Motichoor ladoo

Motichoor ladoo is the sweet of tiny, pearl-sized besan boondi fried in ghee, soaked in sugar syrup and pressed into soft, grainy balls that come apart in the mouth. This home version keeps the essentials: boondi fried only until they are just done, a syrup boiled to the one-string stage, and ghee for the frying. That is also the whole motichoor ladoo ingredients list, with saffron and cardamom for the halwai smell.

The boondi decide the ladoo. Fry them only until the sizzling stops and they hold their shape, still pale; browned boondi turn hard and never soften in the syrup. Soft boondi drink up the syrup, which is why the syrup stage matters more than a clock: boil the brown sugar and water until a drop pressed between your fingers pulls into a single thread, then take it off the heat.

Brown sugar gives these ladoos a deep caramel note and a golden-brown colour; white sugar makes the classic pale-orange halwai ladoo, and the method is the same. The frying has to be ghee, because that is where the flavour comes from, so a well-made bilona ghee is worth it here. For a nuttier ladoo, fry the boondi a shade longer and mix the pistachios into the boondi instead of pressing them on top.