Laddu or
Laddoo is a ball-shaped sweet popular in
South AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
n countries including
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
,
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
as well as countries with immigrants from South Asia. Laddu is made of flour and sugar with other ingredients that vary by recipe. It's often served at festive or religious occasions.
Origins
Laddu comes from the
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word transliterated as
ladduka or
lattika meaning a small ball. One of the earliest mentions of laddu is in a twelfth-century
GujaratiGujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
manuscript.
Composition
Common flours used for laddu include
besanGram flour is a cereal flour made from ground chickpeas. It is also known as chickpea flour, garbanzo flour, or besan . Used in many countries, it is a staple ingredient in Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi cuisines, and, in the form of a paste with water or yoghurt, a popular facial exfoliant in...
(
chickpeaThe chickpea is a legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae...
flour),
ravaBombay Rava or Ravva, is a wheat product and a form of semolina or Rava. Rava is made by grinding husked wheat and is used extensively in south Indian cuisine, such in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu, to make Rava dosa, Rava idli, upma, khichdis, and also sweets like Rava Ladoo and Rava...
(wheat
semolinaSemolina is the coarse, purified wheat middlings of durum wheat used in making pasta, and also used for breakfast cereals and puddings. Semolina is also used to designate coarse middlings from other varieties of wheat, and from other grains such as rice and corn.-Name:The term semolina derives from...
) and ground coconut. These are combined with sugar and other flavorings, cooked in
gheeGhee is a class of clarified butter that originated in South Asia and is commonly used in South Asian cuisine....
and molded into a ball shape. Some laddu recipes are prepared using Ayurvedic medicinal ingredients, including methi laddu and
resin220px|thumb|right|Acacia gumGum arabic, also known as acacia gum, chaar gund, char goond, or meska, is a natural gum made of hardened sap taken from two species of the acacia tree; Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal...
laddu.
Use
Laddu is often prepared for festivals or family events such as
weddingsSouth Asian weddings are very bright events, filled with ritual and celebration, that continue for several days. They are generally not small affairs, with anywhere between 100 to 10,000 people attending. Often, it is possible that many of the attendees are unknown to the bride and groom themselves...
and births, or given as a
prasadPrasād is a mental condition of generosity, as well as a material substance that is first offered to a deity and then consumed...
at Hindu temples. In
Maharashtrian cuisineMaharashtrian cuisine is cuisine of the Marathi people, those from the state of Maharashtra in India. Maharashtrian cuisine covers a range from being mild to very spicy dishes. Wheat, rice, jowar, bajri, vegetables, lentils and fruit form important components of Maharashtrian diet...
, there are traditional recipes for laddu intended as travel provisions (
MarathiMarathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
: तहान लाडू, भूक लाडू).
Cultural references
In the
Sesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
episode "Rakhi Road", laddus are featured prominently as a favoured Indian dessert.
ElmoElmo is a Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is a furry red monster and currently hosts the last full 15 minute segment on Sesame Street, Elmo's World, which is aimed at toddlers. His puppeteer, Kevin Clash, uses falsetto to produce his voice...
is shown making laddus and enjoying eating them as part of the celebrations around the Indian festival of Rakhi.
See also
- Indian sweets
South Asian Sweets are a unique type of confectionary in Indian, Pakistani and other South Asian cuisines. The Hindi-Urdu word used to refer to sweets and confectionary is mithai. South Asian sweets are made with sugar, milk and condensed milk, and cooked by frying. The bases of the sweets and...
External links