Vegan Rava Ladoo (Suji Ladoo) Without Ghee

This vegan rava ladoo recipe is super easy to make and perfect for Indian festivals like Diwali or Dussehra. It involves combining semolina flour with coconut flour, nuts, and a sweet syrup, and rolling them into balls. While most rava ladoo recipes are prepared with ghee, this one is completely vegan as it uses coconut oil instead. A bonus is that this mixture can also be used to make my Vegan Burfi recipe, with the main difference being that rava ladoo are rolled into balls and burfi is pressed into a pan and cut into portions. While they are commonly enjoyed at festivals like Diwali and Holi, they also make a perfect bite-size snack for an afternoon pick-me-up with a cup of hot tea. This sweet treat is also called rava laddu, suji ladoo, sooji ladoo, and rave unde.

In Delhi, the days before Diwali were the busiest of the year. The whole city seemed to hum. Markets glowed with strings of lights. Shops stacked sweet boxes to the ceiling. Every home smelled of fresh paint, marigolds, and something sweet cooking on the stove. In our home, that something sweet was ladoos.

My mother roasted the rava in the big kadhai, stirring slowly over low heat. The kitchen filled with a warm, toasty, nutty smell, almost like fresh-baked bread. When the rava turned pale gold, in went the nuts. Then the golden saffron syrup, with a loud, happy sizzle. Then came the best part. Rolling. We sat in a circle on the kitchen floor around a big steel thali piled high with the warm mixture. Everyone had a job. My mother scooped. Mine were never quite round. Some were lopsided. Some were more like ovals. My mother just laughed. “Every ladoo tastes the same,” she’d say. “Especially the funny-shaped ones.”

Today, rava ladoos are my husband’s favorite. So every Diwali, I make a big batch just for him.

My version uses coconut oil instead of ghee, with coconut flour and coconut sugar for a deep, caramel-like sweetness. The kitchen smells exactly like my mother’s did. And I still roll a few lopsided ones on purpose, just for old times’ sake.

Rava ladoo is an Indian sweet prepared using roasted rava (cream of wheat), sugar, and nuts. Traditionally, rava ladoos are made using ghee (clarified butter) and shaped into small balls. In my healthy and vegan version, I use coconut oil along with nuts and spices. Rava ladoos are often served as part of festive or religious occasions and are also offered as Prasad after prayers.

So what exactly is Rava?
Rava, semolina, or cream of wheat, as you probably know it, is the coarsely purified wheat middlings of durum wheat. Rava is a wheat flour with a mild, nutty flavor. When roasted, rava gives off a mild and earthy aroma.

Rava, sometimes called rawa, is best known as an ingredient in rava ladoo, a popular Indian sweet that is prepared at festivals like Diwali.  Sooji ka halwa is another Indian-inspired dessert that has a pudding-like texture. Rava is used to make rava idli, rava dosa, and uttapam, common foods in South India.

For another recipe using rava, check out my Easy Upma recipe, which is a savory cream of wheat breakfast.

Why am I in love with these ladoos?
✓ They are healthy desserts or snacks, and they are vegan!
✓ They are bite-sized portions.
✓ You can make this dessert ahead of time – the rava ladoos stay good on the kitchen counter for up to a week.
✓ They freeze well, so make a big batch!
✓ Rava ladoo is a perfect crowd-pleaser for all ages and any occasion.
✓ These bite-sized desserts pair beautifully with tea when serving.

Here are a few tips:

• Roast the rava well. This is the most important step! Keep the heat low, stir constantly, and use your nose. When it smells toasty and turns light golden, it’s ready.
• Roll while warm. The mixture firms up as it cools, so roll while it’s still warm.
• Grease your palms. A touch of coconut oil on your hands keeps the mixture from sticking.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

A key component of any rava ladoo recipe is semolina flour, which has a nutty and slightly sweet taste. Here is everything you will need to make this vegan ladoo recipe:

• Semolina: You can use either semolina flour or fine semolina for this recipe. Regular semolina flour is coarsely milled, whereas fine semolina is milled to a finer texture. While the two types are often interchangeable and usable in this recipe, fine semolina is usually preferred in sweets like rava ladoo as it results in a smoother texture.
• Coconut flour: Coconut flour isn’t always used in rava ladoo, but it adds a wonderful sweet, coconut taste to the dessert. Coconut flour also absorbs moisture very well, ensuring that the mixture is easy to shape and roll into balls.
• Coconut sugar: Coconut sugar has a caramel-like taste that adds richness, sweetness, and complexity to the rava ladoo. Since it is similar to brown sugar in color, expect that the rava ladoo will have a darker color than if you were to use white sugar. Jaggery works in place of coconut sugar if you prefer; however, I prefer to use coconut sugar since I use coconut oil in the recipe. 
• Coconut oil: Coconut oil is used in place of ghee to make these sweets completely vegan.
• Nuts: This recipe uses both almonds and pistachios. However, some versions use cashews as well if you would like to swap the almonds or pistachios with another kind of nut.
• Gluten: Semolina is wheat, so these ladoos are not gluten-free. For a gluten-free alternative, check out my Vegan Besan Ladoo recipe, which uses chickpea flour instead. 

Step-by-Step Instructions

Homemade rava ladoo is surprisingly easy to make with some key ingredients and rolling the sweet semolina mixture into balls. Here is how you make this suji ladoo recipe:

Sugar Syrup

1. In a small pot, mix the coconut sugar with the water, ground cardamom, and saffron; set it over medium heat and cook it while mixing until it comes together and there are no clumps.

Semolina Mixture

1. Toast the semolina in a large pan set over medium-low heat until it becomes fragrant and turns from white to light brown, about 6-8 minutes. 
2. Stir the coconut flour, coconut oil, almonds, pistachios, and salt into the semolina until everything is combined, and continue cooking it for another 2 minutes. 
3. Stir the sugar syrup into the pan until a lumpy mixture forms. Take it off the heat.

Assembling the Ladoos

1.  Shape the mixture into 1-inch balls with your hands, adding a little water if the mixture is too crumbly.
2. Serve and enjoy!

Why Your Ladoos are Not Binding, and How to Fix it

Once mixed, the rava ladoo mixture should be sticky enough to shape into balls easily. If your mixture is too crumbly, you can add a little water or warm coconut oil to help it bind together more easily. Meanwhile, if the mixture is too soft, sticky, and hard to shape, you can cover and chill the mixture for 15 minutes so it firms up.

To make rava ladoo that is soft and has the perfect texture, I recommend rolling the mixture while it is still warm if possible. The warmth in the mixture will ensure that the coconut oil is soft, helping the mixture bind together without becoming crumbly.

Storage, Freezing, and Make Ahead

Rava ladoos store beautifully at room temperature or in the freezer. If storing them at room temperature, you can place them in an airtight container and store them for up to 1 week. Meanwhile, you can store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Then, thaw them at room temperature before you plan to serve them.

Serving, and More Vegan Diwali Sweets

These rava ladoo are perfect to have for Diwali, for religious occasions like Prasad, or with a cup of tea whenever you need a sweet treat. You can also serve them alongside other traditional Diwali sweets to celebrate the festivities. Consider trying my Vegan Rice Kheer or my Carrot Halwa Trifle if you are looking for other special desserts to enjoy during your Diwali celebrations.

 

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