Motichur Laddu Recipe (Motichoor Ladoo)

Step by StepJump to Recipe

Motichur laddu are soft, delish melt in the mouth ladoo made mainly with gram flour, sugar, and spices. The gram flour batter is fried to make tiny balls or boondi and mixed with sugar syrup, nuts or seeds and later shaped to neat round balls. Motichoor ladoo is a popular sweet from the North Indian cuisine and often made during festivals or celebrations. Here I share my detailed step-by-step photos to make these soft, tender and tasty homemade laddu recipe from scratch.

motichur laddu served on a white plate.

About Motichoor Ladoo

In the Hindi language, the word ‘Moti’ means pearl and ‘Choor or Chur’ means to crush or crumble. Literally translated to crumbled pearls. The term ‘laddu or ladoo’ refers to sweetened round balls.

Actually, when you hold this ladoo in your hand and even apply a little pressure, they crumble. They are so soft and delicate that while eating also they fall apart.

The hero ingredient here is gram flour. It is also known as besan in Hindi and made from skinned black chickpeas.

Note that the gram flour is chickpea flour in the sense that chickpea flour is made with white chickpeas. For the recipe use the finer variety of gram flour and not the coarser variety.

The recipe is time intensive but not difficult. You will need certain equipment to make this laddu as I have shown in the stepwise photos.

I have not purchased anything special and made use of what I had in the kitchen. Most of these equipments can be easily found in an Indian kitchen.

Generally the motichur ladoo that you get in mithai shops (sweets shops) have green, red or orange color boondi in the ladoo.

For that they make extra batches of colored boondis with artificial colors. Here I have used saffron as a natural coloring agent. I try to avoid artificial coloring agents as far as I can.

If you plan to make the motichur laddu, for any deity or for pooja, then I do suggest adding a pinch of edible camphor in them.

You can also fry the boondi in ghee. Generally, most food offered for bhog or naivedyam, are made in cow’s ghee. Desi ghee has a satvik quality and hence used for religious purposes.

If you have a pooja or any religious activity at home, then these motichur laddu, can be given as prashad to the devotees. Usually, four small ladoo are given in one pack.

Motichur Laddu vs Boondi Ladoo

The major difference between Boondi ladoo and motichoor ladoo is the size of the tiny boondi or fried gram flour balls. Boondi ladoo has the gram flour balls bigger in size and motichoor ladoo has smaller ones.

Both the ladoo are made from gram flour or besan batter. The batter is poured through a ladle or sieve with perforations and these give rise to round shaped droplets, called as boondi (derived from the word ‘boond’ in Hindi which means water droplets).

There are two types of boondi ladoo. One is a soft textured one and the other is a crisp hard one. Both these ladoo varieties have some variations in the method, thus yielding different textures.

Making motichoor ke ladoo is easy but time-consuming. I already know the process as I have seen Halwais (traditional sweet makers) preparing the ladoo a couple of times.

I have a photographic memory so I still remember the whole process in my mind. But for finer details and points, I asked my mother-in-law and referred to Lavi’s post Here.

The whole process of making the motichur laddu took a lot of time and in between, it started becoming dark. By the time, I was finished, it was already dark. The laddu were so good, we could not resist having them.

So after some ladoo were over, I took the photos the next day of the remaining laddu. Again next day, with a lot of things happening during the festive occasion, I ended up taking the final photos just before sunset. Hence the final photos have not come out well.

Thus, I was not sure of adding these motichur laddu recipe on the blog. Two days back, my husband bought some motichur ladoo from a famous mithai shop nearby and asked me to taste it and compare with the ones I had made.

We came to a conclusion that the homemade motichur laddu were much superior in taste, texture and flavor than the mithai shop ones. I don’t want to boast but that was our genuine feeling.

The laddu made at home were more softer and tasty. So my husband told me, don’t deprive your readers from this delicious motichur laddu recipe.

What hubby said, made sense and so I am adding the motichoor ladoo recipe. I hope you enjoy making them and eating them.

Step-by-Step Guide

How to make Motichoor Ladoo

Make Sugar Syrup & Batter

1. Dissolve sugar, saffron threads and water in a pan and keep it on the stovetop to prepare the sugar syrup. Keep on a low to medium-low heat to cook the sugar solution.

sugar solution in a pan

2. Make a smooth flowing batter of the gram flour/besan, crushed saffron and water. The batter should neither be thick nor thin. It should be a flowing batter as shown below.

The amount of water to be added depends on the quality of the gram flour. So you can add more or less than, what is mentioned in the recipe.

gram flour batter for making boondi

3. In the below photo the sugar solution is simmering. Stir at intervals.

sugar solution simmering

4. Cook the sugar syrup till you get one thread consistency in it (see the photo below showing one thread consistency) and then switch off the heat.

Remove the pan from the stovetop and set it aside on your kitchen countertop.

Remember that the sugar syrup should be hot when you add the boondi to it. So you can keep the sugar solution in a hot water bath.

Meaning place the pan on a plate or tray filled with hot water. This will keep it hot without crystallizing it.

checking one string consistency with fingers

Make Boondi

5. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or pan. The oil has to be moderately hot. When you add one or two drops of the gram flour batter, they should come up briskly but steadily on the surface.

If they come up very quickly, then the oil is very hot. If they don’t come up or take time, the oil is not enough hot.

Take a perforated ladle/spoon. With your hands position the ladle above the oil. You will need one more large ladle/jhara to remove the fried boondis.

Remember to fry the boondi in a medium-hot oil or a moderately hot oil. If the oil is warm, the boondi will soak more oil, getting loaded and soggy with it.

If the oil is very hot, the batter will get more browned or even burnt becoming very crispy.

heat oil in a kadai

6. Take a large spoon of the besan batter and pour it on perforated ladle/spoon. Press with the other spoon so that the batter falls down from the perforations into the hot oil.

besan batter on a perforated ladle

7. Fry the boondi (gram flour balls) till they become golden. Don’t over fry or make them crisp. When the oil stops sizzling, remove the boondis.

About 45 seconds to 1 minute is enough to get the correct texture in the boondi. This step is important because if boondi becomes crisp then motichoor laddu won’t be soft and they won’t be able to absorb the sugar syrup.

frying boondi

8. For collecting the fried boondi use a large slotted spoon/jhara. Drain the oil very well after removing the boondi and then add them directly to the sugar syrup.

Also, note that the sugar syrup should be hot. If the sugar syrup is not hot, then just heat it.

In case, the sugar syrup crystallizes, then reheat again mixing 1 to 2 tablespoons water.

No need to bother about the flat or tailed boondis as we will be pulsing them in the blender later.

Fry the boondi in batches this way and keep on adding them after draining the oil very well to the hot sugar syrup.

fried boondi added to sugar syrup

9. Make all the boondis like this and keep on adding boondis immediately to the sugar syrup. Stir and mix well. The boondis should get softened in the sugar syrup.

all the fried boondi added to sugar syrup

Make Motichur Laddu

10. In a blender or mixer add all of the boondi that has been mixed with the sugar syrup. Add 1 tablespoon of hot water and pulse the boondi mixture a few times to get a smaller shape.

Don’t pulse too much otherwise you won’t be able to shape the motichoor laddu easily.

The amount of water to be added depends on the texture of the boondis. If the boondis are a bit crisp, then add 1 or 2 tablespoons more of the hot water. The boondis absorb the hot water and remain soft and moist.

pulse motichoor ladoo mixture in pan

11. Add the magaz (melon seeds) and black cardamom seeds. Mix well.

melon seeds added to the ladoo mixture

12. Apply some oil or ghee on your palms and shape the ladoo. The mixture would be warm when preparing the laddu. On cooling they become firm.

shaped motichoor ladoo in a palm

You can garnish them with melon seeds/magaz or raisins or nuts like almond or pistachio slivers. These ladoo can also be refrigerated.

If you fry them in ghee then the ghee will solidify on refrigeration and some softness is lost. Enjoy them as soon as they are made and store leftovers in the refrigerator.

For more sweets recipes you can check this post sharing 121 Sweets for Diwali festival.

motichoor ladoo on a white plate

Expert Tips

  1. The batter should be smooth flowing and without lumps and of medium consistency.
  2. One thread consistency in sugar solution and keep it hot.
  3. Don’t over fry the boondis or make them crisp. They should be soft and cooked and not crisp.
  4. Sugar syrup should be hot when you add boondis to them.
  5. Add fried boondis immediately to the sugar syrup.
  6. Don’t pulse the boondis too much in mixer. Otherwise you won’t be able to shape the motichur ladoo easily.

If you are looking for more Ladoo Recipes then do check:

Please be sure to rate the recipe in the recipe card or leave a comment below if you have made it. For more vegetarian inspirations, Sign Up for my emails or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.

motichoor ladoo recipe, motichur laddu recipe, motichoor ke ladoo recipe

Motichur Laddu Recipe (Motichoor Ladoo)

Motichur Laddu are soft, delish melt in the mouth ladoo made mainly with gram flour, sugar, and spices. One of the most popular Indian sweet.
4.92 from 47 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Cuisine Indian
Course Sweets
Diet Vegetarian
Difficulty Level Moderate
Servings 10 Ladoo
Units

Ingredients

For sugar syrup

  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • a generous pinch of saffron powder or crushed saffron (kesar)

For making boondi

  • 1 cup besan (gram flour)
  • a generous pinch of saffron powder or crushed saffron (kesar)
  • ¾ cup water
  • 2 to 3 black cardamoms – seeds removed and the skins discarded
  • ½ tablespoon magaz (melon seeds)
  • oil for deep frying
  • a bit of oil or ghee for applying on the palms while shaping the ladoo

Instructions
 

Preparing sugar syrup

  • Dissolve sugar, saffron threads and water in a pan and keep it on the stove top.
  • Cook the sugar solution till it reaches one thread consistency (check step 3 pic to see photo showing one thread consistency) and then switch off the flame. Keep the sugar solution aside.)

Making boondi

  • Make a smooth flowing batter of the gram flour/besan, crushed saffron and water. The batter should neither be thick nor thin. It should be a flowing batter without any lumps. The amount of water to be added depends on the quality of the the gram flour. So you can add more or less than what is mentioned in the recipe.
  • Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or pan. The oil has to be moderately hot. Take a perforated ladle/spoon. With your hands position the ladle above the oil. You will need one more large ladle/jhara to remove the fried boondis.
  • Take a large spoon of the besan batter and pour it on perforated ladle/spoon. Press with the other spoon so that the batter falls down from the perforations into the hot oil.
  • Fry the boondi (gram flour balls) till they become golden. Don’t over fry or make them crisp. When the oil stops sizzling, remove the boondis. About 45 seconds to 1 minute is enough to get the correct texture in the boondi.
  • This step is important because if boondi becomes crisp then motichur laddu won't be soft and they won't be able to absorb the sugar syrup.

Making motichoor ladoo

  • For collecting the fried boondi use a large slotted spoon/jhara. Drain the oil very well after removing the boondi and then add them directly to the sugar syrup. Also note that the sugar syrup should be hot.
  • If the sugar syrup is not hot, then just heat it. In case, the sugar syrup crystallizes, then reheat again mixing 1 to 2 tablespoons water. No need to bother about the tailed or flat boondis as we will be pulsing them in the blender later.
  • Make all the boondis like this and keep on adding them immediately to the sugar syrup. Stir and mix well. The boondis should get softened in the sugar syrup.
  • In a blender or mixer add the boondi and the sugar syrup. Add 1 tablespoon of hot water and pulse the boondi mixture for a few times to get a smaller shape.
  • Don't pulse too much otherwise you won't be able to shape the motichur laddu. The amount of water to be added depends on the texture of the boondis.
  • If the boondis are a bit crisp, then add 1 or 2 tablespoons more of the hot water. The boondis absorb the hot water and remain soft and moist.
  • Add the magaz/melon seeds and black cardamom seeds. Mix well.
  • Apply some oil or ghee on your palms and shape the motichoor ladoo. The mixture would be warm when preparing the laddu. On cooling they become firm.
  • You can garnish the motichoor ladoo with melon seeds/magaz or raisins. These motichur ladoo can also be refrigerated since they are not made from ghee. If you fry them in ghee then the ghee will solidify on refrigeration.

Notes

  • Use a finer variety of gram flour and which is in its shelf life. Do not use gram flour that has got rancid.
  • Remember to keep the sugar syrup hot by placing the pan over a bowl or pan of hot water.
  • Don’t over fry the boondi. They should not become crisp.
  • While blending do not pulse too much as the ladoo mixture will become pasty and won’t have the fine boondi in it.
  • Fry the boondi in a medium hot oil. If the oil is warm, the boondi will soak more oil and become soggy with it. If the oil is very hot, the boondi will become crisp too soon and get too much browned or burnt.
  • For a vegan motichoor laddu, use a neutral flavored oil to spread on your palms while shaping ladoo.
  • The recipe can be scaled easily to make a small or large batch of motichur laddu.

Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)

Nutrition Facts
Motichur Laddu Recipe (Motichoor Ladoo)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 173 Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Fat 6g9%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 3mg1%
Sodium 10mg0%
Potassium 112mg3%
Carbohydrates 27g9%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 21g23%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 5IU0%
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) 1mg67%
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) 1mg59%
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) 1mg5%
Vitamin B6 1mg50%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Vitamin E 2mg13%
Vitamin K 1µg1%
Calcium 10mg1%
Vitamin B9 (Folate) 52µg13%
Iron 1mg6%
Magnesium 22mg6%
Phosphorus 39mg4%
Zinc 1mg7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Motichur Laddu recipe from the blog archives was first published on July 2014.

Share This Recipe:

WhatsAppPinShares877

Meet Dassana

Welcome to Dassana's Veg Recipes. I share vegetarian recipes from India & around the World. Having been cooking for decades and with a professional background in cooking & baking, I help you to make your cooking journey easier with my tried and tested recipes showcased with step by step photos & plenty of tips & suggestions.

Get My Secrets to Great Indian Food
Sign up for my FREE Beginners Guide to Delicious Indian Cooking

More Vegetarian Recipes You'll Love

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. We moderate comments and it takes 24 to 48 hours for the comments to appear. We thank you for your understanding and patience. If you have made the recipe, then you can also give a star rating.

Your Recipe Rating




103 Comments

  1. I really like ladoos but I have never tried homemade ladoos, today I made motichoor ladoos first time at home, and my family members really like them,thanks for your recipe of motichoor ladoos

  2. Made them today and the result was fabulous. Ladoos were sweet and mouth watering. I have tried many times making perfect ladoos but always there was something missing . But now with your guidance everything was perfect . Thanks a lot.5 stars

    1. thats good to know harsimrat. i an glad that this recipe went well with you. thanks for the positive feedback 🙂

  3. Thanks for this wonderful recipe. How long I can store them in good condition in airtight container? Can you please tell me the secret behind Motichoor Laddo of reputed manufacturer which one can store in airtight container for longer period than homemade one. I am surprised how can they do that!5 stars

    1. welcome sudipta. i suggest to keep in air tight container in the fridge. taste well for 3-4 days. then they become little dry and start losing the moistness. they must be adding some preservatives.

  4. I made the laddoos n they were yummy…but??? But i couldnt mke it round because they were a bit watery n sticky… The taste was awesome

  5. Hi Dassana,
    I made it was yummy. But actually while making ladoos my mixture got cool down and i was unable to shape them
    At last we had the few ladoos and few boondi.
    Plz give any tips for this5 stars

    1. if the mixture cools down, then its difficult to shape the ladoos. so the mixture has to be slightly hot or warm. thats also the reason we add hot water while crushing them in the mixer. you will have to keep the mixture pan on a hot water bath. meaning a shallow pan filled with hot water and the boondi pan on top touching the hot water. hope this helps.

  6. I made these laddoos and they turned out yum….my sister loved them and packed all of them to her hostel….

    I would recommend a few more important points for beginners… Sometimes the sugar solution may become more or less for the boondis so it is better to add boondis in batches to the sugar solution or vice versa….
    achieving right consistency in sugar solution seems little tough for beginners….drop a little drop of sugar solution to water and if it retains its shape for some seconds before dissolving itself then it is the right to add boondis….
    using a perforated ladle to make boondis is messy, tiring and time consuming….instead one can use a perforated vessel….
    The frying pan has to be large enough and oil has to be less than half in the large pan….else oil flows blocking the stove burner….

    it is better to prepare the sugar solution first and keep it in hot water bath to retain its temperature…..
    It is better to process dry boondis than the wet boondis…so process half of the boondis in mixer jar or whatever and then add them to sugar solution….I added half of the boondis for processing….and the remaining were full….it gives a good texture to the laddoos….
    Hope these help the beginners….. And thank you for the recipe….5 stars

  7. Hi….
    Thanks for the recipe.your all recipes are really awesome and easy to understand. After reading you it became difficult for me to read any other blogs.I am afraid to do something new but the situation has changed now.now I have got the courage to try it with out fear because I really believe that it won’t fail me.I give you a seven star.5 stars

    1. welcome shareena. thanks for sharing your experience and giving positive review on recipes. glad to know this.

  8. Hey Dassana,

    You are simply great! I love how you take time to make recipes and take photos and upload and everything. I lovveee cooking but never made these ladoos, although they are my favorite ones. I will make them and reply to you. Keep up the good work(or I must say HARD WORK!) :-).

  9. Thanks Dassana for cooking with such depth n precision and making my everyday cooking a lot more delicious.I tried these ladoos ,they came out right5 stars

  10. Hi i tried these ladoo but they didnt taste so good. My boondi remain crispy only. I followed all the steps carefully.

    1. probably you fried the boondi more. the boondi just have to be cooked and not made crispy or browned.

  11. You made it look so simple. I will try this. I have a question, on my web search, I saw couple of recipes which use cooking soda and also rice flour for boondis. Is that required? Please clarify.
    Thanks,
    Sarika3 stars

    1. thanks sarika. even i have seen some recipes using cooking soda and rice flour. but not compulsory or required. i make these motichoor ladoos as well as boondi ladoos without them.

  12. Thanks dear…for this recepie….u wrote very nicely and in simple ways.
    I will try this for my son he will be very happy.he loves motichoor ladoos..again thanks