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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Day 1 of Blogging Marathon ~ Oats - Coconut Laddu


Chicago land was the one worst hit by last week's blizzard that had created havoc allover the Midwest. It has created a record of being in the top three blizzards, locally. Most of the areas were covered in about 20 inches or more of snow and there were even driving bans in some of the neighboring counties.
The help we had hired to shovel had promised to come by the evening. I didn't want to end up shoveling ice instead of snow in the evening if he did not show up. I therefore started to shovel with my son’s help though M was vehemently saying not to do it. Later he had to give in and join us. We totally had put together around 5 hours to clear a part of our driveway. It had been extremely frizid since then. Today the wind chill is around - 15 and the temperature when the kids left for school was 2 deg F (-16 deg C). Dreary weather seems to be ruling everywhere.
Shoveling that amount of snow has left me very badly sore. I could not walk up standing staight for two days. Lesson learnt. Never try to shovel manually after a blizzard. :) To cheer up myself and get out of the gloomy mood, I prepared these laddus today. Sweets tend to lift up spirits, atleast mine. :)

As usual, I went with a quick kind. Combined oats to my grandma's rava laddu recipe to prepare this yummy and healthier version. Already I had toasted semolina and oat flour and so these were made in a jiffy.

Ingredients for about 14 laddus:
1 cup shredded, fresh coconut
1/2 cup oats (I used quick cooking oats)
1/2 cup semolina
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cardamom powder
1 Tbsp ghee, 1 Tbsp raisins & 1 Tbsp cashews

 
Making laddus:
* Lightly toast the oats, about 2 minutes. Cool and grind it coarsely.
* Fry the semolina on low flame till it starts to give a strong aroma and turns light brown. Let it cool.
* If using frozen coconut, thaw it.
* Heat ghee in a small pan. Toast both raisins and cashews in the ghee till cashews turn golden brown and raisins turn plump.
* Now combine the semolina, oats flour, sugar, coconut, cardamom and the toasted raisins & cashews in a mixing bowl and leave the mixture covered for about five minutes.
* Make about lime sized balls / laddus out of it and refrigerate them.

Clicked through our living room window, this is how the home opposite to ours looked last week.


And our front yard. We could clear the snow in our driveway to let one vehicle pass through. After the blizzard, we had two more snow falls and our driveway right now looks pretty bad.


When I see some of the bloggers who do blog on a daily basis, I am amazed at their energy levels and interest. When Srivalli mentioned about the blogging marathon, I wanted to see how it goes if I accept the challenge and here I am with the first recipe. I chose to go with 'special one' and today's choice is 'sweet'.

Check out what the other marathoners are doing on the first day!

22 comments:

Shanavi said...

Loved ur oats rava ladoo..Ur clicks r awesome..

Usha said...

Nice recipe Suma! This winter has been very bad, extremely cold and snow every other day.. The snow we got couple of weeks ago in nyc melted only couple of days ago and there are still few small heaps of snow here and there..

Mina Joshi said...

The ladoos look Delicious. LIke you, sweet dishes always cheer me when it's cold. Loved looking at your snow pictures but my heart went out to you when I read the amount of time it took you to clear your driveway!! Hoping to get to know you more over the days.

Prema said...

Delicious ladoo suma...Thanks for sharing the healthy recipe...

Unknown said...

cute one.my fav ladoos.here in TX,snow will b here and there not more than 4 - 5 inches, which fun for us...but if it reckons the day today life.then its hectic...pity on u.....hope u will get sunshine soon

Srivalli said...

Suma, that's very innovative one..looks great..do include Blogging Marathon under your labels so that it becomes easy for us...great that you could join us..

Unknown said...

I dont envy u at all...our house looks pretty much the same....snow all over....Last 2 days helped in melting!...

the ladoo look tempting...as a kid we enjoyed quite a few of these...like the addition of oats for a twist!

Smitha
http://smithasspicyflavors.blogspot.com/

harini-jaya said...

This Oats laddu is truly innovative.. Pass them on..We have had snow upto 9-10 inches this season but the wind and chill is real bad! I can understand the woes of shoveling..I hv had my share of back aches this season!

Gayathri Kumar said...

Very yummy laddus..

Rujuta said...

Suma
First time here...really enjoyed it..
Such unusual and lovely combination of coconut, rava and oats....
The clicks are fabulous...lovely post too..
Best Wishes
Rujuta
http://theworldaccordingtorujuta.blogspot.com/

Priya Suresh said...

Very delicious,creative and yummy laddoos,thanks for sending Suma..

Unknown said...

Lovely and healthy recipe Suma looks yumm.

Unknown said...

OMG...you poor thing...what a lot of time you've spent shoveling. Take care. The laddoos sound quite easy to make.

Suji said...

Scrumptious laddos, i love anything that has coconut..Awesome...

Unknown said...

Those ladoos look amazing, Suma - Love the pictures

Champa said...

You very badly need a snow blower. I complain about clearing in PA. This winter I have cleared (alone) 6 inches of snow several times, but looking at those pictures, no wonder it took you 5 hours to do it. Laddoos look very nice.

Priya said...

I made rava laddus just last week, but adding oats to it would have easily made them a little more guilt free ;) Hope its the last of the snow storm for you this season. Sending some sunshine your way...

Gayathri Anand said...

A very healthy ladoo...would love to try it soon ...Happy to follow u ...

swapna said...

healthy and delicious awesome...

Meena Thennaapan said...

lovely ladoo. must make this

Anonymous said...

Oats Idli looks yum and healthy.

bhavya said...

Rava Ladoo is one of my favorite Dessert. it's really Mouthwatering to me, Thank you so much for the post.