A - Z Andhra Recipes ~ L for Lauzu / Kobbari Lauzu

I am doing 'A - Z' recipes from Andhra cuisine this month, presenting dishes with regional names in an alphabetical order and it's time for the letter 'L' today. It is one of those alphabets that got me stumped, when thinking in terms of finding recipes with a Telugu name. When I mentioned about the same to the other adult at home a couple of months back, the following conversation ensued.

Him: Finished planning all the recipes for your marathon?
Me: Any ideas for the alphabet 'L'?
Him (glaring at me like I am going bonkers): Laddu??
Me: is not south Indian
Him: (looking at me this time like I have really gone batty) Not south Indian? They are in the region for generations and people prepare it for every special occasion.
Me: So? 
Him: Who told you that you need to post recipes which are specific to the region? Sometimes neighboring states share the recipes.
Me: The laddus are made all over India.
Him (trying to convince me some more): O..K.. How about Tirupati Laddu?
Me (Sitting straight now): They have a recipe for it?
Him: You are the blogger. Go look for it.
Me: I don't think so. I think they may have a secretly guarded recipe or something like that. On second thoughts, they might not, looking at the quality of the laddus they are churning out lately. I don't even want to try it.
Me (reminiscing some more): I used to love those, that used to be made decades ago and now I hate the quality and now I don't even feel like trying them.
Him: O.K, then. You have lehyam.
Me: What ??? Like that ayurvedic paste? They prepare it at home ? Your mom did?
Him (looking at the new crazy me): Why would she?
Me: Why would I ?
Him: You are the blogger and you need the post.
Me (sheepishly checking all over the web): All I see are posts by Tamilians
Him: So, now lehyam becomes a Tamilian recipe? Cook something with lavangalu (cloves) then.
Me: What was I thinking, asking you for ideas?
Him: Was trying to help here. 
Me: I had cooked the dish already. Was just checking to see if you had any better ideas.
Him: 😕

Obviously, the laddu my husband was referring to would be a glaring choice to any Indian and that idea instantly pops when looking for 'L' recipes. Not any laddus but the delicious, succulent ones prepared using chickpea flour and sugar syrup aka boondi laddu. The same when prepared with a fine sieved ladle would become mothi choor laddu. And the laddus made at Tirumala Tirupathi Temple in the state of Andhra Pradesh is the epitome of the kind. And of course my husband was on the right path and indeed I was going to post a laddu recipe though not the boondi one. Obviously I had to let go the option for the above mentioned reasons and look for the other Andhra variety laddus. The available choices were thokkudu laddu, sunnundalu and chimmiri undalu which have been done already to death on my blog. I think I have posted already 4 varieties of sunnundalu and 3 to 4 varieties of chimmiri here. 

And so I went with the remaining and obvious choice of kobbari lauzu which is also called lauzu, in short form. The freshly shredded coconut and jaggery are cooked until they hold shape and made into balls or laddus. The color of the jaggery used determines the color of this laddus. Usually the variety of jaggery I get locally is very pale in color and so my laddus are light colored. This one makes a quick and yummy dessert, redolent with cardamom flavor and comes handy when you have extra coconuts to use. Sugar can be substituted for jaggery in the recipe. We call the cooked mixture of coconut and jaggery lauzu but it seems in some areas it refers to not the laddu but the burfi and so I have provided the recipe for it too. 

Ingredients: (Yield 7 Laddus )
1 cup fresh / frozen shredded coconut
3/4 cup powdered jaggery or sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

Method:
* Add all ingredients to a thick bottomed pan or a non-stick pan and start cooking on medium low flame until it thickens and is rollable. Keep stirring continuously to avoid the coconut mixture sticking to the bottom of the pan / getting scorched. Also do not let the mixture brown.
* Let the mixture cool. Grease your palms with ghee and make into balls. This lauzu can be refrigerated and stored for at least a couple of weeks. 
* If burfi need to be made, continue cooking the mixture until it starts to leave the sides of the pan. Grease a plate with edges and pour the mixture onto the plate. Flatten the mixture with the back of a spatula. Score into squares while the mixture is warm. Break down into pieces when cool and store it in an airtight container.

So far on my 'A - Z' Andhra Cuisine,
A for Alasanda Vada
B for Bellam Garelu
C for Chiyali
D for Dondakaaya Kaarapu Kaaya
E for Endu Kobbari Podi
F for Fine Biscuits 
G for Gongura - Mamidikaya Pappu
H for Halwa Holigalu
I for Idli Karam Podi
J for Janthikalu
K for Kobbari Koora

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63

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