Five Days Diwali Celebrations@mad - Anjeer Khajur Ladoos

Badi Diwali Special - Dates and Figs Ladoos

Today is Diwali, mad wishes all friends and readers a very Happy Diwali…. Today being the Third day of Diwali celebrations, I prepared these Ladoos for the Diwali Puja. Lots of work to do at home for Diwali but I can’t miss to post the yummy ladoos I prepared for this special day!!

Yes!! My all time favorite the Dates and Figs Ladoo….They are healthy and too rich ..full of dry fruits! A must try recipe at home and too easy to prepare without too much of fuss. Since childhood I am too fond of figs and can eat them anytime of the day, so thought to use them in my Ladoo recipe of Dates Ladoo shared by one of my friends..to her recipe I added lots of dry fruits and figs too!! Though her original recipe was of dates with almonds and walnuts.

Third Day is known as “Badi Diwali”, and there is a tradition to worship Goddess Lakshmi after sunset on this day. People decorate their houses and offer prayers in order to welcome Goddess Lakshmi to their houses.It is known as “festivals of light” as mythologically, on this day Lord Rama had returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and rescuing of his wife Sita from the clutches of demon king Ravana.Oil lamps are lighted throughout the house and streets. People exchange gifts and after evening Puja get together with friends and family to burst crackers.

Me and my kids also decorated the house with diya,rangoli and lots of flowers. Not to miss the big box of crackers my son got for himself though I am a total no-no person when it comes to crackers, I prefer celebrating Diwali with lots of sweets, flowers and decorating the house with lights and diya etc but since its a once in a year craze for kids, I am not a finicky mom…..I let them enjoy all the festivals the way they have grown up seeing family and friends celebrating them.

Ingredients -

• Dates seedless - 200 grms (coarsely chopped)
• Dried Figs (Anjeer) - 50 grms (coarsely chopped)
• Dry fruits chopped coarsely - 1/2 cup ( unsalted)

• Khus Khus (white poppy seeds) - 2 tablespoon
• Ghee - 4 tablespoon
• Cardamom Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Ghee to grease the palms

Method -

Take a heavy bottom kadai, heat 1 tablespoon ghee and add coarsely grounded dry fruits (I used almonds,pistachios,raisins,walnuts and cashews, all unsalted), saute for about 4 minutes and remove from flame and keep them aside.

Also roast the poppy seeds on low flames for few seconds and keep aside. Now in the same kadai add 1 tablespoon ghee and add seedless dates and dried figs (coarsely grounded in the mixer , it will become thick and you will get a highly sticky ball, just grind it 5 - 7 times, you will have to grease your palms to remove the mixture from the grinder jar) and keep stirring for about 4 -5 minutes. To these dates and figs mixture add the dry fruits,khus khus 1 tablespoon and cardamom powder. Now switch off the flame and keep mixing the entire mixture till the dry fruits are mixed well with the figs and dates.

Grease your palms and make small lemon size balls from these. Dust or roll these balls with khus khus (spread approx 1 tablespoon of it in a plate) .

After about few minutes your yummy healthy dates and figs ladoos are ready to be served.

Enjoy these healthy ladoos this Diwali and once again a very Happy Diwali to all!!

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