Paan-Coconut Laddu - For this Deepavali

Paan Flavoured Coconut Laddu with Gulkhand Stuffing

This deepavali i am making these flavourful laddus along with my other traditional sweets to brighten up our taste buds.

I have never tasted paan in my entire life whereas my husband never misses the sweet paan or beeda in the weddings. i always used to wonder how poeple eat those beetle leaves. during festivals, my mother used to eat the beetle leaves with some areca nut and edible calcium paste. her mouth and tongue turns brilliant red colour and i loved the smell of beetle leaves from her mouth as she talks.

once i tried paan gulfi. i liked it with subtle flavour of paan and tiny bits of paan leaves in it. 

since then i wanted to try something with beetle leaves. we always had gulkhand at home as my daughter likes to have gulkhand milkshake. so it struck me to try this paan flavoured dry coconut laddu. initially i had plan to make gulkhand coconut laddu only. then wanted to try some paan flavoured laddus. once i tasted dry fruits nuts katli with paan stuffing inside. so, i wanted to bring that twist in this laddu too like.. paan flavoured outer coconut sweet mixture with sweet gulkhand and nuts stuffing inside. that's how this recipe came to my blog. 

Ingredients:

• dry or desiccated coconut powder - 4 + 1 cup
• gulkhand - 1/4 cup
• ghee - 2 tablespoons
• almonds, watermelon seeds or cantaloupe seeds,cashews - 1/4 cup
• tutti frutti - 1/4 cup
• cardamom powder - 2 pinches
• condensed milk - 400 grams tin
• paan/beetle leaves - 4 to 5 or more 
• green food colour - optional

Procedure:

• finely chop the nuts, mix it with gulkhand, half cup coconut powder, and tutti frutti and keep aside.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a pan and roast 4 cups of dry coconut powder in low heat till the oil in it warms up and emanates flavour.
• in the mean while take the paan leaves and the condensed milk in the mixer blender and run it to make a smooth paste of the paan leaves and condensed milk. you can add light green colour if you need at this stage, as we are going to use this condensed milk to make the outer paan flavoured sweet coconut mixture.
• now add this condensed milk to the coconut powder in the pan and give a good mix till it is evenly mixed to soft lump. add cardamom powder and mix.
• when everything is evenly mixed, remove from heat. 
• apply some ghee to your hands, pinch off some coconut mixture and make a small cup.
• take the gulkhand stuffing and fill the cup and make laddus.
• roll this in dry coconut to give that final snow-flaky look to those laddus.

Decorating the laddus with edible silver leaf or varak or tutti frutti is your wish. 

During this deepavali, enjoy these awesome and colourful laddus with gentle paan flavoured outer layer of sweet coconut and intense gulkhand with nuts mixture surprising inside. enjoy these laddus for this festival season.

Since this is paan flavoured, these laddus are a good choice as dessert after meals also.

Happy cooking !!