Tropical Mango Coconut Ladoos
Kopra Paak 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 Paak, some people call it nariyal ladoos, coconut ladoos. The shape can vary as Paak 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. It’s very important.
The original traditional way of making Kopra Paak is with sugar syrup, therefore it is called pak. Paak refers to any Indian mithai that needs that sugar syrup consistency of soft ball stage. I have used condensed milk method as well in other recipes, I feel it also makes very delicious ladoos with less stress about the consistency of the sugar.
Ladoos have mango flavor. I have been contemplating making them for some time. I have used canned mango pulp for intense flavor. You can use fresh mangoes too, but you will have to adjust the quantity of sugar or sweetness.
My husband is a huge coconut fan, this is a variation of these ladoos. They give that fruity ever so slightly tart flavor against sweet coconut mixture.
You can dip the ladoos in chocolate too. I think either white chocolate or dark chocolate would taste great. They make excellent treat for Rakshabandhan, Diwali, hostess or holiday gifts.
Mango Coconut Ladoos
Ingredients
- 2 cups finely shredded dry coconut plus extra for rolling the ladoos
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1 ¼ cup mango pulp
- 1 cup milk
- ¾ cup sugar plus 2 tbsp
- ½ cup milk powder or khoya
- 1 tsp cardamom powder freshly ground
- Pinch of nutmeg optional
- Pistachios for garnish
- Edible Silver or gold for decorations
Instructions
- In a bigger pan, add ghee, and roast the dry coconut, let it change color to light brown goldenish. Then add mango pulp, 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 look thick mass, as soon as that happens add sugar, milk powder or khoya, cardamom powder and if using vanilla extract then that. Mix well.
- If the mixture looks thickened, starts leaving the sides of the pan you can turn off the heat.
- 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. I used a small cookie scoop.
- Roll each ladoo into dry shredded coconut or add some pistachios on top and edible silver.
- If you want you can either roll them in dry coconut, dip them into chocolate and garnish it with nuts, rose petals etc.