Sathu Maavu Laddu is a very healthy, nutritious multigrain sweet prepared instantly using a health mix, palm jaggery and ghee which is aromatic and nutty in flavor.
About Sathu Maavu or Health Mix Laddu
The main ingredient for making Sathu Maavu Laddu is Sathu Maavu or Health Mix. Sathu Maavu or Health Mix is nothing but a mixture of various grains, millets, pulses and nuts that are slow roasted uniformly, cooled down and ground into a powder. The ingredients used to make Sathu Maavu varies from 5 to more than 12 ingredients depending on the method one picks. Some household back at home in India prepares their own Sathu Maavu recipe. The recipe for sathu maavu is simple but involves a lengthy process and sometimes takes close to 2 to 3 days to prepare.
Nowadays families buy health mix from neighborhood Indian shops or order it online. These days there are numerous small businesses that started selling health mix without preservatives. They also also do worldwide shipping. These kinds of health mixes are handy and healthy options for quick morning breakfast.
Why do we love sathu maavu laddu or Health mix laddu
- Healthy and Nutritious. Because of its healthy ingredients, it acts as an immune booster and helps for healthy weight gain when consistently taken especially for kids. It is rich in fiber, protein and carbs. So it helps you to keep your hunger at bay.
- Suitable for newbies in cooking. The process of making laddu is easy and anyone can follow it with these simple instructions.
- Saves Time. Those who don’t have time to prepare Sathu Maavu porridge in the morning can alternatively prepare these Sathu Maavu laddus just by slightly tweaking the process. As these are laddus form, they never disappoint anyone including the kids who normally prefer to stay away from sathu maavu porridge in the morning. If the health mix is ready, then it is easy to put it together and prepare it in a few minutes.
- Festival sweet. It can be served as a healthy sweet for any festival or as an evening snack.
Recipe Ingredients
Sathu Maavu or Health Mix
I used homemade health mix powder to prepare these laddus. I will share the health mix recipe when I prepare it next time. Store bought health mix works well too. If it is store bought, read the ingredients list before making laddus.
Palm Jaggery
I used organic palm jaggery. Karupatti vellam / Panai vellam are few other names through which its known. It can be substituted with Nattu Sakkarai, Palm sugar (Panag Karkandu) or jaggery (Achu vellam / manda vellam).
Ghee
Ghee plays a major role in adding fresh aroma and binding factor to this laddu. The quantity of the ghee purely depends on the health mix.
Dry Nuts
Each household prepares the health mix in a unique way. Some use nuts and others don’t. Whether the Sathu Maavu has nuts in it or not, I recommend using dry nuts while making laddus for extra taste, flavor and crunchiness.
I used Raisins, Cashew nuts and Almonds. Cashew nuts are broken into two and almonds are roughly chopped. The addition of dry nuts is absolutely your choice. Few other alternatives are pistachios, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc. The taste slightly differs based on the nuts used.
Green Cardamom powder
This is an optional ingredient. If your health mix has cardamom in it, please feel free to skip this ingredient.
You may also like the other laddu recipes from this site.
- sabudana laddu
- dates, peanut and sesame seeds laddu
- peanut and sesame seeds laddu
- urad dal laddu
- ragi and coconut laddu
Recipe Card
Sathu Maavu Laddu Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup sathu maavu / Health mix
- 1/2 cup palm jaggery
- 1/4 cup ghee adjust as needed
- 10 raisins
- 10 cashew nuts halved
- 10 almonds roughly chopped
- 1/4 tsp green cardamom powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- Dry roast the health mix powder in a pan for 8-10 minutes. Once it releases a nice aroma, transfer it to a mixing bowl.
- To the same pan, add jaggery and water just to make the jaggery syrup.
- Mix well and make jaggery syrup. No need to check for the consistency. It should in thick pourable consistency like honey.
- Filter to remove the impurities and add the syrup to the health mix.
- Heat ghee in a pan and roast the raisins, cashew nuts and almonds into a nice golden brown colour.
- Add the roasted ingredients to the mixing bowl along with ghee. add green cardamom powder(if using) and salt.
- Give it a nice mix using a spatula. Once it is warm enough, hangle with ghee coated hand. Pinch a small portion of the mix and shape like laddu.
- Repeat the process with the rest of the mix.
- During the laddu making process, if the mix becomes dry, add warm ghee little by little to shape laddu.
- Cool down to room temperature and store it in an air-tight container.
Video
Notes
- Before roasting, please taste the health mix. If it tastes bitter, then do not use it. Generally, old or expired health mixes usually bring in a bitter taste.
- Ghee and Jaggery quantity can be adjusted according to one’s personal palette. However, the given measurement works in most of the cases.
- The addition of cardamom powder is optional if your health mix already has it. If the health mix is store-bought, read the ingredients list first before proceeding.
How to make Sathu Maavu or Health Mix Laddu
1. Before beginning the recipe, prepare all the ingredients given. Add the health mix to a heavy bottom pan.
2. Dry roast the health mix powder in a pan on low to medium flame. The roasting time will vary depending on the flame but usually takes 8 to 10 minutes. The health mix releases a nice aroma once it is ready.
3. Transfer the roasted health mix to a wide mixing bowl. let it cool down.
4. Meanwhile, add the palm jaggery powder to the same pan. You can either shave or make a powder of palm jaggery to use it in this recipe. Powdering the jaggery makes the jaggery syrup faster with the correct consistency
5. Add 2 to 3 tbsp of water just to make the jaggery syrup. Even though the palm jaggery is organic, sometimes it may contain dust particles. We are making syrup, so we can remove the impurities simply by filtering it.
6. Mix well and make jaggery syrup. No need to check for string consistency but it should be a slightly on thick pouring consistency like honey.
7. Now filter the syrup and add it to the roasted health mix.
8. In another pan, heat ghee. I used half of the ghee from the given measurement. let it melt in low flame.
9. Meanwhile, take raisins, cashew nuts and almonds. Halve the cashew nuts and roughly chop the almonds.
10. Once the ghee melts down, add the nuts to it. Fry till it becomes golden brown in colour and the raisins are pulpy.
11. Transfer the contents along with the ghee to the roasted health mix. Add green cardamom powder and salt. The addition of green cardamom powder is optional. If your health mix already has green cardamom in it, please feel free to skip it. I added salt, so it highlights the sweetness of the laddu.
12. Act quickly now and give the health mix a good mix using a spatula. Once the mixture is warm enough to handle, handle with hand. Make sure to coat the hand with ghee.
13. Take a portion of mix and form a laddu by shaping it using your palms.
14. Because of the jaggery syrup and warm ghee, you can easily make laddus without any struggles. Repeat the step with the remaining mix.
15. If the mix becomes dry and unable to shape laddu during the laddu making process, then melt ghee and add the warm ghee little by little at a time, just to shape the laddu. The quantity of the additional ghee depends on the health mix powder. You may sometimes need more and other times you may not need it at all.
16. After adding ghee, repeat the laddu-making process and store it in an air-tight container once it is cooled down to room temperature.
Storage & Serving Suggestions
Storage
Once the laddus are at room temperature, store the laddus in an airtight container. It stays good for a week.
Serving Suggestions
- Enjoy these laddus as an evening snack or grab it while going to work or school on those busy mornings. Just eating two makes you full.
- It is the healthiest choice while traveling. It takes less time to prepare, fulfilling and healthy. so make these laddus as travel friendly snacks.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Before roasting the health mix, make sure to taste it. If it tastes bitter, then do not use it. The old or expired health mix usually tastes bitter.
- Ghee and Jaggery quantity can be adjusted according to one’s personal palette. However, the given measurement works in most of the cases.
- The addition of cardamom powder is optional if your health mix already had it. If the health mix is store bought, read the ingredients list first before proceeding.
Frequently Asked Questions
If it is prepare with clean hand and handled well, then it stays good from 5 to 7 days at room temperature as per the recipe shown above.
Yes you can. If you are making this laddu for toddlers then skip the nuts.
No. The sathu maavu or health mix is roasted nicely before preparing laddu and it doesn’t cause any digestion issues. but, If you have any pre-existing nut allergy, then pick the sathu maavu without nuts and also skip the nuts from this recipe.
Please note that it is always a good practice to start with less quantity when it is eaten for the first time to check any digestion or allergic issues.
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.
