There is something about Indian sweets that can tempt you to stray from your diet on any given day. You know how much you adore ghee, and you don't skimp on sugar, nuts, dried fruits, or anything else that can make your sweetmeats richer, if you are even the slightest bit familiar with Indian sweets. As the holiday season draws near, you can't help but picture the sugar rush you'll experience when we open the truckloads of Indian sweets that will be waiting for you. India produces a wide range of delicious sugary confections for various holidays.
A traditional Bengali sweetmeat called Lobongo Lotika, often referred to as Laung Latika, is formed of pastry dough that encases a kheer-based filling. Before they are deep-fried and dipped in thick sugar syrup, the folds are sealed with a Lobongo or a clove. This Lobongo lotika dish from Bengal provides you with the ideal crunchy outside and a juicy and delicious interior.
For instance, Laung Latta/Lavang Lata or Latika, a classic Bengali delicacy, is very well-liked in Varanasi and Bihar. Latika, a rich, fragrant, fried, and delectable dish, is typically offered in Bengal following Durga Puja. While it is always available in sweet stores all over the state, searching for it outside of UP or Bengal would be difficult. However, nothing compares to a warm, fresh, and handcrafted Laung Latta, which has an unusual aroma because the outer layer is sealed using laung or lavang (clove). Hence, the name.
Here’s the recipe for Lobongo Lotika.
Equipment:
1. Heavy-bottom saucepan with lid (for the kheer and the sugar syrup)
2. Wooden spoon (for the kheer)
3. Mixing bowl (for the pastry)
4. Rolling pin (for the pastry)
5. Frying pan
6. Frying spoon
Ingredients:
For the filling:
1. 1 kg whole milk
2. 45 gms sugar
3. ¾ tsp maida (flour)
For the sugar syrup:
1. 400 gms sugar
2. 200 gms water
For the pastry:
1. 200 gms maida (flour)
2. 40 gms ghee
3. 4 gms salt
4. 80 gms water
5. 400 gms vegetable oil
Method:
For the filling:
1. Put 1 kg of milk in a heavy-bottomed pot and bring it to a boil.
2. Add 45 gms sugar when it starts boiling.
3. The milk should continue to boil for 90 minutes while being constantly stirred.
4. The pot needs to be on medium-low heat for the duration of this.
5. Remove the solids from the bottom and sides of the pot at regular intervals of 3-4 minutes, then stir them into the milk that is now boiling. This step is important, along with the prior one. At no time do we want our kheer to burn.
6. Make a paste using 34 tsps flour and 1 tbsp milk once the milk has reduced and thickened (when you lift some on your spoon and drop it, it should fall in clumps).
7. Put some of this paste in the pot. 5 more minutes of stirring and cooking.
8. To make 10-20 gms pieces, divide the kheer.
9. Refrigerate for a minimum of two hours with a cover on.
For the pastry dough:
1. Combine 200 gms of flour, 40 gms of ghee, and 4 gms of salt in a mixing bowl. Until they resemble breadcrumbs, thoroughly combine the ingredients.
2. The goal is to evenly distribute the fat throughout the flour to create a flaky, crisp pastry.
3. Add 80 gms of water at this time.
4. Mix just enough to make a dough. Even though it initially seems a little dry, this dough is tight, so don’t add more water.
5. Cover the dough and let it rest for at least 20 minutes.
For the shaping:
1. After the pastry dough has rested for at least 20 minutes and the kheer has chilled in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, start shaping each one.
2. Create tablets of kheer measuring 3 cm by 4 cm out of each 20 gms serving.
3. Place them back in the refrigerator to chill until required.
4. Divide 10 parts of the dough, each 30 gms in size.
5. Make a flat disc out of each piece. Cover and wait till you need to.
6. You may get the finest filling to pastry ratio by combining 20 gms kheer and 30 gms dough.
For the construction:
1. Each chunk of dough is rolled into a 14 cm disc that is about 1 mm thick.
2. Put a kheer tablet in the centre of the disc.
3. Apply water to the pastry’s edge using your fingertips. This will serve as adhesive.
4. Fold the opposing ends over and overlap them. To seal, lightly press.
5. Apply water to the pastry’s overturned wings. Sealing them as you go, fold them over one another.
6. Apply a clove to the envelope’s top layer to seal it shut.
For each pastry, simply repeat these steps.
For the sugar syrup:
1. Add 200 gms of water and 400 gms of sugar to a saucepan.
2. For about 10 minutes, or until the sugar syrup begins to bubble, cover it with a lid and place it over medium heat.
3. You don’t need a thick syrup for this recipe. It ought to have the same consistency as, say, canned fruit juice.
For frying:
1. Heat oil in a frying pan to 150°C. The oil should be 5-cm deep.
2. Unlike other deep-fried snacks or crackers, Lobongo Lotika is not fried in hot oil.
3. We must fry this pastry at low heats to make sure that all of the layers cook through because it has many layers of flour.
4. It may appear to be done on the exterior if you attempt to fry it at a high temperature, but the interior layers will still be mushy.
5. Each batch of Lobongo Lotika will take about 30 minutes to finish cooking due to the slow frying.
6. Turn them every five minutes during this time to make sure the dough is equally cooking and hardening on both sides. If not, the softer end of the kheer could begin to seep.
7. If the filling spills into the oil, you can take the ruined pastry from the oil and bake it for about 20 minutes at 175°C.
8. Drain the pastries from the oil once they are a golden-brown colour, then dip them into the sugar syrup.
9. Give them a thorough coating, shake off the extra syrup, and set them on a plate to cool.