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These fudgy Coconut Ladoo are super simple, have just 5 ingredients and perfect for Indian Festivals like Diwali or Dussehra. Vegan and Gluten-free
Dussehra is just around the corner! As with every Indian festival, there are several stories around why it is celebrated and several ways to celebrate it depending on region as well. Read more about it here.
Every year, we try to keep up the cultural celebrations, and there is always this fear that eventually all will be forgotten. The nuances of each and every Pooja, the stories, the decorations, the customs etc tend to get lost with the generations. Also, with the change in our dietary choices, the discussions and celebrations tends to affected as well. Every year, I try to recreate vegan versions of some Indian sweets so if anyone is visiting, I have something to offer to them apart from fruits :). And we can continue to discuss the festivals, stories etc without getting into why we choose to not eat something or don’t we miss eating some name delicious sweet!
This year I add another Laddoo to the repertoire. This Coconut Ladoo is has shredded coconut, coconut milk, sugar and whole cardamom. Thats it. No oils, no long list of ingredients. They come together quickly and get eaten up quickly too. Happy Dussehra everyone!
Try some Indian sweets like Besan Laddoo, Kesar Burfi, Wheat Ladoo, Sooji Halwa and Kaju Katli from the blog!
Oct 2 is Fast Against Slaughter Day. Here is how you can join in.
“Most farmed animals are starved for hours, even days, as they are being transported to slaughter. In remembrance and solidarity with their tremendous suffering, lets join across the world in a Fast Against Slaughter on October 2nd.”
I will fast as much as I can that day. No food and my balance do not work very well together.
Read more about those 65 billion animals in the food industry here. And this article on the HuffPo about who is leading the fast against slaughter.
Coconut Ladoo
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut dried
- seeds from 4 to 5 cardamom pods
- 1/3 cup full fat coconut milk
- 2 tsp coconut oil
- 2/3 cup ground raw sugar or jaggery, use a Tbsp less for less sweeter
- a pinch of salt
- 2 Tbsp coconut flour
Instructions
- Grind or blend 2 cups coconut flakes in a blender or processor to make small powdery flakes. Blend a few short cycles, move the coconut around and pulse more to avoid making coconut butter. Pound the cardamom seeds in a mortar and pestle to break into a coarse mixture and mix with the coconut.
- Heat the coconut milk in a small skillet at medium heat. Add oil, sugar and salt and mix in. Bring the mixture to a bubbling boil (about 4 mins). continue to boil for another 4 minutes or until the mixture can form a half thread. (220 to 225 deg F temperature). Take off heat.
- Immediately add 1.5 cups of the shredded coconut and cardamom and mix in. Add the coconut flour and mix in. If the mixture appears too wet, let it cool for a minute, Then add more shredded coconut 2 Tbsp at a time. Do not add more than 4 Tbsp else the laddoos will be dryer. The mixture becomes less wet as it cools. Let the mixture cool for 2 minutes then shape into balls by picking up 1 to 2 Tbsp of the mixture, pressing and shaping with one hand. Roll the ball in the remaining shredded coconut and serve. Cool completely before storing. Store in an airtight container on the counter for upto 3 days or refrigerated for a week.
Notes
If you are not fond of cardamom, use other flavors like cinnamon or saffron.
Use more shredded coconut if you do not have coconut flour. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Get this recipe also in my cookbook! Now available internationally!
Is the coconut oil liquid or solid?
depends which climate you live in – but yuo’re heating it up – so it’s goign to melt anyway =)
Just made these for diwali. So happy to not miss out as a vegan. Thank you!
Excellent !!! thank you
This recipe was so easy to follow and short list of ingredients
It was a hit at my Diwali Party
celebrate good times – come on!
Love this recipe! I have done a couple variations including one with chocolate (hot cocoa powder and choc chips, left out the cardamom :))
One comment – when I use the proportions (day for 12 pieces) I get about half the ladoos. I am using a small teaspoon to measure each ladoo size. Not sure what I am doing wrong but I have to double everything up.
Thanks Ash! the recipe yields 8-10 balls so if you’re ending up with 6 i recommend using a slightly smaller spoon and a little less mixture for each one that you form.
This turned out delicious, Richa! Thank you. I substituted: almond meal for coconut flour (used double), regular canola oil for coconut oil. The ingredients for 20 pieces (in the calculator) resulted in about 15 pieces so I’ll probably use more next time.
Great!
It turned out great.
Aweesome!
Hi Richa, Can i make this ladoo with just coconut flour ie no shredded coconut?
coconut flour absorbs a lot of moisture, so you would need just a few tbsp else it would turn out too dry
Could I use coconut sugar? But I reckon the taste wont be as good as with raw sugar
it will be slightly more caramel like which is a good thing in coconut laddoos 🙂
Question: how many does the recipe make? How many would I need to make for 30 people?
makes 12.probably triple or quadruple recipe for 30 people