100 items which changed Kolkata : Ledikeni

Countess Charlotte Canning was born in Paris and was married to Hon. Charles Canning who was the
son of British Prime minister George Canning.

Lady Canning arrived in 1856 and died in the year 1861 of malaria and was buried in Barrackpore
,West Bengal.

Lady Canning was very fond of Pantuas. Confectioner Bhim Nag  renamed his pantuas specially made
on the the ocassion of the birthday  of Lady Canning .

Bhim Nag learned the trade of Sandesh making from his father Paran Ch Nag .Bhim's father died
when he was 17 .

The ingredient used in most quantity is the sugar syrup  in which the pantua is dipped . Sugar 
has been in production since 1444 but in the 18th century the usage of sugar increased since the
wealthy europeans fancy to add sugar to tea, cakes , puddings and pastris. Before humans started
eating refined sugar there was hardly any case of dental decay .It was during this time the first dental school opened in Baltimore, USA. It took India almost a hundred years of tooth decay which lead to the foundation of the first dental college in West Bengal by Dr.Rafiuddin Ahmed in 1949.

Semolina which is purified what middings is the 2nd ingredient in ledikeni was not mass produced
until 1940 the year of Norin 10 , the hybrid wheat which lead to 10 times more wheat yield in
China and India.

Main Ingredients of Ledikeni are :Semolina , Khoya , ghee , sugar and milk.

How to Make :

Semolina-  50  gms 
Khoya -  500 gms (*add some paneer to make it soft)
Ghee  100 gms
Milk  1/2   litre
Sugar  1kg.
oil/ghee to fry

Method Of preparation :
1 Make dough using ,Khoya ,milk ,ghee and suji
2 Make polo type shapes from the dough
3.Heat oil/ ghee to fry the polo shaped ledikeni
4.Boil water and add sugar to make a syrup ( not too thick)
5.Put the balls in sugar syrup and let them soak for a day .