Originally, sweet boondi or Meethi Boondi is made by deep-frying small balls created from light gram flour (besan) batter. They are then immersed in a sugar syrup. These pearls are often offered in temples as prashad or shaped to make boondi ladoo. We have made our boondi sugar free and healthy by using 100% natural sweetener, stevia.
Learn how to make this healthier and sugar-free boondi with our step by step video tutorial.
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SWEET BOONDI WITH NO ADDED SUGAR
When I was young, Boondi Ladoo, or boondi na ladwa, were my favourite Diwali sweet and I couldn't wait. As I've got older, I've grown to love Mohanthaal
My memories of boondi start from when my Mum used to make boondi in large kadais. I was barely tall enough to see above the counter but I used to love to sit and watch from a distance.
We used to, and still do, visit the Swaminarayan Temple in Neasdon and I always looked first for the little ziplock bag of tricolour boondi inside the pink prashad boxes.
If you've never visited the Neasdon temple before, you absolutely must! It's famous too - it was featured in the Diwali episode of the Teletubbies!
WHAT IS BOONDI?
Boondi is an Indian sweet or mithai that is enjoyed throughout the year but most particularly around Diwali.
Boondi are small balls or pearls that can be either sweet or savoury. They are made from fine besan (gram flour or chickpea flour) batter.
The batter is passed through a perforated spoon or jharo (a ladle with small holes) into hot oil or ghee.
The little droplets of batter are quickly deep-fried until they are just crunchy.
The boondi are quickly removed from the hot oil or ghee before they brown.
To make meethi boondi, these peals are dropped into a saffron sugar syrup. The sugar syrup cools and hardens a little and coats the boondi. This boondi can be pressed together to form balls called boondi ladoo - chopped nuts are often added at this stage.
To make savoury or khaari (salty) boondi, a little salt and red chilli powder is added. We have experimented and succesfully made Palak Beet Masala Boondi and added in this tasty Panch Ratna Chevdo.
The perfect boondi is round, not flat and will not have a "tail" or be teardrop-shaped. They will also not clump together. This recipe goes through ways to achieve perfect boondi.
WHY MAKE BOONDI WITH NO ADDED SUGAR?
As someone who has grown up eating delicious traditional mithais, I would be the first person to say that if you are going to make Indian mithai, just enjoy it the proper way to the fullest. Do not take shortcuts and try to make recipes that are lower in fat, or lower in sugar or compromise on deep frying.
HOWEVER.
Even I am pleasantly surprised but thrilled to inform you that this sugar-free boondi tastes EXACTLY like the original sweet boondi that uses a proper sugar syrup.
The texture also comes very close to the standard boondi recipe. The only difference is how the sugar syrup hardens.
This recipe makes Indian mithai healthier as we have not added refined sugar. Although, we have of course deep-fried the boondi so the recipe isn't entirely guilt-free!
Sugar free boondi doesn't need proper syrup, we are simply dissolving the sweetneer into the water. We are not looking for "thread" consistencies.
This boondi recipe is the perfect sugar free Indian sweet for diabetics.
Did you know that we have more sugar free mithai recipes on our blog. We have created and posted Sugar free Indian sweets for diabetics.
No added sugar slow roasted mawa peda
CAN I MAKE SUGAR FREE BOONDI LADOO?
After creating our sugar-free sweet boondi, we took many attempts to make boondi na ladwa with sweeteners.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the sweetener syrup, the consistency isn't sticky enough to shape into balls. The ladoo simply break as the boondi do not stay sticky and form a mass.
We tried sprinkling water to the sugar free boondi but that just makes the boondi go soggy and you loose the texture.
We also tried adding ghee before shaping but this too wasn't sufficient.
However, we will keep trying and update this if we find a way!
INGREDIENTS FOR SUGAR-FREE SWEET BOONDI
this recipe is made without bicarbonate of soda and rice flour.
● Gram flour - we will need fine gram flour known as besan for meethi boondi recipe.
● Stevia/Erythritol - this is the 100% natural artificial sweetener that we have used in place of sugar. You can also use monk sugar or splenda. You can easily by this sweetener (*affiliate)from online stores such as Amazon or in health food shops.
● Oil - any neutral oil like sunflower
● Food colour - we used yellow and red mixed together to make a deep orange.
● Ghee - we used our homemade desi ghee
● Nuts, cardamom powder for flavour
● Saffron - a few threads of good quality saffron threads
HOW TO MAKE ROUND BOONDI?
Boondi recipe is a fairly easy Indian sweet to make. The only hard part is to create round boondi in every batch.
As long as you to follow a few key steps you will have perfect boondis without tail and flat.
● Make a slight runny batter Boondis prepared with a thick batter produce boondis with tail and sometimes they go very flat too. For round boondis free flowing thin batter works best, the batter consistency should be same as crêpe batter.
● Let the batter drop into oil itself if you have the batter thin enough it should drop into hot oil on its own, if not quickly add a tablespoon of water and mix before frying the next batch.
● Do not use a spoon or ladle to spread the batter let the batter drop on its own in the oil, if not dropping that means the batter is not runny enough to drop itself. If you use spoon to spread the batter your boondi will be with tails and look flat.
● Do not shake or tap the boondi jaro let the batter drop itself in the hot oil, do not shake or tap ladle. This way you are forcing batter to drop quickly and batter looses its shape.
● Keep the boondi jaro/ladle height of ¾ inches from oil - if you keep boondi ladle very high or too low over the oil and pour the batter on it, boondi will be flat. Keep jaro at least 4 inches or 10 cm above the kadai with hot oil.
● Clean boondi jaro or ladle after frying every single batch of boondi - once you have used ladle to drop the boondi batter, wash it with clean water after every single batch. If the jaro is not cleaned, next batch of boondis won't be round.
FAQ
1. What type of gram flour shall I use to use make boondi?
To prepare boondi you will need fine gram flour, also known as Besan.
2. Why my boondis are flat and with tails?
If your boondi batter is too thin then the batter after falling from the ladle will flatten and the boondi after frying will be flat.
If the boondi batter consistancy is too thick, it won't drop itself easily in droplets and tails will be formed. Therefore keep the boondi batter consistency should be not too thick or not to thin but flowing.
The batter should drop on its own and so should not loose its shape.
3. How many ladle or jaro will I need to make boondi?
Minimum you will need two ladle or jara to make boondi. To drop the boondi you will need special equipment called BOONDI NO JARO and to fry the boondi you need a normal jaaro.
4. I don't have boondi jaro, what can I use instead?
Use a normal jaaro that has larger holes. If you have a jaaro with small holes you will get motichoor.
5. Why my boondi is not crispy?
Oil or ghee must be added to the batter to make crispy boondi.
6. How to make colourful boondi?
Yes, you can. To add colour to the boondi you can use edible colours such as egg yellow, yellow, orange, red and green.
Edible colours are available in powder form and gel. Don't add too much colour but instead use a little at a time. The colour will deepen upon frying as well so keep the batter colour slightly lighter
7. Can I add edible camphoor in boondi?
We have not added edible camphoor in the boondi, but have tasted in prasad boondi which is available from south Indian temples.
If you decide to add, just add a size of mustard seed once you mix boondis in sugar syrup.
LEFTOVER MEETHI BOONDI RECIPES
HOW TO MAKE SWEET BOONDI RECIPE WITHOUT SUGAR?
IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE
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HOW TO MAKE BOONDI SUGAR FREE
Ingredients
- 1 cup gram flour/besan
- Pinch edible colour - yellow and red
- Oil to fry
- 3-4 tablespoons of ghee
- Tap water
- 1 cup stevia
- ¾ cup tap water 170milliliters
- 10-12 saffron threads
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 3-4 tablespoons of almond and pistachio slivers
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl take sift besan. Prepare smooth and free flowing batter by adding water little by little.
- Add colour and 1 teaspoon ghee, mix again.
- Cover the bowl with a lid and leave it to rest for half an hour. *
- Heat oil in a kadai.
- Fry boondis by keeping a special boondi ladle (jaro) over the hot oil kadai.
- Pour small amount batter on the jaro and let the batter drop itself in the hot oil.
- Fry the boondis about 30-40 seconds, then remove using a normal jaro.**
- Repeat this process until you finish frying all the boondis.
- If using diffrent colour for boondis, fry them last such as green colourd ones.
- Don't forget to wipe or wash the boondi jaro after each frying.
- Keep fried boondis aside.
- In a pan mix stevia and water.
- Add saffron threads.
- Bring it to first boil on medium heat, simmer just for 1 minute.
- Turnoff the heat, add cardamom powder.
- Now add fried boondis along with remaining ghee, mix well and leave it for half an hour to soak up all the chasni.
- Then add slivered almond and pistachio.
- Once cooled completely serve in a bowl.
Video
Notes
- *Boondi batter can be left to rest for 10-12 hours or over night.
- **Boondi cooks fast, so it is important to insure not to over cook else it will turn dark brown.
- For vegan boondis use oil instead of ghee.
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
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