Ragi Ladoo

roasting ragi flour

1. Take 1.5 cups ragi flour in a kadai or a thick bottomed broad pan.
2. Keep the pan on a low flame or sim and begin to roast the ragi flour. You have to stir often while roasting the flour so that there is even roasting.
3. Roast till the color changes and you get a nice aroma from the ragi flour. About 6 to 8 minutes on a low flame. 
4. Timing will vary with the material, size and thickness of the pan. I used a steel kadai which does not have a thick bottomed base, thus it took me just 6 minutes to roast the ragi flour.

making ragi ladoo mixture

1. Then add 1/3 cup ghee in the flour. The ghee will melt.
2. Begin to mix the ghee with the flour.
3. Keep on stirring and roasting this mixture for 5 to 7 minutes more. Again here timing will vary with the material, size and thickness of the pan.
4. Do check the taste of the ragi flour and you will get a crunchy taste. There should be no rawness in the taste. It took me 5 minutes to get the roasting done at this step, due to the steel kadai I used.
5. Then switch off the flame. Place the pan down.
6. Add 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder and add 3/4 cup jaggery powder. You can also grate a block of jaggery and then add. You can use powdered sugar instead of jaggery, but add sugar as per taste.
7. Begin to mix very well.
8. Break the tiny lumps of jaggery if any with the spoon or spatula.

making ragi ladoo

1. Let this ragi ladoo mixture become warm, then mix everything again very well with your hands and break small lumps if any with your hands.
2. Take a portion of the mixture and shape into ladoos. 
3. If you are unable to form ragi ladoos, then add a few tablespoons of ghee, which is at room temperature. Mix again very well and begin to shape the ragi ladoos.
4. Make ladoos this way with all of the mixture.
5. Store ragi ladoo in an airtight jar or container. Serve them as a sweet snack.