Instructions
Dry-roast the ragi flour
Put the flour into a dry, heavy pan on low heat and stir it more or less continuously for 8–10 minutes. It darkens by about half a shade and stops smelling raw. This step is the recipe — under-roasted flour is the one reason homemade ragi laddu tastes bitter, and jaggery does not cover it. Go by smell, not the clock.
Roast again, in ghee
Add the ghee to the same pan and keep stirring on low for another 3–4 minutes. The flour goes from powdery to loose and sandy, clumps slightly around the spoon, and smells properly nutty. Take it off the heat there — past that point it catches quickly.
Roast the coconut and cashews separately
In a small pan, dry-roast the grated coconut for about 2 minutes, until it just turns pale gold, and the cashews for 2–3 minutes until they colour. Coconut burns far faster than ragi flour, which is why it does not go into the big pan with everything else.
Let it cool to warm
Spread the roasted flour out and let it come down to warm — comfortable to hold a hand over, not hot. Jaggery hitting hot flour melts into syrup, and the mixture then sets hard and sticky instead of crumbly. This is the second place ragi laddu usually goes wrong, and it is an easy one to be impatient about.
Mix in the jaggery
Add the powdered jaggery, roasted coconut, cashews, cardamom and a pinch of salt to the warm flour. Rub it all together with your fingertips rather than a spoon, breaking up lumps of jaggery as you find them — fingers spread it evenly and tell you when the mixture is ready to hold.
Shape while it is still warm
Take a small handful and press it firmly in your palm. If it will not hold, warm a tablespoon of ghee and work it in, then try again. Shape all twelve while the mixture is warm: once it is fully cold it stops binding, and the fix then is to warm it again rather than to add more ghee.