Paan Ladoos

Paan Ladoos

These Paan Ladoos work as dessert or mouth freshners. Here's how I make them:

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup shredded dry coconut plus little extra for dusting
1 tsp ghee
12 beetle leaves
2 tbsp. gulkand
pinch of cardamom pwd
1 tsp fennel pwd

Clean the beetle leaves, dry, remove stem and grind with the condensed milk. Heat the ghee in a heavy bottom pan. Add the condensed milk+beetle leaves mix. Add 1/2 cup shredded dry coconut. Mix well and cook on low heat for 5 minutes or till fairly dry, stirring often. Take off heat and add the cardamom and fennel pwds. Cool a little. Then form ladoos, filling a little gulkand inside each. Roll the ladoos in the extra dry shredded coconut.

Enjoy immediately or keep at room temperature until ready to eat.

Meetha Paan

Few weeks back we performed Shri Satyanarayana Puja. I had bought betel leaves and had some left over, so made Meetha Paan for the friends who had come over. They were very well appreciated, so the next day I made the one pictured above with the only left over betel leaf I had.

Here's how I made it:

1. Trim off the lower broader end of the betel leaf and lay it with the shinier side down. My betel leaf did not have the top pointed end, but ideally that should be left on.

2. I have added the following on top of the paan - shredded coconut, roasted fennel seeds, mixed store-bought saunf mix (without betel nut), 1 cardamom pod, pinch of my badishoap pwd.

3. Top it off with a generous dollop or two of gulkand. I do not have the real gulkand, but have a jar of rose preserve that tastes pretty similar, which I used.

4. Folding technique is per the following pictures.

 

I pierced it with a clove to hold it together.

This Meetha Paan can be quite addictive. Even now as I write this post, I can taste it and want to pop one in my mouth right now!

Badishoap powder - Powdered Fennel mouth freshener

This is my MIL's recipe. She always sends us a bottle full of this powder, so we are well stocked with it year round. As a result, I have never needed/attempted to make it myself. It acts as a wonderful mouth freshener/digestive aid, especially after a heavy meal.

The proportions below are approximate, to be modified per taste desired.

200 gms badishoap/fennel seeds/saunf

Ova/ajwain seeds - handful - this has a mildly hot flavor so adjust accordingly to taste

Jeshthamadh (sweet root) pwd - this adds sweetness

Shendelon (Rock salt) pwd

Padelon (Black salt) pwd

Most of the above ingredients are available in large Indian stores.

Lightly roast the badishoap. Then dry grind along with other items to a fine pwd.

This Badishoap/Fennel seeds mouth freshener goes to the Think Spice - Fennel Seeds event at Kopiaste.

This event was started by Sunita of Sunita's world.