Pantua

The colour is decided by how long it fries, from pale brown to nearly black.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (chhena), dairy (ghee), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 500 g Chhena, as on its own page, well kneaded
• 60 g fine semolina
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 700 g sugar
• 700 ml water
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• ghee for deep frying

Method

1. THE COLOUR IS DECIDED BY HOW LONG IT FRIES, FROM PALE BROWN TO NEARLY BLACK. Its article makes this the defining variable: pantuas range in colour from pale brown to nearly black depending on how long they are fried. So the frying is not a step with a right answer -- it is the decision that makes the sweet, and the same dough gives two quite different things at four minutes and at nine. Pale, it tastes of milk and cardamom. Dark, the outside has gone bitter-edged and caramelised and stands up against the syrup. Neither is a mistake, which is worth saying because a recipe that gives one time implies the other is.
2. THE DOUGH IS CHHENA, SEMOLINA, MILK AND GHEE. Its article names all four alongside the syrup. The milk is a tablespoon or two, only enough to bring it together.
3. LOW AND SLOW, OR THE OUTSIDE DARKENS BEFORE THE INSIDE COOKS. 140C, which is lower than most deep frying on this site, precisely because you may want nine minutes in there. At a higher heat you cannot reach the dark end of the range without a raw centre.
4. THE BALLS ARE ROLLED SMOOTH AND NOT TOO LARGE. A walnut. Any crack opens in the ghee.
5. THEY ARE MOVED CONSTANTLY FOR THE FIRST MINUTE. Rolled around with a slotted spoon so they colour evenly -- a ball left still browns on one side and the gradient shows for the rest of its life.
6. THE SYRUP IS MEDIUM AND WARM, AND THEY SOAK FOR HOURS. Seven hundred grams of sugar to seven hundred millilitres of water. Into warm syrup straight from the ghee, then left three or four hours. A darker-fried batch needs the longer end.
7. CARDAMOM IS THE FLAVOUR AND ROSE IS NOT. Its article draws the distinction against gulab jamun, which is made from khoa and flavoured with rose, while this is made from chhena and flavoured mainly with cardamom. Rose water here makes it taste like the other sweet.
8. THE MOLTEN-SYRUP VERSION HAS ITS OWN NAME. Its article records ledikeni as very similar, distinguished by its molten sugar syrup lightly flavoured with cardamom powder. Same dough, wetter finish.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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