Sugarfree Dates Nuts Ladoo

Hey everyone! Hope 2023 is treating you well! I am back after a long time. With a sugar free Dinkache Ladoo recipe. 

You might also know this delicacy as Gond ke Ladoo or Antina Unde or Kardantu. Usually, jaggery is used as a sweetener for these laddoos. I have found a healthier substitute for my family - Organic Date Syrup. Date syrup didn't work for our waffles or pancakes, but turned out excellent for this homemade nutrition bar.

Ingredients:

Date Syrup - 1 cup

Roasted Mixed Nuts - 1 1/2 cup

Dry Coconut Powder - 1 cup

Golden Raisins or Dry Cranberries - 1/4 cup

Edible Gum - 1/4 cup

Sesame Seeds/Til - 1 tbsp

Poppy Seeds/Khuskhus - 1 tbsp

Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 5 pods

Vanilla Extract - 2 tsp (optional)

Ghee/Clarified Butter - about 3 tbsp

How to make Homemade Sugar free Dates Nuts Ladoo:

• Crush cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. You can add saffron/kesar and/or nutmeg/jaiphal as well.
• Finely chop roasted nuts of your choice using a knife or a food processor. I used store bought Unsalted Mixed Roasted Nuts and pulsed them in a food processor. 
• Generally, raisins (dry grapes) are used in Kardantu. Feel free to add dry cranberries or apricots or any other dry fruit of your choice.
• Heat about 2 tbsp ghee in a heavy bottom pan. Add edible gum and fry until gum puffs up and changes color. When the fried gum cools down, crush them slightly. Set it aside.
• In the same pan, shallow fry other ingredients one at a time - raisins, poppy seeds, sesame seeds and dry coconut. Keep adding little ghee to the pan while frying as required. You can be more generous with ghee as well. 
• Make sure you fry each ingredient at low flame until the raw smell goes off and color changes slightly. Mix all the fried ingredients and set it aside. 
• Lastly, prepare the syrup. In a heavy bottom pan, add date syrup and 1/4 cup water. Bring it to a boil. Continue cooking until the syrup turns sticky. Add cardamom powder and vanilla extract. 
• To test the stickiness of the syrup, take a bowl of water. When you add a drop of sticky syrup to the bowl of water, the syrup must form a ball. If the syrup dissolves, cook the syrup slightly longer. Turn off the heat and add the fried ingredients, chopped nuts. Mix well. When the Ladoo mix slightly cools, grease your hands well with ghee and make round balls.

These Dry Fruits Ladoo with Edible Gum have a good shelf life even at room temperature. For a longer shelf life, keep them refrigerated. Enjoy!