Rava laddu is a festive sweet of delicious balls made with semolina (cream of wheat), sugar, ghee (clarified butter), nuts and flavored with ground cardamom. While there are many variations of making this popular Indian sweet, I share an easy Rava Laddu recipe that gets made quickly and tastes awesome. Learn how to make perfect Rava Laddu with my step-by-step photos and video.
Table of Contents
About Rava Laddu
It is a very popular and decadent Indian sweet made during festivals like Diwali, Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi etc. Basically these are sweetened semolina balls. In Hindi, this sweet is called suji ke laddu. Since rava is known as sooji or suji in Hindi.
Here I am sharing a Maharashtrian style recipe that I had learned from my aunt. This is an easy, quick and tasty recipe that does not take much time. Thus for festivals like Diwali, this suji ke ladoo recipe is apt as it can be easily made in less time.
This recipe does not utilize the consistency of sugar syrup. With sugar syrup consistencies, things can go wrong and you may get ladoo that can be brittle, chewy or hard.
So these rava ladoo made without sugar syrup are very easy to make and foolproof too. Even a beginner can make these laddu easily.
In the recipe, I have added fresh coconut. You can even use desiccated coconut or grated dry copra instead of fresh coconut. Coconut can be skipped too.
I have shared below some tips and faqs (after the step-by-step guide) to make really best homemade rava laddu.
How to make Rava Laddu
Roasting rava
1. Heat 1 tablespoon ghee in a heavy pan or kadai. Keep the heat to medium and let the ghee melt.
2. Once the ghee has melted, lower the heat and add 1 heaped cup fine rava (185 grams). Use the fine variety of rava.
3. Mix rava very well with the ghee with a spatula or large spoon.
4. Stir often and begin to roast rava on a low heat.
5. Continue to roast rava till the rava become fragrant and changes its color. No need to brown the rava. The texture will also appear crumbly, loose and light.
Roasting rava takes about 10 to 12 minutes on low heat. Once the rava becomes hot, then you have to stir non-stop so that the rava does not get browned or burnt
6. Once the rava has roasted well, then add 6 tablespoons grated fresh coconut. You can also add desiccated coconut instead of fresh coconut.
Omit coconut if you don’t have it or you don’t want to use it.
7. Stir and roast for about one to two minutes on a low heat.
8. Now keep the pan on the kitchen counter and let the laddu mixture cool at room temperature.
Blending Roasted Rava Mixture
9. When the laddu mixture had cooled, take ½ cup sugar (120 grams) in a grinder jar or a blender.
10. Blend or grind the sugar to a fine powder. Now do not open the lid. Wait for a few minutes. If you open the lid immediately, you will see some sugar powder drifting in the air.
11. To the powdered sugar in the jar, add the roasted rava and coconut mixture.
12. Grind or blend to a semi-fine or fine texture. I usually grind to an almost fine texture. Keep the grinder jar aside.
Frying dry fruits
13. In the same pan, in which rava was roasted heat 3 tablespoons ghee on a low to medium-low heat.
14. Add 3 tablespoons of chopped nuts. You can add almonds, pistachios, cashews or any nuts you like.
15. Fry the nuts in the ghee stirring often.
16. Fry till they start to become golden.
17. Then add 1 tablespoon raisins.
18. Stirring often fry the raisins till they plump and swell in size.
19. Switch off heat and keep the pan on the kitchen counter.
Making rava laddu
20. Add the ground rava+coconut+sugar mixture directly from the grinder jar or blender jar to the pan containing the fried nuts and hot ghee. The ghee should be hot when you add the powdered rava mixture.
21. Mix very well with a spoon or spatula. Don’t mix with hands as the ghee is hot.
22. Add ½ teaspoon cardamom powder.
23. Mix again very well and then wait for the rava laddu mixture to become lightly warm or completely cooled at room temperature.
If unable to form ladoo, then add 2 to 3 teaspoons of softened ghee. In case ladoo don’t hold shape and flatten, then keep mixture in fridge for 20 to 30 minutes and then shape them.
24. When ladoo mixture becomes warm or cools, then take some portion of the mixture in your palms and shape into round balls which we call as ladoo.
25. Make laddu with the entire mixture. Keep them in an air-tight steel jar. This recipe makes for 12 rava laddu and can be easily doubled or tripled to make a big batch. The roasting time for rava will increase if the recipe is doubled or tripled.
26. Serve rava laddu as a festive sweet or as an sweet snack. Store them in the fridge in a covered container.
Tips on roasting rava
Undeniably rava or sooji is the main ingredient in this ladoo recipe. So it is very important that you roast rava like a pro. After all you don’t want half-cooked, half-raw rava granules in the ladoo which can give you stomach problems later.
So to roast rava like a pro, you don’t need to be a master chef. You can easily roast rava very well, even if you are roasting it for the first time. A few pointers below to help you understand the intricacies of roasting rava:
- Firstly use a nice heavy pan or kadai. You don’t want your rava getting burnt and having uneven speckled laddu with creamish, brown and black specks.
- Secondly, keep the heat to a low or medium-low. Heat the pan. Melt some ghee. Add the rava and stir and stir and stir.
- You have to stir initially a few times but later non-stop when the rava becomes hot. As if you don’t stir, the rava granules which are in direct contact with the pan, will start getting browned and burnt.
- The foremost sign that the rava has roasted will be its aroma. Yes you can feel the aroma in your kitchen. It is a pleasant aroma.
- The second sign will be that the rava granules will look separated and dry – like a crumbly mixture which is loose and light. In Hindi we have the word ‘danedaar’ which means each granule looks distinct and separated.
- The third sign is that you will see steam coming from the rava. This means that the rava has become hot. After you can see some steam coming, you can continue to roast for a few more minutes, but stir non-stop.
- Later keep the pan on your kitchen counter. The residue heat from the pan will further cook the rava a bit. Stir once or twice after you keep the pan, so that the heat of the pan does not brown the rava.
Rava Ladoo FAQs
For rava laddu, always use rava which is fine and not coarse. Please do not use rava which is larger in size and coarse. Also, make sure that the rava is within its shelf life and does not have any worms or molds.
If the laddu does not hold shape, it means the mixture is dry. Ghee is the binding ingredient here. Thus add a few tablespoons of melted ghee (2 to 3 teaspoons) in the laddu mixture. Mix again and then form the laddu.
In this scenario, the ghee has become slightly more. You can do either of the
following remedial measures:
1. Roast some rava separately (about 2 to 3 tablespoons). Powder it and then add to the mixture.
2. Another easy option is to keep the laddu mixture in fridge for about 20 to 30 minutes. The ghee will solidify a bit and then you can shape the mixture in laddu.
Yes you can skip frying dry fruits but do add the 3 tablespoons ghee that is used for frying dry fruits. Melt the ghee and then add.
Yes, of course, you can easily halve or double or triple this recipe to make a large batch for Indian festivals.
To make a vegan version of these laddu, use coconut oil. The reason being coconut oil solidifies on cooling and this helps in binding the laddu. But with coconut oil, also remember that the aroma of it will be present in the laddu.
In this recipe since fresh coconut is used, they do not have a longer shelf life. Also refrigerate once you have made them.
Keep them airtight in a steel box and refrigerate them. If you use desiccated coconut, then the shelf life will be more and you can keep the laddu at room temperature for a few days.
To make rava ladoo with jaggery you need to use either powdered or grated jaggery. Use the jaggery which has no impurities.
If there are impurities, you will need to make a syrup of jaggery with very little water. But there should be no thread consistency in the jaggery syrup. Mix jaggery in a bit of hot water till it dissolves. Then filter it and then add to powdered rava.
If using jaggery powder or chopped jaggery without impurities, then powder it first in a mixer grinder. Then add it to rava+coconut mixture and powder everything together – just like it is done in this recipe.
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Rava Laddu
By Dassana Amit
Ingredients
for roasting rava
- 1 tablespoon Ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 cup heaped fine rava (sooji or semolina) or 185 grams rava
- 6 tablespoons fresh grated coconut or desiccated coconut
other ingredients
- ½ cup sugar – 120 grams or add as per taste
- 3 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter)
- 3 tablespoons chopped nuts like cashews, almonds, pistachios
- 1 tablespoon golden raisins
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder – or 5 to 6 green cardamoms seeds crushed to a powder in a mortar-pestle or coffee grinder
Instructions
Roasting rava
- Heat 1 tablespoon ghee in a heavy pan or kadai. Keep the flame to medium and let the ghee melt.
- Once the ghee has melted, lower the flame and add 1 heaped cup fine rava. use the fine variety of rava.
- Mix rava very well with the ghee. stir often and begin to roast rava on a low flame.
- Continue to roast rava till the rava become fragrant and changes its color. No need to brown the rava. The texture will also appear crumbly, loose and light. Roasting rava takes about 10 to 12 minutes on a low flame.
- Once the rava becomes hot, then you have to stir non-stop so that the rava does not get browned or burnt.
- Once the rava is roasted well, then add 6 tablespoons grated fresh coconut. You can also add desiccated coconut instead of fresh coconut.
- Stir and roast for about one to two minutes on a low flame.
- Now keep the pan on the kitchen counter and let the laddu mixture cool at room temperature.
Grinding
- When the laddu mixture had cooled, take ½ cup sugar in a grinder jar.
- Grind the sugar to a fine powder. Now do not open the lid. Wait for a few minutes. If you open the lid immediately after grinding, you will some of the sugar powder drifting in the air.
- To the powdered sugar in the jar, add the rava+coconut mixture.
- Grind to a semi-fine or fine texture. Keep the grinder jar aside.
Frying dry fruits
- In the same pan, in which rava was roasted heat 3 tablespoons ghee on a low to medium-low flame.
- Add 3 tablespoons chopped nuts. You can add almonds, pistachios, cashews or any nuts you like.
- Fry the nuts in the ghee till they start to become golden.
- Then add 1 tablespoon raisins. stirring often fry the raisins till they plump and swell in size.
- Switch off flame and keep the pan on the kitchen counter.
Making rava laddu
- Add the ground rava+coconut+sugar mixture directly from the grinder jar. the ghee should be hot when you add the powdered rava mixture.
- Mix very well with a spoon or spatula.
- Add ½ teaspoon cardamom powder.
- Mix again very well and then wait for the laddu mixture to become lightly warm or completely cooled at room temperature. If unable to form ladoo, then add 2 to 3 teaspoons of melted ghee. In case ladoo don’t hold shape and flatten, then keep the mixture in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes and then shape in rava ladoo.
- Then take some portion of the mixture in your palms and shape into round balls which we call as ladoo.
- Make rava laddu with the entire mixture. Keep them in an air-tight steel jar.
- Serve rava laddu as a festive sweet or as an evening sweet snack. Store them in the fridge in air tight container.
Video
Notes
- Rava laddu recipe can be halved or doubled or tripled.
- You can add less or more sugar as per your requirements, but do not add less ghee.
- The coconut can be skipped. But it gives a good flavor.
- Use the finer variety of rava.
- You can add nuts and dry fruits of your choice. Raisins and almonds give a good taste.
- Remember to roast the rava well. Kindly read the tips on roasting rava below the step by step photos in the post.
Nutrition Info Approximate values
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This Rava Laddu recipe post from the archives (originally published on October 2014) has been updated and republished on 23 Jun 2021.
Hi Dassana
Thanks for doing this awesome recipe blog. I’m a regular user of your recipes. the most amazing part is your detailed explanations and tips. you cover everything so well that if we really stick to your instructions, the results are so perfect even as a beginner. Amazing effort. Thanks a ton.
I have a doubt for this recipe. Can we use Jaggery and make these? if so, anything i should know beforehand?
Thanks
thanks a lot san. you can use jaggery. for jaggery you need to add either powdered or grated jaggery. but make sure that jaggery has no impurities. if impurities are there, you will need to make a syrup of jaggery with very little water. no consistency in the syrup. mix jaggery in a bit of hot water till it dissolves. then filter it and then add to powdered rava. if using jaggery powder or chopped jaggery then powder it first and then add rava+coconut and powder everything together – just like it is in this recipe.
Hi Dassana… I regularly follow your food blog and love your recipes.
Today I made the rawa laddus with your recipe and my family liked them a lot.
Thank you.
Welcome Meg. Glad to know that you follow the blog and like the recipes. Thanks for sharing positive feedback on rava ladoo recipe.