Traditional Green Moong Dal Laddu is a wholesome and flavorful Indian sweet, that just uses 4 ingredients and is naturally gluten-free. It is crafted from whole green moong dal, sugar and ghee. These laddus are not only delicious but also nutritious, rich in protein and a great snack for small kids.
About Traditional Green Moong Dal Laddu
Green moong dal laddu is a traditional Indian sweet that is healthy, nutritious and naturally gluten-free. It needs simple and minimal ingredients that every Indian household has in its pantry. It needs less time to prepare these laddus.
These laddus have a nutty aroma from roasted moong dal and rich taste from sugar and aromatic warmth from cardamom powder. The other names for these laddus are green gram laddu, mung bean ladoo, green mung bean ladoo. We call this laddu as pasi payaru urundai or Pachai payaru urundai in tamil and Pesara pappu laddu in telugu.
My Grandma used to make these laddus for the entire family whenever we visited her during summer vacation. What I am going to share here is her recipe for making traditional green gram laddu.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Green Moong Dal: Green moong dal is the key ingredient. Both split and whole-skinned moong dal work well with this recipe.
Sugar: To make the job easier, I used white sugar. The other substitutes are brown sugar or powdered jaggery.
Ghee: Ghee acts as a binding ingredient and I used hot melted ghee.
Green cardamom powder: When green cardamom powder is added along with ghee, it smells like heaven and adds a nice flavour.
Below are some of the other laddu recipes from the blog.
For more Laddu recipes, please see our “Laddu Collection“
Recipe Card
Traditional Green Moong Dal Laddu
Ingredients
- 2 cups green moong dal whole / split
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 – 1 cup ghee melted
- 1/2 tsp green cardamom powder
Instructions
- In a heavy bottom pan, add green moong dal, and dry roast it over medium flame until it is golden brown and releases a nutty aroma. Transfer to a plate and cool down.
- Grind the roasted whole moong dal to a fine coarse powder using a blender/mixie jar. It should look smooth but when touched it should be slightly grainy. Transfer it to a wide mixing bowl.
- To the same blender, add sugar and powder it. Add this powdered sugar to the mixing bowl.
- Add green cardamom powder. Mix well using a spatula. The laddu mix is now ready.
- Melt ghee and add hot or warm ghee gradually to the laddu mix and start making laddu.
- Repeat the step with the remaining mix by adding ghee a little at a time until the laddu mix is over.
- Traditional style whole moong dal laddu is ready. Cool down completely before storing it in an air-tight container.
Video
Notes
- Dry roast the whole moong dal in a medium flame by stirring continuously. Do not burn it.
- Brown sugar or powdered jaggery can be substituted instead of sugar.
Step by Step Instructions to make Whole Moong Dal Laddu
- In a heavy bottom kadai, add whole green moong dal. Stir it continuously over medium flame until it turns golden brown and releases a nice nutty aroma. Make sure not to burn it.
- Once roasted, transfer the whole moong dal to a plate and cool down completely.
- Using a mixer jar or blender, powder the roasted and cooled whole moong dal to a powder.
- It should be in a slightly coarse texture. Do not grind it smooth. If you grind it smooth, it sticks to the mouth while eating. Transfer it to a mixing bowl. It should look smooth but when touched, it should be slightly grainy.
- To the same blender, add sugar. If you are using whole green cardamom, then add it with sugar now and grind it along with sugar.
- Make a fine powder of sugar. Instead of sugar powdered brown sugar or nattu sakkarai or jaggery or palm jaggery can also be used.
- Transfer the powdered sugar to the same mixing bowl where we have the powdered moong dal.
- Add the green cardamom powder. If you have used whole green cardamom in the previous step then this step is not required.
- Mix all the powdered ingredients well using a spatula. Now the laddu mix is ready. You can store this mix in an air-tight container for a month time and make laddu whenever needed by following the below steps.
- Melt ghee now. I kept the ghee in the hot kadai which melted the ghee and it became warm. you can microwave or heat it in a stove top to melt the ghee.
- Add the warm ghee in batches to the mix. Once it is warm enough to handle, mix the ghee with powdered dal and shape it like a ball. Do not mix ghee with the entire laddu mixture. Start with small portion, mix the hot ghee and make laddu.
- Repeat the step with the remaining laddu mixture by adding hot ghee a little at a time until the laddu mix is over. Heat the ghee in between and add it if the laddu mix becomes dry. Add ghee generously until you get a proper laddu shape. You may need 3/4 cup to 1 cup ghee or more than that to shape a laddu.
Storage
Once the laddu is prepared arrange them in a wide plate and cool completely before storing them in an air-tight container.
This delightful blend of protein-rich laddus stays good for a month time at room temperature. If you want to keep it longer, store it in the refrigerator.
Tips & Notes
- Make sure not to burn the whole moong dal. To roast it evenly always use medium flame and stir continuously. If you use high flame then the moong dal turns brown quickly but it would be raw inside and cause digestion issues.
- Do not make smooth powder of whole moong dal. The powder should be slightly coarse in texture which would be crunchy and gives a nice nutty feeling while eating. Smooth powder sticks to the mouth while eating.
- Adjust the ghee as needed. Add ghee in batches just to shape the laddu. The correct amount of ghee always gives perfectly shaped laddus.
Frequently Asked Questions
The whole moong dal laddu stays good for a month time at room temperature.
Yes. Powdered jaggery or palm jaggery can be used instead of sugar in this recipe but it alters a taste to some level.
Yes. Whole green moong dal laddus are naturally gluten-free. So it is suitable for people with gluten sensitivity and celiac disease.
Yes. You can adjust the sweetness by varying the quantity of sugar as per your personal needs.
If your laddu is breaking and unable to hold the shape, then there is a less binding ingredient. Add some more ghee and shape it.
Yes. You can add finely chopped roasted nuts to your moong dal laddu if personally preferred.
If you have tried this recipe or have any questions, don’t forget to comment below. I would love to hear your feedback and glad to answer your queries. You can also Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Youtube for other updates from my kitchen about Office Lunchbox, Kid’s Lunchbox and simple meal plate ideas.
