Moong Dal Laddu
When it comes to ladoo, this Moong Dal Laddu is a personal favorite. More so, because it is one of those delicious sweet offerings that I can make during Krishna Janmashtami as well. It’s not difficult, requires minimal ingredients and gets done within minutes. Moong Dal Ladoo is obviously made with husked, split moong lentils along with ghee, sugar and some flavoring with green cardamoms. These ladoo are quite addictive too, try ‘em to know.
About Moong Dal Laddu
Moong Dal Laddu is a classic, traditional sweet from the Andhra cuisine and also called Pesara Sunnundalu in Telugu language. These are protein rich sweet balls made with mung lentils flour, ghee, nuts and sweetened with sugar or jaggery.
The recipe of this Moong Dal Ladoo is similar to that of the Urad Dal Laddu which is again a special and unique sweet from Andhra. Though, the ladoo made with urad dal taste different, the flavor of the ones made with moong dal taste like another all-time favorite Besan Ladoo.
So, if you are a regular in making ladoo with besan for your festive occasions, then for a change, try the Moong Dal Laddu this time. I’m sure you, along with everyone you’ll serve it to, is going to love it. It will become a preferred one at your place, soon.
One very important thing that I want to bring to your notice is that it is important to roast the lentils or dals well, while making any lentil based ladoo.
Same is for this Moong Dal Ladoo as well. So, it is apt to use a thick bottomed pan or wok or kadai, so that the dal roasts evenly and as desired.
As I mentioned earlier, the Moong Dal Laddu is also great as a prasad or naivedyam offering to the deities. Other than this, it’s a perfect sweet snack, which is quite nutritious too and can be packed in tiffin boxes.
You can make about 9 to 10 ladoo with this recipe of mine, which can be double for making more number of ladoo. After preparing, I usually keep these ladoo at room temperature for a few days.
You can pack in airtight jars and refrigerate too. Although storing in the refrigerator turns the ladoo denser as the ghee solidifies.
How to make Moong Dal Laddu
Make Moong Dal Flour
1. Heat a thick bottomed pan or kadai or work on a low flame. Then, add 1 cup moong dal (husked and split mung lentils) in it.
If you want you can rinse the moong dal first. Spread the lentils on a plate/tray/cloth. Dry the lentils naturally or in sunlight. Once the lentils have dried, then add them in the kadai. If you want, you can add directly too.
2. Keep the heat to low or sim and begin to roast the moong dal.
3. Continue to stir often while roasting.
4. Keep on roasting and stirring for even browning and cooking.
5. The dal needs to be golden and become fragrant. Keep on stirring without a break once the lentils begun to get light golden.
Also as I have mentioned before, use a thick bottomed pan or kadai. If the pan or kadai is not heavy or has a heavy base, then the moong dal will get browned too fast with uneven cooking and roasting.
6. This is the moong dal after 11 minutes of roasting.
7. Remove the roasted lentils in a plate and let them cool.
8. Once the lentils have become warm or cooled down, add them in a grinder jar.
9. Grind to a fine flour.
10. Now, take the moong dal flour in a fine sieve.
11. Begin to sift the flour on a plate, tray, large bowl or pan. Here are some of the moong dal grits remaining.
You can add these to rice, upma, dal or even veggies while cooking. Do use a fine sieve, otherwise you will get a gritty and grainy texture in the ladoo.
12. Keep the sifted moong dal flour aside.
13. In the same grinder, add ⅓ cup sugar and cardamom seeds from 2 to 3 green cardamom pods.
14. Grind sugar to a fine powder.
Make Ladoo Mixture
15. Add the powdered sugar to the moong dal flour. If you want, you can even sift the sugar and then add.
16. Mix very well.
17. Now, melt ¼ cup ghee in a pan. You just need to melt the ghee and not heat it.
If adding dry fruits or nuts like raisins, almonds or cashews – you can add some sliced or chopped dry fruits at this step and sauté till they become light golden.
18. Add the melted ghee to moong dal flour-sugar mixture.
19. Mix very well with a spatula or spoon.
20. Let this mixture become warm or cool down.
21. Then, mix again very well with your hands.
22. You can see here a dough being formed, when the mixture is getting mixed.
Make Moong Dal Laddu
23. Then, start taking portions of the mixture and shaping to a neat round ball. If you are not able to make the ladoo, then allow the mixture to cool for some more time at room temperature.
The ladoo should be smooth. If the mixture looks dry or the laddu has cracks, then add 1 to 2 tablespoons more ghee. Mix again and begin to make balls.
24. Prepare more ladoo like this with the rest of the mixture.
25. You can offer Moong Dal Laddu to the deities as naivedyam or serve to your family. Store the remaining ladoo in an air tight box or jar and keep at room temperature or refrigerate.
More With Moong Dal
If you though that moong dal was only capable of giving you more dishes in the salty or savory category, then you’re quite wrong. For instance, take a look at this Moong Dal Ladoo itself. It is a sweet, and a really amazing one.
Just like this ladoo, here are some more sweet dishes where the hero ingredient is our humble moong dal. You really can’t miss trying on each of these.
- Moong Dal Halwa – This is one of the quintessential, rich halwa from North India. Yes, it is heavy and sinful because of the quantity of ghee and sugar that goes in its preparation. But after all, what’s life without a bit of a binge at times. Plus, that then automatically becomes the motivation for you to exercise or run a few extra miles!
- Pasi Paruppu Payasam – Talk of moong dal or any other dal for that matter, and you can’t really go ahead without mentioning their use in making luscious South Indian desserts. This creamy and decadent moong dal payasam is just that. It is vegan and quite hearty as well because it mainly uses moong lentils, coconut milk and jaggery.
- Sweet Pongal – Come Pongal, the harvest festival in South India; come Pongal, its namesake dish. This recipe is a sweet version, which is basically a porridge of rice and moong lentils, flavored with cardamom and dry fruits. This variation is also called the Sakkarai or Chakkara Pongal whereas the savory one is known as Venn Pongal.
Expert Tips
- Before beginning to roast the moong lentils, you can rinse it as well, just to be sure that it is free of any stones or other particles. After rinsing, spread the moong dal on a tray and let it dry naturally or in sunlight before adding to the pan.
- Always use a heavy bottomed kadai or pan to roast the dal. If it is not so, then the lentils with brown quickly with uneven cooking/roasting. Half roasted moong dal can give stomach aches.
- After sifting the ground moong dal, there may be some grits remaining in the sieve. Use these in your dal, rice, upma or veggies while cooking. Makes them more nutritious.
- If you are adding chopped nuts or dry fruits in these ladoo, fry them in the ghee till light golden. Remove and keep aside. This is before adding the moong dal-sugar mixture to the ghee.
Step by Step Photo Guide Above
Ingredients
- 200 grams moong dal or 1 cup moong dal (husked and split mung lentils)
- 75 grams sugar or ⅓ cup sugar, (I used raw sugar)
- 55 grams Ghee or ¼ cup ghee (clarified butter)
- 2 to 3 green cardamoms
Instructions
Roasting and preparing moong dal flour
- Heat a thick bottomed pan or kadai on a low flame. Then add moong dal.
- If you want you can rinse the moong dal first. Spread the lentils on a plate or tray or on a cloth.
- Dry the moong dal naturally or in sunlight. Once the mung lentils have dried, then add them to the wok or kadai. If you want you can add directly too.
- Keep the flame on low or sim and begin to roast the moong dal.
- Continue to stir often while roasting. Keep on roasting and stirring for even browning and cooking.
- The moong dal needs to be golden and become aromatic. Use a thick bottomed pan or kadai.
- If the pan or kadai is not heavy or has a heavy base, then the moong dal will get browned too fast with uneven cooking and roasting.
- Remove the dal in a plate and let it cool.
- Once the lentils have become warm or cooled down, add them in a grinder jar.
- Grind to a fine flour.
- Now take the moong dal flour in a fine seive.
- Begin to sift the flour on a plate or tray or a large bowl or pan.
- Keep the sifted moong dal flour aside.
Grinding sugar
- In the same grinder, add ⅓ cup sugar. Also add cardamom seeds removed from 2 to 3 green cardamom pods.
- Grind sugar to a fine powder.
Making moong dal ladoo
- Add the powdered sugar to the moong dal flour. If you want you can even sift the sugar and then add. Mix very well.
- Melt ¼ cup ghee in a pan. You just need to melt the ghee and not heat it.
- If adding dry fruits, you can add some sliced or chopped dry fruits at this step and saute them in ghee till they become light golden.
- Add the melted ghee to moong dal flour and sugar mixture.
- Mix very well with a spatula or spoon.
- Let this mixture become warm or cool.
- Then mix again very well with your hands.
- Now start shaping portions of the mixture into neat round balls. If you are not able to make the ladoo, then allow to cool for some more time at room temperature.
- Prepare ladoo like this with all of the mixture.
- You can offer these Moong Dal Laddu to the deities as naivedyam or serve to your family.
- Store the remaining Moong Dal Ladoo in an air tight box or jar and keep at room temperature or refrigerate.
Notes
- Use yellow moong lentils that are within their shelf-period.
- You can also use jaggery to make these laddu. Try to use the softer variety of jaggery. If you use jaggery powder, then grind it to a fine powder in a mixer-grinder before adding to the moong dal flour.
- In case if you are not able to shape into laddu, add a few tablespoons of melted ghee to the mixture. Mix well with a spoon and let the mixture cool a bit before you start shaping into laddu.
- The recipe is scaleable to make for a smaller portion or for more servings.
- Approximate nutrition info is for 1 moong dal ladoo.
Nutrition
This Moong Dal Laddu recipe post from the blog archives first published in August 2016 has been republished and updated on 30th July 2022.
Hi Dassana
I stay in Scandinavian country, here we have limited access to all Indian sweets hence each time I choose one recipe from your portal and make yummy Indian sweets for my kids. My husband too enjoys the taste and perfect proportions.
Thank you so much for all the lovely recipes with step by step explanation and tips.
Regards
Poonam
Hi Vaidehi, nice to hear that and thanks for the lovely words and the feedback on the recipes. Cheers and Happy Cooking!
I tried this..used brown sugar instead of sugar. Rest all same.
It was not binding properly..Is the ghee measurement correct? Even if I add ghee, it was breaking…:( And was dry. Why might have gone wrong?
it is due to brown sugar. ghee measurement is correct. did you powder the brown sugar or just added directly? brown sugar even though very fine is still granulated, so any amount of ghee that is added, won’t bind the ladoo mixture. hope this helps.
Awesome , the method of all your recipes are very systematic & perfect. I am a great fan of yours. Thank you.
thanks a lot maria. most welcome.
Hi Dasanna,
Thankyou so much for this lovely recipe, this is the third time I have made it and it has come out very tasty. Infact my mother said it tastes like kandi pedhas, even my son and every one who has tasted it loves it a lot. Thankyou once again .
Wishing you Happiness and prosperity forever.
Happy Diwali in advance
welcome sonal. so glad to read your feedback on moong dal ladoo. thanks again and wish you and your family a happy and prosperous diwali now and later too.
Hi Dassana. I made this a while ago, and the mung dal did not get properly roasted, and also could not grind fine enough, so we turned them into kheer by boiling in milk 🙂
thats a good idea of making kheer. for roasting, a heavy kadai or pan always helps. thanks.
Can I use gur/ jaggery in place of sugar to make the laddus. Will the procedure following sugar be the same and also let me know the amount of jaggery one shld add. Though I like them less sweet. Thank you.
you can use jaggery in place of sugar. if the jaggery does not have impurities, then powder the jaggery or grate it. mix with the roasted moong dal flour and follow as mentioned in the recipe. you can use the same amount of jaggery as mentioned in the recipe. if using jaggery you can add less ghee.
if the jaggery has impurities, then you will need to make syrup with it by adding some water. basically you need water to just melt the jaggery. then strain the jaggery syrup. add this jaggery syrup to the moong dal flour. if using jaggery syrup, you may need less or no ghee. since the moisture from jaggery syrup will help to bind the ladoos. but with jaggery syrup, you have to be careful as the syrup should be thick and not medium or thin consistency. so you can add about 2 to 3 tablespoons water for making the syrup.
Can I make it with ready moong daal flour. If yes sud it be like basen ladoo made from gram flour? Thanks
AG
you can try. yes, it will be like besan ladoo.
Looks absolutely delicious! I’ll defnitely try them this diwali. Thanks for the great recipe, Dassana 😀
welcome aishu.
Hi Dassana! Your website is a delight to browse and recipes really great. I have tried a lot of them and they turn our fantastic.
For the laddoos I was thinking of making them and taking them home for Diwali. Just wanted to check how long can these ladoos last if stored in a cool, dry place? Thanks.
thanks aparna. these will last good for about 4 to 5 days.
Today I made this. It’s super tasty and super easy. dassana really you r great. Since I got married.. i always try your recipes . They’re always successful with your perfect measurements. Thank you so much for being my cooking teacher.
thanks for sharing this urmi. nice to know that the website is helping you. all the best in your life. happy cooking.
Thanks dassana. I forgot to tell you that. .even my 1.5 yr old daughter also loves your recipes.
thats so sweet. give my love to her. welcome urmi and thanks for sharing this.
Can sugar be substituted with jaggery?
natasha, sugar can be easily substituted with jaggery.
Nice recipe,,thanks for sharing?
welcome lavanya.
Today I made moong daal ladoo.its like pinni.thanks again for easy recipe .
thank you tajinder. it is like pinni. welcome 🙂
Thanks.plz aap ye btaye k aapki harek recipes ka video h kya?agar h to plz kaise show hoga
i do not have recipe videos. only a few recipe videos i have made.
My son wheat allergic so I want to try this n other gluten free recipes of your site because all are very easy n simple.plz tell me daal roast krne or bhigone k baad ladoo bnaye to taste same hoga.
thanks tajinder. there is no need to soak dal. just rinse the dal for a couple of times in water. then let the dal dry on a cloth or in a plate in shade or sun till completely dry. then roast the dal in a pan. then grind the dal.
I love your site Dasanna! Just going through all the recipes. You explain so well. Thanks again!!
welcome sheela, thanks for positive views 🙂
These laddus look fabulous! thanks for the recipe. I have stalked this blog since a long time, but commenting for the first time. Thank you so much for your step by step recipes, my mom is a fan too 🙂
I had a question, my child is allergic to ghee 🙁 what I can substitute for ghee in this recipe?
thanks chinu’s mom. give my regards to your mom too. there is no substitute for ghee. but you can use some dry fruits or seeds and use their fat/oil to bind the ladoos. if your child is not allergic to butter, then you can use unsalted butter. coconut oil is another fat that can be used. but with coconut oil one has to be careful as too much can give too much coconut smell in the ladoos.
i would suggest you to for nuts and seeds option. roast sesame seeds, peanuts, almonds or cashews or desiccated coconut. you can even use soft dates. but dates need not be dry roasted. after roasting, let them cool down and then add them in a grinder jar and grind to a powder till you get the consistency where you can see some fat releasing from them. for reference you can check this post on peanut ladoo – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/peanut-ladoo-recipe/
do not grind too much. then add this mixture to the moong dal flour and then bind. the fats/oils from the nuts and seeds will help in binding. you can add your choice of nuts and seeds. you do not need to add everything i have mentioned. basically any nuts can be added like walnuts, pine nuts, pistachios.
wow that was and intelligent substitute Dassana. I have made your peanut laddus many a times and my husband loves them! They are so fast to make too. Really, one just needs to follow your steps and instructions with precision and one gets fantastic dishes in no time 🙂
pleased to know this ritu thanks for positive views 🙂