Blueberry Coconut Ladoos
Kopra Pak is one of the most popular and easy recipes to make during Diwali and makes great hostess gifts. They taste great and are easier to make than you think. It usually is prepared with coconut either fresh or dry, sugar or jaggery, cardamom powder and sometimes people also use Khoya/Mawa in it to make it creamier. Khoya is solidified cooked milk , that has nutty caramelized taste to it.
Different people call it by different names Gujaratis call it Kopra Pak, some people call it nariyal ladoos, coconut ladoos. The shape can vary as Pak is usually squares, or diamond shaped. Ladoos are always round.
You can use freshly grated, frozen, or dry coconut. For flavorings you can use the most well known cardamom and saffron. I also use vanilla extract.
Whether you use fresh coconut or dry, toasting it in ghee is a good idea. For fresh coconut, it helps get rid of the extra moisture. In case of dry coconut, it helps get that rawness away.
I used unsweetened finely shredded dry coconut. Remember, if you have those big shreds of coconut then you need to roughly grind it in a food processor. I highly recommend buying finely ground and unsweetened. If you buy sweetened coconut flakes, then reduce the condensed milk. It will be too sweet. Its very important.
The original traditional way of making Kopra Pak is with sugar syrup, therefore it is called pak. Pak refers to any Indian mithai that needs that sugar syrup consistency of soft ball stage. I have used condensed milk method as I feel it also makes very delicious ladoos with less stress about the consistency of the sugar.
I have flavored coconut ladoos with blueberries. I have been contemplating making purple desserts and that’s where the idea came by. I have made enough blueberry jam or preserves to know how to incorporate it. I find cooking the blueberries helps reduce the water content from it and that jammy consistency is easier to fold into the coconut mixture. Rather than cooking the pulp of blueberries directly into the coconut mixture. Blueberries have natural pectin in them which means, they thicken up easily too. Jam making experience speaking here.
My husband is a huge coconut fan, and he loved the taste of blueberries in ladoos. They give that fruity ever so slightly tart flavor against sweet coconut mixture.
I took it further by dipping them in to chocolate. They make excellent Diwali, hostess or holiday gifts.
Blueberry Coconut Ladoos
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ghee/butter
- 2 cups finely shredded dry/fresh coconut unsweetened
- 1 can condensed milk 14 oz
- 2 tbsp almond meal optional
- 2 tbsp milk powder optional
- 1 tsp Cardamom powder/ Vanilla Extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cup Blueberry yields 1/2 cup blueberry preserves
- 1/3 cup finely shredded dry coconut optional
- 4 oz Milk/Dark Chocolate optional
- 4 oz White chocolate optional
- Pistachios, Rose petals, Silver edible leaf, Edible flowers, sprinkles
Instructions
- Wash the blueberries, and blend them using a blender. Heat a small pan/pot on medium low, add the blueberry pulp and cook it until it is reduced and thickened to jam like consistency. Once it has thickened remove on a side.
- In another bigger pan, add the dry coconut, condensed milk and cook it for few minutes until you see its coming together. It will only take 6-7 minutes, it will start leaving the sides and would like thick mass, as soon as that happens add the salt, almond meal, milk powder, cardamom powder and if using vanilla extract then that. Mix well.
- At this point, add in the blueberry preserves. Mix it until everything is combined. Keep the flame low all this time. If the mixture looks thickened, you can turn off the heat. If the mixture has water content, then keep stirring until it is thickened, and you can form them into ladoos. It should not take you more 10 minutes as we have already cooked the blueberries and removed the water content.
- Let it cool down slightly and divide the mixture into equal portions. Form round balls. Use some ghee or butter to rub between your palms if the mixture is sticking while rolling them into rounds. The size of the balls should be golf ball sized.
- Keep it in the refrigerator for few minutes. At this point you can serve them as it is.
- If you want you can either roll them in dry coconut, dip them into chocolate and garnish it with nuts, rose petals etc.
- Chocolate Dipped – Melt chocolate in a microwave at 1 minute intervals until the chocolate is completely melted. After every one minute, remove it and stir it with a spoon. It should melt in 2-3 minutes. Do not melt chocolate continuously for 3 minutes. You will burn the chocolate. Be careful.
- Take one ladoo at a time on a fork, roll it into melted chocolate and the remove the excess chocolate on the bottom of the fork by lightly rubbing the fork at the edge of bowl. Place all the dipped ladoos on a parchment lined plate. Sprinkle with garnishes. Let it set or store it in the refrigerator.
Notes
XO, Devangi