A simple yet healthy ladoo with black sesame seeds and jaggery popular known as chigali or ellu unde in Kannada and that’s what I am going to share today! A healthy, vegan and gluten-free laddu recipe.
Check out how to make this sesame seeds laddu that can be used as a filling for kozhukattai/modakam with detailed step-wise pictures.
India is a land of cultural diversity. Apart from the main festivals like Sankranti, Deepavali, Vinayaka Chaturthi, Navratri we have many other festivals/ceremonies that we celebrate. We call them as nonbu(Tamil) and habba(Kannada). Garuda Panchami, Naga Panchami, Varalakshmi Vratam, Mangala Gowri, Gowri Vratam are the most popular ones.
The way each and every festival is celebrated and the food we make for those festivals differs from family to family. Yes, you heard it right, family to family. For example, we don’t do Naga Panchami pooja whereas my SIL family does both Naga Panchami and Garuda Panchami pooja. (I will be explaining about these festivals in my future posts.)
Chigali Tambittu-
Certain recipes like kheer and vada are common but there are some unique recipes as well. In our family, we make this sesame seeds laddu and rice flour laddu (recipe coming soon) as an offering for God for all the festivals. In Kannada, we call chigali thambittu or ellu unde for this sesame seeds laddu and akki thambittu for the rice flour laddu.
This sesame seeds laddu is quite popular across India. In Tamil, we call it ellu urundai, and in the North, it is popularly known as til ladoo.
Many days especially when these festivals fall on weekdays, I have skipped making kheer and vada but not these laddus. Because they are very easy to make. I follow all sorts of shortcuts as well, for both the recipes.
While I duly soak and roast the sesame seeds, I don’t prepare jaggery syrup for this. I grind jaggery along with the sesame seeds. It’s a three-ingredient laddu recipe and all we need is sesame seeds, jaggery, and some cardamom for flavoring. That’s it.
We usually use black sesame seeds for this laddu, especially for the prasadam. I have white sesame seeds laddu recipe as well but again it’s our family tradition to use black sesame seeds.
Soaking Black Sesame Seeds-
Black sesame seeds are unhulled whereas the white ones are hulled with the skins removed. That said, black sesame seeds are slightly nuttier but they are rich in calcium and minerals because of their hull. It’s a nutrient-rich oilseed. The way we prepare this laddu is slightly different.
We always soak the black sesame seeds before roasting. Be it for this recipe or as a matter for any recipe, both my mom and my MIL soak the black sesame seeds for some time, drain the water then they roast it.
Soaking helps to remove the anti-nutrient phytic acid and it also aids in digestion. The body also absorbs the nutrients easily when we soak these seeds and cook. While you can soak them for 6 to 8 hours, I always soak them for a minimum of 30 minutes. And that’s more than sufficient as we will be roasting them again.
Measurement-
The below measure easily serves two. As I make this for all our festivals, I usually make them in small batches. But you can increase the amount and make it in bulk. For one measure of black sesame seeds, you can use a ¾ measure of jaggery or equal measure as well.
Also, I don’t shape them into balls for all the festivals. For Garuda Panchami and Varalakshmi Vratam, I do shape them into balls and make laddus but for the Gowri festival and Vinayaka Chaturthi, I don’t shape them. We eat this like a podi along with the raw rice dosa and also use this as a filling for modakam. So that’s why I have shaped only one ball in the picture. You can do however you prefer.
How to make sesame seeds ladoo-
- Soak sesame seeds in water for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Drain the water thoroughly. I usually use my tea strainer and drain the water.
- Now heat a pan and add the drained sesame seeds and dry roast it until they splutter and pop out.
- As they start to splutter, turn off the heat and let it cool completely.
- In a mixer jar or coffee grinder, add the jaggery, ground cardamom, and roasted and cooled sesame seeds.
- Grind it until the sesame and jaggery are well combined. You can grind it according to your texture preference. Sometimes I grind is smooth and sometimes coarse.
- Take a small portion of the ground mix and shape it into laddus. As I mentioned in the post, I shape them into balls for Garuda Panchami or if I am making it for a snack. For the Gowri habba festival, I don’t shape them as we have it along with dosa. You can use the same as a filling for sesame kozhukattai.
Recipe Notes-
- If you are not able to shape the ground sesame seeds into laddu, then add ghee or oil. Mix well and shape them. The natural oil from sesame seeds along with jaggery is sufficient and it binds really well. But no harm in adding sesame oil or ghee.
- We always soak the black sesame seeds. And I highly recommend soaking. If you are using white sesame seeds, then skip the soaking. You can check out my white sesame seeds laddu recipe as well on my blog.
- Adjust the jaggery amount according to your preference. I have used a minimal measure and you can double or triple the quantity. For 1 measure of sesame seeds, use ¾ or an equal measure of jaggery.
- You can find how to make cardamom powder on my YouTube channel. If you don’t have cardamom powder, you can use one whole green cardamom. Crush it and roast it along with black sesame seeds. You can discard the outer covering and grind it or you can include the covering as well.
Other laddu recipes from my blog-
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📖 Recipe
Chigali | Ellu Unde | Sesame Seeds Laddu
Equipment
- Mixer jar or coffee grinder
Ingredients
Measurement Details: 1 cup=240ml; 1 tbsp=15ml; 1tsp=5ml
- 2 tbsp black sesame seeds
- 1.5 tbsp jaggery powdered or to taste (grated or crushed jaggery is fine as well)
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom refer notes
- water to soak sesame seeds
- 2 tsps of sesame oil or ghee if required
Instructions
- Soak sesame seeds in water for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Drain the water thoroughly. I usually use my tea strainer and drain the water.
- Now heat a pan and add the drained sesame seeds and dry roast it until they splutter and pop out.
- As they start to splutter, turn off the heat and let it cool completely.
- In a mixer jar or coffee grinder, add the jaggery, ground cardamom, and roasted and cooled sesame seeds.
- Grind it until the sesame and jaggery are well combined. You can grind it according to your texture preference. Sometimes I grind is smooth and sometimes coarse.
- Take a small portion of the ground mix and shape it into laddus. As I mentioned in the post, I shape them into balls for Garuda Panchami or if I am making it for a snack. For the Gowri habba festival, I don't shape them as we have it along with dosa. You can use the same as a filling for sesame kozhukattai. Recipe coming soon.
Notes
- If you are not able to shape the ground sesame seeds into laddu, then add ghee or oil. Mix well and shape them. The natural oil from sesame seeds along with jaggery is sufficient and it binds really well. But no harm in adding sesame oil or ghee.
- We always soak the black sesame seeds. And I highly recommend soaking. If you are using white sesame seeds, then skip the soaking. You can check out my white sesame seeds laddu recipe as well on my blog.
- Adjust the jaggery amount according to your preference. I have used a minimal measure and you can double or triple the quantity. For 1 measure of sesame seeds, use ¾ or an equal measure of jaggery.
- You can find how to make cardamom powder on my YouTube channel. If you don't have cardamom powder, you can use one whole green cardamom. Crush it and roast it along with black sesame seeds. You can discard the outer covering and grind it or you can include the covering as well.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Thanks for the recipe Vidya. My grandmother used to make such delicious chigali and perfect round too and I’d not found the recipe yet. Finally I’ve it and will try making them
Please let me know your feedback. Thanks
Hello, thanks for Sharing.