Rava ladoo
Preparation Time
10 minutes
Cooking Time
25 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Dessert
Serves 14
Key Ingredients
- Ghee (for roasting and the palms)
About This Recipe
Rava ladoo is the quick sweet of the festive platter: fine semolina, also called sooji, roasted in ghee and pressed into balls with warm syrup, ready without any grinding or steaming. Rava is milled from wheat, the grain our gehu atta guide covers, and this is the milk-free version many homes prefer, bound with jaggery syrup alone.
This version weighs the rava, the ghee and the jaggery, and it pulls the syrup to one string. A thin syrup gives laddus that crumble on the plate; a thick one sets hard as it cools. Roasted rava drinks up the syrup as it sits, so the mix is shaped while warm and rested until lukewarm, which is how each ball firms without a dent.
The result is a soft, sandy ball that holds its shape and melts back into rava and ghee in the mouth. For the classic rava laddu recipe with milk, stir a quarter cup of warm milk into the roasted rava before the syrup and the balls come out softer. White sugar replaces the jaggery measure for measure, and the cardamom, cashews and raisins all stay optional.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
For the ladoo
- Rava (semolina) — 200 g
- Ghee (for roasting and the palms) — 6 tbsp
- Jaggery powder — 10 tbsp
- Cardamom Powder — 1/2 tsp
- Water — 1/2 cup
- Cashews, broken (optional) — 2 tbsp
- Raisins (optional) — 1 tbsp
Skip The Store !
Get all you need for the recipe in just a few clicks
Serving Suggestions
Set them out for a festival or a weekend tea, four or five on a plate with a cup of filter coffee, and pack a few in a lunchbox; they travel without breaking. Warm one over a low flame for a soft, fresh-from-the-kadhai feel. The same warm-syrup bind powers the methi ladoo recipe on this site, and the badusha recipe is its fried cousin.
Tips for Cooking Rava ladoo
Roast on low and keep the rava moving; it colours suddenly once hot. Judge the syrup by the string test, not the clock: a drop pinched between finger and thumb should pull a single thread. If the mix dries out before you finish shaping, sprinkle a teaspoon of warm water and knead it back together. Grease both palms with a few drops of ghee and press, never squeeze, or the laddu cracks at the seam.
Chef’s Note
The binding is the syrup, and it must reach one string or the balls crumble. IFCT 2017 lists no semolina entry, so the rava here is counted as whole wheat flour; milled rava carries less bran, so a ladoo made from regular sooji has a little less fibre than shown. Each laddu comes to about 142 kcal, with 18.3 g of carbs and 6.7 g of fat, nearly all of the fat from the ghee.
Per serving (approx.): 142 kcal, protein 1.7 g, carbs 18 g, fat 6.7 g, fibre 1.6 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Apr 13, 2026
Recipes You’ll Love
More everyday cooking with COWBERRY organics, from the same kitchen.
Preparation Time
15 Min
Cooking Time
35 Min
Difficulty Level
moderate
Preparation Time
5 Min
Cooking Time
20 Min
Difficulty Level
easy
Preparation Time
5 Min
Cooking Time
20 Min
Difficulty Level
easy