Tilgul Laddu

Maharashtra's winter-solstice sweet: white sesame toasted until it pops and smells of warm nuts, bound with melted jaggery, roasted peanuts, and a little coconut, and rolled whilst hot into small firm balls, eaten and exchanged across western India in mid-January with the words til-gul ghya, god god bola, take this sesame and jaggery, and speak sweetly

Origin: Maharashtra, India

From the journey of Sesame.

Tilgul are the sweets of Makar Sankranti, the festival of mid-January that marks the sun's turn towards the north and the lengthening of the days. Across Maharashtra and much of western India, families exchange tilgul with the phrase til-gul ghya, god god bola: take this sesame and jaggery, and speak sweetly, a wish for warmth and good relations through the coming year. The pairing is also practical wisdom: sesame and jaggery are both warming, energy-dense winter foods, and the festival falls at the coldest point of the northern Indian year. Sesame (til) has been grown on the subcontinent since the Harappan period, and the til sweet is one of its oldest uses; the same toasted-seed-and-syrup idea travelled west to become the pasteli of Greece and the halva of the Levant. The cook's whole art here is in the jaggery: melted just far enough to bind the seed and set firm, but not so far that it turns hard and bitter.

Ingredients

  • 200 g white sesame seeds (til)
  • 60 g roasted unsalted peanuts, skins removed and lightly crushed
  • 30 g desiccated or freshly grated coconut
  • 200 g jaggery (gur), grated or finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp ghee, plus extra for greasing the palms
  • 0.5 tsp ground cardamom

Method

  1. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry, heavy frying pan over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 to 4 minutes until they turn pale gold, smell distinctly nutty, and begin to pop. Tip onto a cold plate at once and leave to cool. Reserve a tablespoon of the seeds to coat the finished sweets if you like.
  2. In the same pan, lightly toast the coconut for a minute until just warmed and fragrant, then tip it in with the cooled sesame and the crushed peanuts.
  3. Wipe the pan, add the ghee and the jaggery, and melt over low heat, stirring, until the jaggery is fully liquid and just begins to bubble. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes more until it reaches the soft-crack stage: a drop added to cold water should set firm and snap cleanly rather than dissolve or remain chewy.
  4. Take the pan off the heat. Working quickly, stir in the sesame, peanuts, coconut, and cardamom until every seed is coated in the molten jaggery.
  5. Grease your palms with a little ghee. Whilst the mixture is still hot enough to handle but cool enough to touch, take small portions and roll firmly between your palms into balls a little larger than a walnut, pressing hard so they hold. Roll in the reserved sesame seeds if using.
  6. Set the laddu on a greased plate or tray and leave to cool completely, when they will become firm and crisp. Store in an airtight jar.

Notes

Tilgul keep for two to three weeks in an airtight container, which is part of their festival purpose: they are made in quantity to give away. The same mixture can be pressed whilst hot into a greased tray and cut into diamonds before it sets, giving til-gul vadi (sesame chikki) instead of balls. Some households add a spoonful of poppy seeds or a few chopped roasted cashews. Use a soft, dark, good-quality jaggery; the pale, very hard blocks sold for some other purposes are harder to melt evenly.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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