Nutty Ladoos and Spicy Halwa 

Every Diwali we make the  “Nuts” ladoos and the Deepavali “marundu”. Even though this year we are not celebrating Diwali, we continued the tradition and made both. While the “marundu” was made with the spice powder that dad had made in 2007… the ladoos were made by me using my current obsession OPOS (One Pot One Shot). 

My dad would make these ladoos every year and then when he passed away, Amma started making them. I would only help in rolling them and of course in eating them up. Amma would spend hours getting the sugar syrup ready, roasting the nuts and then powdering them. Today with OPOS – I made the sugar syrup in a Pressure Cooker in minutes and the whole process was so painless !! 

Here’s the recipe I used –

For the OPOS sugar syrup 

400 gms jaggery and 1/2C Water in a Pressure Cooker – kept on high for 6 whistles. I had added  10 pieces of cardamom, powdered, while making the sugar syrup.  I added 3 TBSPs of ghee on releasing pressure. 

I got Amma to dry roast the nuts – cashew, pista, almonds, peanuts. I used 750 gms of dry roasted nuts, powdered. Added the nuts powder to the jaggery syrup and mixed it well. Waited for the mixture to cool a little before rolling them into ladoos. Enjoyed watching our PM Modi lambast the CONgress in the mega rally at Gujarat while rolling the ladoos – double the fun. 😂

These are really easy to make and the Indian version of a trail mix. No corn syrup and additives, completely home made. 

If you are interested in the Deepavali “Marundu” check my post from last year – Deepavali Marundu.

Disclaimer – Please join the FB page OPOS school to understand the methodology. Please do not try using the Pressure Cooker for OPOS without going through the lessons.