Dink Ladoo (Antina Unde)

It has been quite a while again since my last post and I did promise myself that I will try to maintain the flow of posts this time but my health just wouldn't let me keep it up. I am still recovering from a viral fever that saw me tucked up in the bed for most of last week and is still making me feel like lying down everytime I think of doing something! But being bound to sit does give you a little spare time on hand and I am utilising it by typing this much needed post for the blog.

While there were quite a few posts waiting to be published here, I am starting off this year with a basic and traditional recipe. Dink Ladoo, in Marathi or Antina Unde(Kannada) is almost exclusively (I think!) associated with the post pregnancy care since it is packed with essential nutrients. I can still remember my mum making them for me and insisting, quite forcefully, that I eat at least two of these everyday.

But Dink Ladoo is definitely not only about that. It has a lot more going for it since it is delicious as well as being nutritious. This is one sweet that you will not feel guilty about, after having consumed one. Now there are various versions of this Ladoo but what I am giving here is the basic and traditional way they are made at home, which means I haven't used any nuts other than what is called Godambe in Marathi and Kaer Beej in Kannada (I am not sure about the English name, does any one know?)

The original process involves roasting edible gum & then pounding it roughly. Also Kharik (dried dates) are used by pounding them into a coarse powder too. I made my life a bit simpler by bringing both these items already powdered. Believe it or not, you can get almost everything prepared for you these days, all you have to do is get all the ingredients home, assemble and then enjoy the ‘home-made’ stuff.

 

Dink Ladoo (Antina Unde)

Makes about 12-15 medium sized Ladoos

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Dink (Edible gum) (I used powder*)
• 1 cup Kharik (dry dates) Powder*
• 1.5 cups dry coconut, grated
• 1/4 cup Khus Khus (Poppy Seeds)
• 1/4 Cup Godambe (Kaer Beej), roughly crushed
• 2 tblsp Ghee (Clarified Butter)
• 1 cup jaggery, grated

Method:

Take 1 tblsp of ghee in a thick bottomed kadai. Once it melts, roast or fry the edible gum in it for about 2-3 minutes till it darkens a bit and fluffs up. Drain and collect in a big bowl.

Next dry roast all the other ingredients except for the Jaggery and add them to the same bowl and mix properly.

In the same kadai, melt the remaining 1 tblsp of ghee and add the jaggery to it. Keep the flame low and heat this until all the jaggery has melted,

Switch off the heat and add all the roasted ingredients to the melted jaggery. Mix well to form a sticky mixture.

Pinch off small portions and shape them into ladoos while the mixture is still hot/warm. If the mixture goes cold or if you find it hard to shape it, warm it a bit on the flame and continue. You can also add a teaspoon or two of ghee if requi9red, although there is enough ghee already in the mixture.

You can add other nuts such as Cashew, Almonds etc instead of or in addition to Godambe. Follow the same procedure as for Godambe.

* In case you dont find the powders, whole dry dates and edible gum. For the gum, fry in the ghee and then coarsely powder it. For the dry dates, break them into pieces and discard the seed. Dry roast it slightly and then pound into a coarse powder.