Coconut Pistachio Laddus

 No excuses for being invisible for so long on the blog. You know me and my frequent  absenteeism due to laziness well now :))  I had made these coconut laddus for Diwali.  It is a fairly simple recipe and very delicious. I anyway love coconut sweets and had been wanting to make them  and was very ecstatic when everyone who had them loved it.
I made two versions. The second photo is the one which is light pink [not peach] in colour. The 2nd photo doesn't look great in comparison with the first photo ,but it looked better than the first to the naked eyes. The only difference is the amount of beetroot used. For the first one I used an entire medium beetroot. And for the 2nd one ,I used half the beetroot.Now coming to the recipe, It is adapted from Alpana's blog.

Ingredients:
[For 15 laddus]

For The Pistachio Filling :
1/2 cup blanched, deskinned and coarsely ground Pistachios
1 tablespoon Sweetened condensed milk
Pinch of cardamom powder

For Coconut balls

1 cup desiccated coconut  + 1/2 cup for rolling the ladoos
200 Grams sweetened condensed milk ,half tin
1 cup Milk 
1 tsp Ghee/ Clarified butter
1 tsp cardamom powder
3-4 slices of fresh medium Beetroot [ light pink] or 1 medium beetroot [dark pink]


Preparation


For the Pistachio Filling:

1. Mix  all ingredients under the Pistachio filling to make a dough. Make 15 small balls and keep aside.

For the Coconut Balls:

1. Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the desiccated coconut and stir for 2-3 minutes till the time you can smell the fragrance of the coconut. 
2. Add milk & beetroot slices and stir till the milk is all absorbed in the coconut.
3. Add condensed milk & cardamom powder & stir continuously on low heat till the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan . 
4. Switch off the heat  as soon as the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Let this mixture cool for 10-15 minutes .  
5. Remove the beetroot slices and mix well so that color is evenly spread. When the mixture cools off divide 15 equal portions . 
6. Flatten each Coconut ball in your palms. Place one pistachio ball into the center and close it from all sides and shape it into round balls. 
7. Take the 1/2 cup dry desiccated coconut and roll these balls in it .
8. Refrigerate it before serving as they taste best after it. You can store them in refrigerator for 1 week.