hair.
Do try these recipes and have a delectable and warm winter!
Written By: Jaspreet Kaur
