It’s been a long time since I visited this virtual space of mine. A lot happened in our lives since I last posted here. We had a major move spanning three countries. We said our good byes to Dubai happily and lugged ourselves back to Sri Lanka. We settled ourselves briefly there. Before long,the kids and me got on a plane again to our home now,Ireland. Home for the foreseeable future,in sha Allah !
Though I took some time to get used to the climate here,the kids settled pretty well. It’s amazing how children can adapt to their new surroundings without much hassle. Like nomads. After all,their parents,us,have been expats ever since our marriage. And they’ve been born in a foreign land. This reminds me of one of the famous saying of our beloved Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) “Be in this world as if you’re a stranger or a traveller” (Collected from Bukhari). That’s what our life is,living light. You carry no external or internal baggage. And I’m happy with that.
Coming to this wonderful snack, I’ve been wanting to add sesame seeds to my diet for sometime now and the jar was left in a corner of the cupboard until I came up with something suitable to use it in. Every time I open the cupboard and dig through other spices and condiments the sesame seed jar would longingly look back at me. I knew I couldn’t neglect it any longer. I used some in a potato recipe. But it failed to impress me.
Then the time of the month came where I needed more Iron in my body to function. Sesame seeds are a good source of Iron and a range of other nutrients. Now I love anything sweet and snack-worthy. It reminded me of the old times where my father would give me a rupee every time I massaged his head for a couple of minutes. As soon as I got the money I would run to the grocery shop and would buy my favorite snack,sesame balls called “thala guli” in Sinhalese (one of the official languages of SriLanka).
These are gluten free and processed sugar free.
They are made with just three ingredients,sesame seeds,jaggery (thickened palm molasses) and ghee(clarified butter).
They are a perfect snack for kids after school and as lunchbox treats. It doesn’t take much time and you can heave a sigh of relief as you know what goes inside it and you feel good about giving kids something nutritious. Crunch away some for yourself so you don’t miss out on the benefits.
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Sesame Seed Snack Balls Recipe
Makes 15 balls
Ingredients:
Sesame seeds 1 cup
Crushed Jaggery 1/2 cup
Water 1/2 cup
Ghee 1 tsp
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1.In a non-stick pan,roast the sesame seeds on medium heat until they turn slightly golden.Keep on turning the seeds so they won’t burn. This would take about 4-5 minutes. Take out from fire and tip it in a separate bowl.
2. In a sauce pan,heat the crushed jaggery ,water and ghee till the jaggery dissolves. Strain the mixture to get rid of impurities,and tip the jaggery mixture back in the sauce pan and let it come to a rolling boil.
3. Keep a small bowl of water ready,to check the consistency of the syrup.
4. Let the jaggery boil for 4-5 minutes,Check the consistency by dropping of drop of syrup into the water and if it stays firm without dissolving,that’s the right consistency. Take the syrup out of fire.
5. Add the sesame seeds,mix well and gather into one big mass using the spoon. Tip into another bowl.
6.Rub some ghee into your palm,take a spoonful of the seed mixture and form into balls.
Wow. I really enjoyed reading this post and thank you for the wonderful recipe with just three ingredients! We call it ellurundai back home and it makes me feel nostalgic. I love that beautiful picture. I would love to see more recipes like this, especially something that is easy to make for kids. 🙂 I'd love the Ebook idea too. All the best dear sister Farwin!