Lyangcha | How to make Langcha

Lyangcha or Langcha is my choice for L in the A to Z Bengali Sweets Series. This Lyangcha is popular in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, and in the eastern regions of India. Traditionally it was prepared from Khoya, now it is replaced with milk powder and flour, deep-fried and soaked in sugar syrup. It's referred to both as Lyangcha or Langcha, originated in Shaktigarh, in the Burdwan district of West Bengal.

The other L, I had was Lebu Sandesh (a sweet shop version), Ledikeni. Ledikeni or Lady Kenny is also similar in preparation but is round in shape and is more reddish-brown in colour. History has that Ledikeni is named after Lady Canning, the wife of Charles Canning, the Governor-General of India during 1856-62. Wiki.

Whereas on the other hand, Lyangcha goes back further back in history, you can read from wiki if interested. I was more interested to know that Lyangcha is made in a cylindrical shape with fresh chhana, semolina, and flour. This is denser with a thicker crust. When I searched the net for recipes, many sources were confusing between Lyangcha and PAntua. Sayantani clarified how these differ and I went ahead with it, though my initial inspiration was from here.

The fresh chhana for Lyangcha is also kneaded very fine. Other sources say that milk powder is added, whereas Sayantani didn't mention it. So I skipped milk powder and add the rest to this dough. The Rava, flour along with baking soda is added slowly to the chhana and kneaded again to a thick dough. Then it is shaped as cylindrical and deep-fried. Finally, the deep-fried cylindrical are soaked in sugar syrup.

This Lyangcha has different steps, like making fresh chhana, kneading the chhana, kneading again with other ingredients, then deep frying, and finally soaking.

How to Make Soft Homemade Chhana for Bengali Sweets

How to Knead Chhana for Soft Bengali Sweets

In this A to Z Bengali Sweets for Protein Rich dishes:

A for Aam Sandesh
B for Bhapa Sandesh
C for Channar Puli
D for Danadar
E for Elixir Sandesh
F for Fruit Sandesh
G for Gajarer Sandesh
H for Hot Chocolate Sandesh Truffle
I for Ice Cream Sandesh
J for Jilapi
K for Khirkadam

Step By Step Pictures for making soft Chhana for Bengali Sweets

Step by Step Pictures for kneading the chhana to a soft texture.

How to make Sugar Syrup

Step by Step Pictures for Making Lyangcha

Lyangcha | How to make Langcha

Ingredients Needed:

For the dough

1 cup Paneer / Chhana well kneaded
1 tsp Semolina or Sooji
A Pinch of Baking powder
1 tbsp All Purpose Flour / Maida
A Pinch Cardamom Powder
1/2 tbsp Ghee
Cooking Oil for deep frying

For the Sugar Syrup

1 cup Sugar
1 cup Water
3-4 Cardamoms / Elaichi

How to make Lyangcha

For the sugar syrup

Take the sugar with water and let the sugar melt and remove the impurities if any. Then boil the sugar with the water and crushed cardamoms till one string consistency. This will take about 8-10 minutes. The syrup should be thick like how you make for gulab jamun.

For the Lyangcha

Prepare the soft chhana for making Bengali Sweets.
Take the crumbled paneer on a plate and with your heel, knead till there are no coarse grains or lumps and the Chenna becomes very soft.
Add the semolina, flour, ghee, baking powder, cardamom powder to the soft chhana and knead it for nearly 10-12 minutes or till it starts releasing oil to make a smooth textured dough.
Cover the bowl and keep it aside for 10 minutes and divide the mixture into 10 equal-sized balls.
Then roll into cylindrically shaped logs
Heat a Kadai with oil and reduce the flame when it reaches the smoking point.
Gently drop the cylindrical logs and fry on medium flame till golden brown.
Drain the Lyangcha and soak them in the prepared warm sugar syrup for 2-3 hours.
Garnish with chopped nuts before serving warm or chilled.

Notes

It is important to knead the Chenna well for the Lyangcha to be soft, however, the outer layer will be crusty.

Recipe

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Lyangcha | How to make Langcha

Lyangcha or Langcha is a delicious deep fried cylindrical Bengali Sweets that is prepared with chhana, Khoya, along with the flour. These logs are little dense, with crusty outer layer soaked in sugar syrup.

Course Sweets

Cuisine Bengali

By Cook Method Deep Fried, Stovetop

Occasion Diwali, Festival Meal

By Diet Protein Rich

Dish Type Deep Fried Dishes, Paneer Dishes

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 10 pieces

Author Srivalli

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 1 cup Paneer / Chhana (well kneaded)
• 1 tsp Semolina / Rava / Sooji
• A Pinch Baking Powder
• 1 tbsp All Purpose Flour / Maida
• A Pinch Cardamom Powder
• 1/2 tbsp Ghee
• Cooking Oil for deep frying

For the Sugar Syrup

• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• 3-4 Cardamoms / Elaichi

Instructions

For the Sugar Syrup

• Take the sugar with water and let the sugar melt and remove the impurities if any. Then, boil the sugar with the water and crushed cardamoms till one string consistency. This will take about 8-10 minutes. The syrup should be thick like how you make for gulab jamun.

For the Lyangcha

• Prepare the soft chhana for making Bengali Sweets.
• Take the crumbled paneer on a plate and with your heel, knead till there are no coarse grains or lumps and the Chenna becomes very soft.
• Add the semolina, flour, ghee, baking powder, cardamom powder to the soft chhana and knead it for nearly 10-12 minutes or till it starts releasing oil to make a smooth textured dough.
• Cover the bowl and keep it aside for 10 minutes and divide the mixture into 10 equal sized balls.
• Then, roll into cylindrically shaped logs.
• Heat a kadai with cooking oil and reduce the flame when it reaches smoking point.
• Gently drop the cylindrical logs and fry on medium flame till golden brown.
• Drain the Lyangcha and soak them in the prepared warm sugar syrup for 2 - 3 hours.
• Garnish with chopped nuts before serving warm or chilled.

Notes

It is important to knead the Chenna well for the Lyangcha to be soft, however, the outer layer will be crusty.

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This is part of the A to Z Protein-Rich dishes, where I decided to showcase A to Z Bengali Sweets with Paneer/Chhana as the main source.

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