• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Vegan Richa
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • (new) Recipe Filters
    • Popular Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch / Dinner
    • Dessert
    • Indian
    • Instant Pot
    • Burgers
    • Pizza
    • Recipe Index
  • Videos
    • Instant Pot
    • Dessert
    • Holidays
    • Easy Vegan Meals
    • All Recipe Videos
  • CookBooks
    • Vegan Richa’s Instant Pot Cookbook(PREORDER NOW)
    • Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen (Print & Digital)
    • Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen (Print & Digital)
  • Resources
    • How To Start A Food Blog
    • Resources for Food Bloggers
    • Vegan Subs & Resources
    • Our Vegan Journey and FAQs
    • Indian Pantry
    • Indian Dal / Lentil Names
  • Shop
  • About / Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Videos
  • CookBooks
  • Shop
  • About
  • NEW! Instant Pot Cookbook
    • Bloglovin
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » dessert

    Besan Laddoo(Sweet chickpea flour balls with cashews and raisins) Indian Sweet, Vegan

    Published: Sep 1, 2011 · Modified: Aug 2, 2018 by Richa 34 Comments

    Jump to Recipe   Print Recipe

    Besan Laddoo (Sweet Chickpea Flour Balls with Cashew and Raisins) Indian Sweet. Gluten Free, Soy Free and Vegan Recipe. Jump to Recipe

    Besan Laddoo (Sweet Chickpea Flour Balls with Cashew and Raisins) Indian Sweet. Gluten Free, Soy Free and Vegan Recipe. #glutenfree #veganricha #vegan


    Happy Ganesh Chaturthi Everyone! This festival celebrates the birthday of Lord Ganesha, who is widely worshiped in India, as the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune.
    The celebration consists of installing a Ganesh Idol at home or community, conducting worship ceremonies, making sweet items to offer to god and everyone around and so on. After 10 days, the idol is immersed in a river/sea/water body. Read more about the festival here.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh_Chaturthi
    Depending on the region, different kinds of Indian sweets are made for this occasion. Modaks(Rice flour dumplings) are the most common in most parts of India, Different Laddoos(sweet flour balls), deep fried dough balls and more. Whether you believe in god or not, it is an occasion to meet and greet, exchange sweets, and celebrate life and good fortune.
    Traditionally, the Ganesh icon was sculpted out of earth taken from nearby one’s home. After worshiping this earth icon, it was returned back to the Earth by immersing it in a nearby water body. Lets do the same and reduce the environmental impact of the toxic materials and colors used in the fancy modern idols!.
     
    Besan Laddoo is tradionally made with chickpea flour(garbanzo bean flour), a good amount of ghee(clarified butter), sugar and some flavor like cardamom. My version.. ghee-free, has some quinoa in it and is very similar to the usual mom made ones!
     
     
    Besan laddoo in a pale bowl on a red background
    Print Recipe
    5 from 1 vote

    Besan Laddoo (Sweet Chickpea Flour Balls With Cashews And Raisins) Indian Sweet, Vegan

    Besan Laddoo (Sweet Chickpea Flour Balls with Cashew and Raisins) Indian Sweet. Gluten Free, Soy Free and Vegan Recipe.
    Prep Time15 mins
    Cook Time10 mins
    Total Time25 mins
    Course: Dessert, Snack
    Cuisine: Gluten-free, Soy-free, Vegan
    Keyword: easy recipe, traditional indian sweet, vegan snack
    Servings: 8 balls
    Calories: 109kcal
    Author: Vegan Richa

    Ingredients

    • 5 tablespoons gram/chickpea/garbanzo bean flour (besan)
    • 1 teaspoon semolina flour (fine sooji, omit this for gluten free version)
    • 2 teaspoons quinoa flour (optional, can be substituted with semolina flour)
    • 2 tablespoons vegan butter (earth balance, soy free)
    • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
    • 3 tablespoons raw sugar (more for sweeter balls, I like mine mildy sweet)
    • 1 tablespoon agave syrup (optional)
    • 1/4 teaspoons (0.25 teaspoons) coarsely ground cardamom seeds (elaichi)
    • 2 tablespoons of chopped cashews (small pieces. large pieces will make it difficult to form balls)
    • 2 tablespoons raisins
    • a tablespoon or 2 of water

    Instructions

    • Melt the vegan butter in a large pan on low heat.
    • Cook the cashews and raisins in it for 2 minutes until golden and remove them leaving as much butter as possible in the pan. Alternatively, cook the cashews and raisins in about a teaspoon of butter separately.
    • Add coconut oil and heat with butter.
    • Add the besan (chickpea flour), semolina flour, quinoa flour and mix.
    • Cook on medium heat and begin to roast the mixture, until it becomes light golden brown in color and gives out a sweet aroma. Stir the mixture continuously with a spatula to prevent burning. 7-10 minutes. The mixture should also start to form clumps.
    • Cook the flour well, else it will taste raw, which is not fun.
    • Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool to a warm-hot temperature. (a minute)
    • Meanwhile, Blend/grind the raw sugar into powder. or use powdered jaggery.
    • Add in cardamom seeds, and sugar to the flour mixture and mix well.
    • Add in the cashews and raisins and mix well with spoon or hand to make mixture more clumpy. (1 minute)
    • To make the balls, take about 1.5-2 Tablespoons of warm flour mixture into your palm. Gently press the mixture between your palms to form a smooth, round ball. Of course if you are in a hurry, you can just eat the flour mix like a halwa :)(dense sweet dough dessert).
    • If the mixture doesn't form balls easily, which might happen because I use butter as less as possible, add half a tablespoon of agave syrup and a few drops of warm water and mix. Keep adding drops of water and a few drops of agave till it becomes a big clump. 
    • All this should be done, while the mixture is still warm-hot to touch. (you can reheat the mixture in the pan to warm-hot if it has completely cooled down). Form balls and let cool completely before storing in airtight container for 1-2 weeks. Hope you all like these Indian Sweet Balls! Have an awesome day everyone!

    Notes

    • To increase the quantity, increase oil/wet ingredients to dry ingredients(besan flour) by 1:3 ratio and sugar to dry ingredients by 1:2 ratio, that is for every 1 Tbsp increase in dry ingredients, increase oil by 1/3 Tbps and sugar by a 1/2 Tbsp.
    • Nutritional value is based on 1 serving

    Nutrition

    Nutrition Facts
    Besan Laddoo (Sweet Chickpea Flour Balls With Cashews And Raisins) Indian Sweet, Vegan
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 109 Calories from Fat 45
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 5g8%
    Saturated Fat 2g13%
    Sodium 27mg1%
    Potassium 87mg2%
    Carbohydrates 13g4%
    Sugar 6g7%
    Protein 1g2%
    Vitamin A 135IU3%
    Vitamin C 0.2mg0%
    Calcium 2mg0%
    Iron 0.5mg3%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
     
     
     
    These balls are headed to Amee’s Fit and Fabulous Friday, Erin’s Friday Potluck and Hearth and Soul blog hop #63 And to Ricki’s Wellness Weekend!!!

    Sharing is caring!

    Share on Pinterest Share on Facebook Share on WhatsApp Share on Twitter Share on Email
    « French Toasts, Pancakes and other Breakfast options! vegan
    Ricelove Biryani (Layered Rice and Veggies with Spices) vegan »


    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you Love the Recipe, Please consider rating it using stars in comments! It helps readers and helps more people find the recipe online! I love hearing from you all! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Pallavi Murali

      November 13, 2020 at 10:58 am

      My mixture came out much too fluid to form laddoos 🙁 Salvaged it by adding almond meal until it was the right texture. Feels like there’s too much fat in the recipe for the amount of flour/ sugar?

      Reply
      • Richa

        November 13, 2020 at 9:38 pm

        Sorry about that. I think this recipe got messed up while transferring all recipes into the new widget a few years back. Glad you could work it out!

        Try my books version. 1 cup besan, 4-5 tbsp oil(mix of oil and vegan butter works best), 1/8 tsp salt and 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 2 tbsp more for sweeter. Same process. Roast the besan with oils until brown and fragrant. Take off heat Heat and mix sugar, the. Roll into balls

        Reply
      • Lynley

        November 09, 2021 at 5:39 pm

        I had the same issue with this quantity (besan 5 T, quinoa flour 2 t, semolina 1 t). I had to add 3 more T of almond flour. Makes sense. 5+1 (2+1 t) +3 af makes a total of 9 T. Butter and oil is a total of 3 T. That’s a 1:3 ratio as described later in the notes.

        Reply
        • Vegan Richa Support

          November 12, 2021 at 10:33 am

          .

          Reply
    2. ANSHULA OHRI

      November 11, 2020 at 4:33 pm

      Hello. I made your vegan besan laddoo recipe today. I was puzzled with the quantities- the 5 tablespoons of besan was so I added more besan using 12.5 tablespoons of besan to start with. So I was expecting to make more than 16 ladoos.

      The ladoos turned out delicious. Thank you! However I had to roast for about about 40 minutes instead of the 10-15 in the recipe. Also in the end I got only 11 ladoos.

      Would like to confirm the 5 tablespoons of besan in the recipe.

      Thank you
      Anshula

      Reply
      • Richa

        November 13, 2020 at 9:34 pm

        I think this recipe got messed up when transferring to the widget, since the blog was on a different platform back in 2011. It also makes small Ladoos. Glad it worked out anyway.

        Use my books version. 1 cup besan, 4-5 tbsp oil(mix of oil and vegan butter works best), 1/8 tsp salt and 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 2 tbsp more for sweeter. Same process. Roast the besan with oils until brown and fragrant. Take off heat Heat and mix sugar, the. Roll into balls

        Reply
        • ANSHULA OHRI

          November 14, 2020 at 2:55 am

          5 stars
          Thank you for your response. Your recipe is very good.. Making vegan besan laddoo is not easy because it’s hard to get the vegan laddoo to hold their shape. Some of the tips such as using a combination of vegan butter and oil are excellent and your recipe is the only place where I have seen this.

          Please correct the recipe in the widget so that others can benefit from your otherwise excellent write up and recipe.

          Thank you!

          Reply
          • Richa

            November 14, 2020 at 11:01 am

            I’ll post a new recipe as the pictures on this one are with quinoa.

            Reply
    3. Anonymous

      April 01, 2014 at 9:42 pm

      Richa, I don’t have coconut oil handy, what can b used as substitute?

      Reply
      • Richa

        April 01, 2014 at 9:52 pm

        use more vegan butter or canola oil or kokum butter.

        Reply
    4. Vidya

      February 11, 2012 at 3:41 am

      Richa, can I just say I am absolutely thrilled to have found your blog! As a new vegan, I’ve already started planning ahead for the Hindu festival season and am so happy you seem to have done so much of my work for me! I don’t really have access to a good vegan margarine though – most ones around here are pretty gross, do you think this will be okay with 3 tbsp of coconut oil? Do you use virgin or refined coconut oil, by the way?

      Reply
      • Richa

        February 11, 2012 at 3:54 am

        I am glad you found me ..:)i use virgin coconut oil. you can use virgin coconut oil for the sweets. With enough spices, you wont be able to taste it too.
        or any other virgin and organic high fat oil, like rice bran, sunflower, sesame, almond or organic canola oils.
        If the laddoos dont come together, add agave or maple or thick sugar syrup, few more drops of oil and water. hope this helps! let me know how it turns out and if u have any other questions:)

        Reply
      • Richa

        February 11, 2012 at 3:56 am

        you can find other sweets, laddoos, gulab jamuns, katli and more on the facebook album here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.219854958075504.54976.143274179066916&type=3

        Reply
    5. Richa

      September 16, 2011 at 9:58 pm

      Thank you Amee, 21st century housewife.

      Thanks for trying the recipe Genevieve!

      Reply
    6. Genevieve

      September 13, 2011 at 8:42 pm

      Hi Richa,

      I just tried these today and they are great! Very sweet and they reminded me more of anjeer ka halwa that I tried in India.

      I did burn my flour mixture slightly though, so I will learn from my mistake and make them even better next time!

      Reply
    7. The 21st Century Housewife©

      September 05, 2011 at 6:53 pm

      What an interesting post, and what a delicious sounding recipe! Thank you so much for sharing it with us at the Hearth and Soul hop!

      Reply
    8. Amee

      September 05, 2011 at 4:58 pm

      These sweet bites look amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful, healthy recipe on Fit and Fabulous Fridays! LOVE!

      Reply
    9. Richa

      September 04, 2011 at 1:09 am

      Thank you Kalyani, Ranjini, Kankana, Ricki and Hannah!!
      Yes chickpeas are quite versatile!:)Do let me know if you try these! Have an amazing weekend everyone!

      Reply
    10. bittersweetblog

      September 03, 2011 at 8:42 am

      I’m very curious, as I’ve never tasted anything quite like these! The use of chickpea flour is quite intriguing… There really is no end to that legume’s versatility. 🙂

      Reply
    11. Ricki

      September 02, 2011 at 7:58 pm

      What a lovely festival! These look wonderful. I hope they do bring lots of sweetness into your life! 🙂 Thanks for submitting this to WW this week. 🙂

      Reply
    12. Sunshine And Smile

      September 02, 2011 at 6:49 pm

      Delcious and perfectly shaped. I could eat that non stop 🙂
      http://www.sunshineandsmile.com

      Reply
    13. Kalyani's Platter

      September 02, 2011 at 6:26 pm

      looks delicious and very tempting clicks ……….. happy to follow u ……..

      Reply
    14. Ranjini

      September 02, 2011 at 6:03 pm

      Saw this (again) at Fit & Fab Fridays. We’re eternal fans of Indian sweets, and these look smackalicious! 🙂

      Reply
    15. Richa

      September 02, 2011 at 5:02 pm

      Thank you Amy, Gopika, Soma, Anu, junia, Kiran and Genevieve!! Thank you all for the lovely comments!
      Genevieve, updated the recipe:) thanks for pointing it out. Do let me know how they turn out! i’d love to hear about it.. happy cooking!

      Reply
    16. Genevieve

      September 02, 2011 at 2:35 pm

      I loved besan laddoo when I tried it in India and I have been searching for an easy recipe to make them myself. Yours sound great! I’m just wondering how much cashews and raisins you used – I don’t see those in the ingredients list.

      Reply
    17. escribble

      September 02, 2011 at 2:24 pm

      Richa,
      I love besan ke ladoo. I had my first taste after marriage. Those looks scrumptious 🙂

      https://kirantarun.com/food

      Reply
    18. Junia

      September 02, 2011 at 4:06 am

      wow, healthy dessert bites made with quinoa and chickpea flour!!! yay for #cleaneating and #healtheats!

      Reply
    19. ANU

      September 02, 2011 at 3:51 am

      very nice idol….love the laddus….

      Chk out my DIWALI Event
      September – ALMONDS Event & GIVEAWAY‘
      September – WWC – “Cornmeal for Breakfast”

      Reply
    20. Soma

      September 02, 2011 at 2:40 am

      This is a wonderful twist to the traditional laddoos.. You have made it healthier and guilt free.

      Reply
    21. Gopika Ram

      September 02, 2011 at 2:32 am

      Happy Ganesh Chaturti to you.. 🙂 Love your Laddoo.. Looks so rich and am sure tastes yumm too 🙂

      Reply
    22. Amy

      September 02, 2011 at 12:13 am

      These sound so good! I love that you have made them vegan but still kept them delicious! Cashews are so good in desserts!

      Reply
    23. Richa

      September 01, 2011 at 11:12 pm

      Thank you Radhika and Sylvia!
      Do let me know when u make them!!

      Reply
    24. Sylvia

      September 01, 2011 at 7:40 pm

      i love falafel so i think i’m gonna love these too!!

      Reply
    25. Radhika@foodfor7stages

      September 01, 2011 at 7:39 pm

      This looks awesome. I should make this one

      Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Richa! I create flavorful plant based recipes that are inspired by my Indian upbringing, including many gluten-free, soy-free, and oil-free options.

    More about me →

    Vegan Richa's Everyday Kitchen Cookbook Now Available everywhere where Books are Sold | VeganRicha.com
    Amazon // Barnes & Noble // BAM! // Chapter Indigo // International

    FOLLOW US

    • Bloglovin
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Vegan Richa 's Indian Kitchen Cookbook

    Amazon || Barnes & Noble || BAM! || IndieBound || Details & International

    Popular

    • Best Easy Vegan Recipes of 2021
    • Restaurant Style Aloo Gobi
    • Vegan Mac and Cheese Powder – Cheese Mix Recipe
    • Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Garlic Soy curls

    Amazon || Barnes & Noble || BAM! || Indigo || Book Depository

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms Of Use
    • Copyright and Disclaimers

    Resources

    • Indian dals/lentils names
    • Indian pantry
    • Our vegan journey
    • Vegan Substitutes

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Recipe Index
    • My Favorite Things
    • Advertise, Work With Me

    Cookbooks

    • Vegan Richa’s Indian kitchen cookbook
    • Vegan Richa’s Everyday kitchen cookbook 
    • Vegan Richa’s Instant Pot Book

    All content on this blog is owned by Vegan Richa LLC.  Links on some posts are affiliate links for e.g. we are participant in Amazon services LLC Associates program. Vegan Richa is monetized in part through the use of such affiliate links. More Details

    Copyright © 2021 Vegan Richa