Til Ke Laddo Til Phugga-Happy Makar Sankranti -Homemade and Microwaved...

As the Sun transmigrates and begins its ascendancy and entry into the Northern hemisphere, let all your lives be filled with resplendent joy and may you all have an year of success and prosperity. Happy Makar Sankranti...

Happiness and sunshine..
OK ,I may be a little late... OK,I may be a lot late.... But I am here. I am not cribbing about the cold...that is being done to death... I am cribbing about the binging that the cold is making me do. I hope it is making a lot others do too... Its cold and I feel peckish ...like always!
Like a bird ,I peck on seeds, but my appetite is positively garangutan compared to a birds appetite...
The worst part about Ranchi , was that there never was much available to binge ,so I baked and made and binged.
Here, there is so much...
That I now need to make the gym my second home,seeing that my new home is not yet ready for us to move into..
That explains my sorry state on the blog list...
I'm barely managing to make the daily food...
So, these are pictures from my past...
well, only the last months in Ranchi...
I was preparing...
Til Phugga or Bhugga...whatever you call it ...
Supposed to be auspicious, healthy,sesame seeds and milk and nuts...
Wow!
The ancients preferred to ignore the sugar and the cholesterol causing khoya...
Ignorance is bliss!!
And life was blissful then!
Essentially they are til laddoos made with sesame seed and Khoya(reduced milk).
Amazingly yummy-as Sanskriti says...yummilicious!!
There was this big brouhaha about the khoya and adulteration...so we skipped that and used condensed milk instead.
Condensed milk and milk powder.
Simple.
And microwaved!
for the
Til ke Laddo Til Phugga-Happy Makar Sankranti -Homemade and Microwaved...

you need
1/2 cup or 75 gms milk powder
1 can or 400 mils condensed milk we used MILKMAID
1/2 cup sugar ground with 2 green cardamom
1/2 cup white sesame seeds
handful of nuts and raisins
A little ghee to grease your hands
A little extra sesame roasted and coarsely pounded to roll the laddoos in
Measured out the milk powder in a microwave safe bowl.
You can do this in a pan on the gas...but whatever...If you do, take a heavy bottomed pan and cook on a medium to low flame.Keep stirring and cook till this all comes together like a ball...
Then do the rolling...
All the condensed milk in..
The sugar and the cardamom...
The til or sesame seeds, dry roasted in a pan, cooled and just buzzed in the mixie...don't powder the seeds you want the crunch.
Mix all the stuff well and nuke or microwave at 80%...you need to stir every two minutes...
Add in the nuts and raisins midway...
The total nuking time will be about 16 -20 minutes...take out a  little on a teaspoon,when a little cool ,see if you can make a ball and it holds shape...its done then...
If it does not hold shape, you need to cook it a little further...
You can pour it out on a greased thali or plate to set it, or cool it in this bowl itself...
We wanted authentic laddoos...
Grease your hands with ghee or oil and roll..
Warmth comforting little balls in the hand...roll the in the extra sesame ...
This was one of the last things that I made with friends Ritu Sharma and Kanchan Bhartari in Ranchi...
Sweet memories indeed.
Enjoy with a cup of hot ginger laced tea in front of a bonfire...
Happy new year...
Makar Sankrant is the Hindu new year...
Wish the new year is as sweet as this laddoo...
So what are you baking today???