Langcha is a famous sweet of West Bengal. This is one of those popular fried sweets that India is famous for. Shaktigarh in the Bardhaman District of West Bengal is famous for this sweet item. Langcha is one of the most delicious Bengali Sweets.
But here in Mumbai we dont get any chance to enjoy this sweet and therefore for the first time I took a chance to prepare it at home, the result was just extra-ordinarily good. We simply loved it. But I should mention that One of my facebook friend helped me with her recipe to make this. I would like to suggest you to take a chance to prepare it at your home atleast for once.You will be surprised with your own capability.
Here is the recipe:
An Overview through Pictures
Boiling Milk..
Added Vinegar and the Milk started to curdle..
Chana is forming and separating from the greenish liquid ..
Draining the chena using a Muslin cloth..
Powdered Milk And liquid milk for preparing Mawa at home..
Dough Made from powder milk and little liquid milk
Preparing the sugar Syrup
Grating the Mawa
Making Langcha
Pantua
Pantua and langcha are ready to fry..
Frying
Into the Sugar Syrup..
Langcha and Pantua are ready,let it soak into the sugar syrup for 20-30 minutes..
Ingredients:
- Chana:200 gms
- Khowa(Mawa) :100 gms
- Maida :2 tbsp
- Sugar : 2 cups
- Water:4 cups
- Large Cardamom :1 powdered
- Oil : for frying
- Ghee :1 tbsp
- Baking powder :Not more than a pinch
Process:
How to Make Chana:
- Boil the milk at low temperature.
- While boiling add the vinegar and stir it .
- Your milk will start to curdle and chena(chhana) will be formed after few minutes.
- When you will see a greenish diluted water which is easily separating from chena,then it's done.
- Now using a muslin cloth drain the water and wash the chena under the running tap water .If you are using lime juice to prepare chena,this wash will remove all the lemony taste or smell.
- Now tied the two ends of the muslin cloth tightly and let it drain all the excess water for atleast 15-20 minutes.And at this time you may put a heavy weight on thr muslin cloth for better draining.
How to make Khowa or Mawa at Home:
- Following two or three easy steps khowa ar mawa can be easily made at home.
- Take 2-3 cups of powdered milk.
- Add 3-4 table spoon of milk into it.
- Make a dough and heat it at full power in the microwave oven only for 1-2 mins or even more to get the desired tightness.But be very careful while microwaving so that it cant be burnt.
- The dough will be tight after heating and then grate it to get dry khowa/mawa.
- It can be used to make any sweet.
How to Sugar Syrup:
- Now make sugar syrup using the sugar and water in the exact quantity mentioned.
- The syrup should not be thick and will be on the thinner side.
- Keep it in mind that this is a very important step.
How to Prepare langcha:
- Mash the chena using your palm on the kitchen slab or cuttlery board till it’s very smooth and creamy and has absolutely no lumps.
- Remeber mashing chena is the most important step of making any sweet.
- Mash the khowa till its smooth in the similar way.
- Mix the ghee, baking powder along with the 2 tbsp maida.
- Add the mashed khowa with the maida and mix well.
- Mix the elichi powder with it.
- Add the chena and mix well together using your palm on the kitchen slab till the entire mix is very smooth and has no lumps
- Remeber the mixture does not stick to your palm.
- Rest the dough for 10 mins .
- Then make equal size round balls from the dough and shape them like a langcha (cylindrical) and pantua(round) using your palms .
- The shape should be even and smooth.
- This will help to fry them evenly.
- Heat white oil very well and turn off the gas for 1 min.
- Then turn on the gas to the lowest possible temperature.
- Fry the langchas evenly till you get a dark brown color. Ensure not to over fry
- After frying transfer them into the syrup and let it soak for 30 – 40 mins.
- The langcha or the pantua will be double in size once fried and and put in the syrup
- If anybody likes the dry version, then remove them from the syrup.
- Otherwise just leave it in the syrup itself.
- Your langcha and pantua are ready to serve.
- Serve it warm.
