In a pan, add sugar and water just enough to immerse the sugar, bring it to a boil.
As the sugar dissolves, stir it occasionally and check for two string consistency. If you touch the sugar syrup between your thumb and index finger, there should be two distinct strings. Add cardamom powder, remove from heat and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, add gram flour, rice flour and cooking soda. Mix everything well.
Pour water little by little and mix the batter until it is thick but runny.
Add the food color and mix it well. If you want to use different food colors, split the batter to add the colors.
Heat oil for deep frying the boondi. Place the boondi ladle over the hot oil. Take a laddle of batter and pour it over the boondi ladle. Gently shake it until all the batter is over.
Don’t overcrowd the oil. Fry the boondi until cooked. No need to wait until they turn crispy.
Remove boondi from oil and drain onto a tissue paper. Repeat this for the rest of the batter. After a couple of fries, wipe off the back of the boondi ladle to get even-sized boondi.
If the sugar syrup is not warm, heat it gently. Add the prepared boondi and mix well. If using edible camphor, add that too.
Fry cashews in ghee and add it to the boondi.
Once cooled down, boondi will absorb the sugar syrup and become dry. Store in an air tight container.