Traditional confinement foods: Recipe for Gondh ka laddoo

This is again one of the most sought after traditional confinement foods in India. It is quite popular in North India and is used down south in several states as well. Gondh is basically extracted from the bark of a tree, just like rubber, and various dishes including gondh ka laddoo are specially prepared as a traditional confinement food for a new mum.

While your mum or grandmother could recommend other traditional confinement foods to be consumed on a regular day, this dish is only recommended for new mums  because it is too warm for the body.
The gondh ka laddoo dish is generally warm due it its rich nutrient content and it helps a new mum recover faster. That's because the warm nutrients dry the wet and moist vagina and help the muscles to get back into shape. Therefore, it can also be consumed as a warm winter dish.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta) 1kg
• Ghee ¼ kg
• Finely ground gum crystals (gondh) 250gm
• Finely powdered sugar (boora) ½ kg
• Dried pumpkin and melon seeds (magaz) 100gm
• Puffed lotus seeds (makhane) 100gm
• Almonds (badaam) 200gm
• Cashew nuts (kaju) 200gm
• Walnut (akhrot) 100gm
• Unsalted pistachio nuts 50gm
• Cardamom powder 1 tsp
• Flame-of-the-forest (kamarkas) – Optional 50 gm
• Grated dried coconut 400gm
• Poppy seeds (khus khus) ¼ cup

Method:

• Begin by heating half the ghee in a pan. Now deep fry all the dry fruits one by one. You can start with almonds, then move on to cashew nuts followed by walnuts, pistachio nuts, lotus seeds, and finally the seeds. Keep them on the low flame till they turn brown. Once done, keep them aside.
• In the same pan deep dry kamarkas to the same ghee. Now, in a separate pan, heat 1 tbsp of ghee and roast poppy seeds over low flame and keep aside. After you have cooled the poppy seeds, grind them into a fine powder along with the kamarkas. Now roast the grated coconut and finely grind all the fried dry fruits separately and add the together.
• Heat the remaining ghee in the pan or a karahi, and roast the flour until it turns golden brown. Lower the flame and sprinkle powdered edible gum in to the roasted flour. Make sure you keep stirring the flour till the crystals puffs stop spluttering. Now, turn off the heat but keep stirring the mixture for another 5-10 minutes.
• Next, add to the roasted flour the separated cardamom powder and mix all the dry fruits, with the powdered kamarkas and poppy seeds. Add some powdered sugar to the mixture and set it aside for a few minutes to cool.
• Now to make the laddoo from this mixture, smear some ghee on your palms and make small laddoos. Keep each of the laddoos separately and let them cool. Once cooled, you can store them away in an air-tight container.

Do you know any more traditional confinement foods? Please share in the Comment box below.

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