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The nariyal nakru is traced back to the Chola reign, when warriors and travellers would carry the coconut-laden goodies as a wholesome, sturdy food item.
These coconut laddoos were also considered a good luck charm.
All over India, laddoos began life as a way to dispense medicinal ingredients or as a way to ensure a nutritious supply of food while on the road.
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT the everyday-ness of laddoos that belies their origins. Here it is, a perfectly inconspicuous sweet, and yet, it had anything but innocuous beginnings.
The laddoo has a rich history in India, and like a lot of significant phenomena, starts with an accidental discovery. It is said that a vaid’s apprentice was mixing together ingredients for medicines, when a few fell into a quantity of ghee, forming rondels. Wanting to cover up his clumsiness, the apprentice formed compact balls out of the medicinal ingredients and dispensed these to the patients.
The physician Susruta is also recorded as having prescribed small balls made of sesame, jaggery, peanuts — a precursor to today’s til laddoos — to his patients, back in the 4th century. These were considered to help boost their nutritional intake, especially if they had been undergoing treatment for some ailments or were generally in poor health.
While one sees the utility of wrapping up the (to many) unpalatable act of taking medication in a more tempting vehicle, the laddoo had a purpose beyond this as well.
During the Chola reign, for instance, coconut laddoos — or nariyal nakrus — were packed for soldiers and travellers who had to march long distances. These laddoos travelled well, were not burdensome to carry or quickly perishable, packed in a whole lot of nutrients within their spherical bounds, and the sphere itself was considered a good luck symbol.
The simplest coconut laddoo recipes today use dry or fresh coconut powder along with condensed milk and dry fruits (like raisins/cashew) to form a delicate sweet.
Like the Cholas, all over India, the laddoo evolved to make use of ingredients that were generally held to be wholesome, and well-preserved. Dink (edible gum) and gond ladoos, til, date and churma (whole wheat) are some of the varieties today that preserve the traces of this tradition.
Incidentally, the use of sugar in laddoos wasn’t a thing until the British introduced the so-called “white poison” here. However, it soon enough came to replace natural sweeteners like jaggery and honey in the making of laddoos.
The laddoo wasn’t the only spherical food that travelled widely and well. Girmityas — indentured labourers — from Bihar, carried food like litti to their new ‘homes’, such as Trinidad & Tobago. Like the laddoo, the litti too could pack in a lot of nutrients into a small portion of dough, which could be cooked during rest breaks on the road, and eaten on the go.
Three-Ingredient Coconut Laddoo
By Megha Dhall
Makes about 15 laddoos. Total time: 45 mins.
Ingredients
- Coconut powder (dry or fresh), 400 gm
- Condensed milk, 400 gm
- Raisins, nuts of choice for garnishing
Method
STEP 01
Divide the coconut powder into two: one portion of 300 gm, and the other with the remaining 100 gm. Mix the 300 gm of coconut powder with the condensed milk. Knead into a soft dough.
STEP 02
Shape the dough into small laddoos. Once done, lay out the remaining 100 gm of coconut powder in a plate and roll the laddoos in them, until coated.
STEP 03
Garnish each laddoo with a single raisin and/or nut of your choice. Your coconut laddoos are ready!
