Here is the easy recipe for healthy and nutritious sesame seeds laddu/sesame seeds jaggery balls popularly known as til ladoo in Hindi and ellu urundai in Tamil.
Recently I shared paneer laddu, and I am back with another laddu recipe. This time it’s the til laddu. Festivals, especially Indian festivals, are all about food, and this til laddu or ellu urundai is quite popular, and we make it during Sankranti/Pongal, the Indian harvest festival. Our household makes plain sesame seeds balls, aka chigali, for all the festivals.
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While we use only black sesame seeds and jaggery for chigali, for this laddu, we use peanuts and other nuts/seeds of our choice along with sesame seeds making it much more nutritious.
Healthy snack
This ellu urundai is a healthy snack you can make all year round, like the maaladu. It’s a guilt-free nutritious snack for both kids and adults. I have used peanuts, but you can make it without peanuts and include other seeds like sunflower seeds and make it nut-free too.
Ingredients required
Nuts and seeds: For this laddu, I have used black and white sesame seeds, peanuts, and pumpkin seeds.
Sweetener: We sweeten this laddu up with jaggery. You can also give this laddu a try with palm jaggery.
Flavor enhancer: We add green cardamom/ground cardamom and ghee to add more flavor. Yes, ghee also adds flavor. You can bind the laddu even without ghee. But if the mixture is too dry, you can add little extra ghee.
Optional ingredients: You can add other nuts like cashews and almonds in small quantities and ¼ to ⅓ cup of dry coconut. Make sure to roast them as well.
Dietary specifications and storage suggestions
This til laddu is a gluten-free laddu recipe. You can skip peanuts and use sunflower or pumpkin seeds to make a nut-free version, or skip the peanuts altogether but reduce the jaggery amount.
Ghee is optional; feel free to skip it for a vegan version.
Yield: The below measure yields 15 to 18 small lemon-sized laddu.
How to make til laddu
- Heat a pan when it is hot, and add the white sesame seeds.
- Roast over medium-low heat until it .turn light brown and starts to pop. Transfer it to a plate and let it cool.
- Add the black sesame seeds to the same pan and roast over medium-low heat until it starts to pop. Transfer it to a plate and let it cool.
- Next, add the peanuts to the same pan.
- Roast until it gets light brown spots, transfer it to a plate, and let it cool.
- Now, add the pumpkin seeds to the same pan and roast them till it becomes light brown.
- Here are the roasted sesame seeds, peanuts, and sunflower seeds. Once they are cool, let’s pulse them together.
- First, add the roasted peanuts to the food processor and pulse them twice or thrice. Next, add the sesame, white and black, and the sunflower seeds and pulse them 5 to 6 times. Do not blend them in one go.
- Now add the jaggery and the ground cardamom. And pulse again till the jaggery blends in well.
- Transfer this to a plate and add the ghee. Mix well and separate the lumps if there are lumps or the mix is clumped together.
- Take a small amount of the ground mix, and shape it into a small round ball. The natural oil from the seeds and nuts will help you bind the laddus. If the mixture is dry, add 1 tbsp of ghee and make the laddus.
- Similarly, make the sesame seeds laddu with the remaining mix. Here is the close-up shot of sesame seeds laddu.
- And here is the inside of the laddu. It’s soft and stays good for up to a week, even without refrigeration.
Recipe Notes
- As we are not making jaggery syrup and adding jaggery directly, make sure to use good quality jaggery without any impurities.
- Instead of ground cardamom, you can use green cardamom pods. Roast them along with white sesame seeds or black sesame seeds and pulse them along with them.
- Make sure to use unsalted peanuts and pumpkin seeds.
- Adjust the ghee and jaggery measure to taste.
VVK tips
- This recipe is an easy beginner-friendly recipe. The critical thing is roasting the nuts and seeds separately. Roast all the ingredients separately over low-medium heat. Do not rush this process.
- Use the pulse mode to grind the ingredients. Do not grind them in one go, as they will become clumpy. The mixture might seem dry, but the natural oils from sesame seeds and peanuts will help bind, and laddu will firm up.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can use either one or an equal portion of black and white. I wanted to incorporate more black sesame seeds, so I used more black seeds. You need 1 cup of sesame seeds, and you can use equal measures or adjust the proportion.
It differs slightly depending on the heat setting and the kadai/pan material. But here are the rough timings. I roasted the white sesame seeds for about 4 minutes, black ones for about 5 minutes, peanuts for about 4 minutes, and pumpkin seeds for about 3 minutes.
Yes, you can. After roasting, let the peanuts cool, and you can crush them with your hands and remove the skin, or you can leave the skin on and make the laddus.
Yes, you can soak them for 30 to 45 minutes and drain the water and roast them. That’s how I do for chigali. But for this recipe, I went ahead without soaking. As I mentioned in that post, soaking helps to remove the anti-nutrient phytic acid, and it also aids in digestion. The body absorbs nutrients quickly when we soak these seeds and coo
Explore more recipes with sesame seeds
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📖 Recipe
Til laddu | Ellu Urundai | Sesame laddu
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
Ingredients
Measurement Details: 1 cup = 240ml; 1 tbsp = 15ml; 1 tsp = 5ml;
- ¼ tsp white sesame seeds
- ¾ cup black sesame seeds
- 1 cup peanuts
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- 200 grams pure jaggery grated or crushed into small pieces
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 2 tbsp ghee
Instructions
- Heat a pan when it is hot, and add the white sesame seeds.
- Roast over medium-low heat until it .turn light brown and starts to pop. Transfer it to a plate and let it cool.
- Add the black sesame seeds to the same pan and roast over medium-low heat until it starts to pop. Transfer it to a plate and let it cool.
- Next, add the peanuts to the same pan.
- Roast until it gets light brown spots, transfer it to a plate, and let it cool.
- Now, add the pumpkin seeds to the same pan and roast them till it becomes light brown.
- Let the nuts and seeds cool before pulsing.
- First, add the roasted peanuts to the food processor and pulse them twice or thrice. Next, add the sesame, white and black, and the sunflower seeds and pulse them 5 to 6 times. Do not blend them in one go.
- Now add the jaggery and the ground cardamom. And pulse again till the jaggery blends in well.
- Transfer this to a plate and add the ghee. Mix well and separate the lumps if there are lumps or the mix is clumped together.
- Take a small amount of the ground mix, and shape it into a small round ball. The natural oil from the seeds and nuts will help you bind the laddus. If the mixture is dry, add 1 tbsp of ghee and make the laddus.
- Similarly, make the sesame seeds laddu with the remaining mix.
Notes
- As we are not making jaggery syrup and adding jaggery directly, make sure to use good quality jaggery without any impurities.
- Instead of ground cardamom, you can use green cardamom pods. Roast them along with white sesame seeds or black sesame seeds and pulse them along with them.
- Make sure to use unsalted peanuts and pumpkin seeds.
- Adjust the ghee and jaggery measure to taste.
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.
Oh my love this sesame laddu! I love laddu’s of all kinds, this nutty sesame ladoo, sounds totally delish and nutritious , makes a great snack for kiddos snack dabba too!
Oh yeah absolutely
I love using both black and white sesame to make til ladoo. I love ellu urundai and it is such a healthy snack. Love to have a couple with me to enjoy after a workout. Adding different seeds and nuts is a great idea as well.
Thanks Sandhya.