Rava Coconut Laddu is a simple, easy to make, beginner-friendly sweet prepared using semolina, sugar, and coconut and flavored with green cardamom. No festival is complete without these easy-to-make delicious laddus.
About Rava Coconut Laddu
Rava Coconut Laddu is one of the simplest, easiest and tastiest Indian sweet prepared at home. Although it is a familiar sweet across India, the preparation and name differ from region to region across India.
Most commonly, the Ingredients are roasted, mixed and shaped into uniform size balls. It is considered to be an energy booster for kids because of its rich carbohydrate content. The ingredients needed to make this recipe are easily available and it is very economical too. Because of this reason, it appears in each festival and celebration, bringing happiness with every bite.
Today we are going to see how it is prepared in Tamil Nadu, which involves a simple process and uses semolina, sugar, coconut and milk. Rava translates into semolina. Other names for this recipe are Rava Coconut Laddu, Semolina Coconut Laddu, Sooji Laddu Recipe, Rava Laddu using Milk and Suji Ladoo.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Semolina: This recipe uses coarse textured semolina. It is commonly known as bansi rava, bombay rava and upma rava. The other semolina variations which are called as chiroti rava or fine sooji, can also be used in this recipe.
The main differences between bansi rava and chiroti rava are colour and texture. Bansi rava looks pale brownish in color and coarse in texture whereas chiroti rava looks creamy in colour and fine textured. Taste wise both are almost same.
Sugar: White sugar works best. Jaggery, brown sugar and nattu sakkarai are the other substitutes. But believe me, the rava coconut laddus prepared using white sugar tastes best.
Coconut: Freshly grated coconut or dry coconut(copra or kopparai thengai) is traditionally used in this recipe. I used ground desiccated coconut in this recipe. Desiccated coconut powder is the other name for it. Frozen coconut can also be substituted in this recipe.
If using fresh coconut, use a fine grater to grate the fresh coconut or remove the brown skin from the coconut slices after breaking it, chop it into small pieces and grind it to get a coarse texture. If you are using frozen coconut, follow the package instructions to thaw it properly before using it in this recipe.
Milk or Ghee: I use hot milk as a binding ingredient in this recipe. Adding milk reduces the shelf life of this laddu, so refrigeration is required. Otherwise, use melted hot ghee for a longer shelf life.
Other Ingredients: Cashew nuts, raisins and green cardamom are the other ingredients. I broke the cashew nuts into two and used half it for decorating the laddu and the rest to mix with it. Green cardamom powder adds a nice flavour to this laddu.
You may also like other Laddu recipes from my blog.
Recipe Card
Rava Coconut Laddu
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 10 raisins
- 10 whole cashew nuts
- 1/2 cup grated coconut fresh / frozen / desiccated
- 1 cup semolina / rava
- 3/4 cup sugar adjust as needed
- 1/2 tsp green cardamom powder
- 1/2 cup milk adjust as needed
Instructions
- Heat ghee in a pan. Add broken cashew nuts and raisins. When cashews turn golden brown and the raisins start blowing up, remove them from the pan to a plate.
- To the same pan, add the grated coconut and roast it until moisture free and then transfer to a plate. I used desiccated coconut and roasted just until it changes the colour.
- Add remaining ghee to the same pan. Add semolina, roast it for 6-7 minutes until the aroma comes. Make sure not to change the colour of the rava. It should look grainy and slight golden in colour. Transfer to a plate and allow it to cool.
- Once the semolina is cooled down, blend it into half-fine powder and then blend the sugar into powder along with green cardamom.
- To the wide bowl, add half fine powdered semolina, powdered sugar, roasted coconut, cashew nuts and raisins. Green cardamom is already added while powdering the sugar. Mix well.
- Now boil the milk and add it to the mixture slowly and mix it using a spatula. When the mixture is warm enough to handle, make laddu. It is enough to add only the required amount of milk each time.
- Shape the laddu’s to uniform size with your hand, decorate it with one cashew nut for each laddu.
- Rava coconut laddu ready. Cool down to room temprature before storing it.
Video
Notes
- Instead of milk, you can add ghee and make laddus for long shelf life. If you add more milk to the rava mixture, you can make laddus out of it, but they won’t hold its shape. So, to make perfect shape laddu, add the correct amount of milk.
- Usually, I add 1 cup sugar for 1 cup rava. Since I used organic cane sugar, I only added 3/4 cup of sugar. You can increase or decrease it according to your preference or as the sugar type you use.
How to make Rava Coconut Laddu – Step by Step Instructions
To make soft, melt-in-mouth rava laddu, please read the step-by-step instructions along with the pro tips below.
Preparation
Before starting the recipe, prepare all the ingredients. As we roast all the ingredients one by one, preparation helps to make the process easier. Measure semolina and sugar. Grate the coconut and measure it correctly. If you use using fresh coconut, remove the brown part of it, to get a nice white-colored grated coconut. It is an optional and personal choice.
Step by step instructions to make Rava Coconut Laddu
- To a heavy bottom pan or kadai, add 1 tbsp ghee to it. Once it is melted and not smoking, add the raisins and halved cashew nuts. Fry it in a medium flame.
- Once the cashew nuts turns golden brown and raisins becomes pulpy, transfer it to a plate. Keep it aside.
- To the same pan, add coconut. I used ground desiccated coconut and fried it just until it started changing the color. If you use any other coconut, make sure it is in fine grated form. If it is fresh or frozen coconut, roast it in uniform flame until the moisture evaporates.
- Transfer the roasted coconut to the same plate where we have the roasted nuts. Keep it aside to cool down.
- To the same pan, add the remaining ghee. Add the semolina and roast it for about 6-7 minutes until it releases a nice aroma. Roasting the semolina is the important step and make sure not to change the colour of the semolina. Roasting time changes depending upon the flame and type of pan you use.
- Once it is roasted well, it looks grainy and slightly golden in colour. Roasting in low to medium flame by continuously stirring it is the key for perfectly roasted semolina.
- Cool down the roasted semolina. Add the roasted semolina to a blender once it is cooled down and pulse into a half fine powder. When you touch it should be like slightly coarse in texture. If not, grind it some more time.
- If you are using fine semolina or fine sooji or chiroti rava, then reduce the grinding or pulsing time. Add the half powdered semolina to a mixing bowl.
- To the same blender or mixie jar, add the sugar and green cardamom powder. Powder it. Generally, both sugar and semolina should be in equal quantity for making this laddu. For 1 cup semolina, we need to use 1 cup of sugar. but I used organic cane sugar which is very sweet, so I used 3/4 cup sugar for 1 cup semolina. If you don’t have green cardamom powder, add 3 whole green cardamoms to sugar while powdering it.
- Add this powdered sugar, cardamom mixture to a bowl where we have roasted semolina.
- Add roasted coconut to the same bowl. Save half cashew nuts for decorating the laddu and add the rest to the bowl along with raisins.
- Mix it well without adding anything. This is to ensure uniform mixing before adding milk. Taste and adjust the sugar now. At this stage you can use spatula for mixing and store it in air tight container to make laddu at later point of time. This mix stays good for 2-3 weeks in refrigerator if all the ingredients are handled and roasted well. Just add hot milk and make laddu when needed.
- Now, boil milk in a sauce pan. Add the boiled hot milk to the laddu mix slowly.
- Mix it using a spoon or spatula. Each time when you add milk to the mixture, check whether you are able to make laddu’s out of it. It is enough to add only the required amount of milk each time.
- Once the mixture is warm enough to handle, shape the laddus with your hand. Once it formed a nice ball shape, place a cashew nut on top of it, press it gently and roll it again to make the laddu shape.
- Rava coconut laddu is ready. Repeat the step with the remaining laddu mix until it gets over. During the laddu making process, If the mix is dry and you are unable to shape laddu, then add some more hot milk and shape it. Arrange the laddu in a plate. Cool down to room temperature before storing it in a container. For longer shelf life, use melted hot ghee instead of milk.
Arrange the laddu in a plate. Cool down to room temperature before storing it in a container. For longer shelf life, use melted hot ghee instead of milk. 
Storage & Serving Suggestions
Storage
If you are making the laddu with fresh/frozen coconut and milk, then try to consume it within a day or two. To store it for a week or two, roast the coconut well without any moisture and store the laddus in a refrigerator. Laddu prepared using desiccated coconut and ghee stays good for up to 3 weeks.
Serving Suggestions
This laddu can be enjoyed as such without any accompaniment. Just grab a laddu, take a bite and enjoy it.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Roasting the semolina is an important step in this recipe. Use a heavy bottom pan and roast semolina always on low to medium flame by stirring continuously. It should be slightly golden in color and looks grainy and crunchy once roasted. Do not brown the rava. It changes the taste of laddu.
- Grinding the semolina is the second important step. Do not grind it too much. The semolina should be in half half-powdered texture. If it is a fine powder, then you don’t feel the crunchiness from semolina while eating the laddu.
- Instead of milk, you can add ghee and make laddus for long shelf life.
- Add milk gradually just to shape the laddu. If you add more milk, you can make laddus out of it, but the laddu won’t hold it’s shape.
- Usually, I add 1 cup sugar for 1 cup rava. Since I used organic cane sugar, I only added 3/4 cup of sugar. You can increase or decrease it according to your preference or as the sugar type you use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can use brown sugar instead of white sugar. Powdered jaggery and Nattu sakkarai can also be substituted instead of white sugar. But there is a change in taste and rava laddu always tastes good when it is prepared with white sugar.
If there isn’t enough binding ingredient, then the laddus break while shaping. Add milk/ghee gradually until you can form a shape by giving little pressure to it.
The shelf life of rava coconut laddu differs depending on the ingredients you use. If you use desiccated coconut and ghee, then it stays good for 3 weeks. Otherwise, it needs refrigeration and is consumed within a day or two.
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.
Uma even in ur first post , u have proven ur skills n food photography.. great color balance.. love those cute ladoo's in muffin cups.