The interesting journey of Gulab Jamun
No other Indian dessert can dethrone gulab jamun as the king of sweets but it is commonly known now that it is not Indian but actually Persian.
It comes from the Persian words: 'gol' (flower) and 'ab' (water). The actual Persian dish was known as 'luqmat al qadi' which was prepared by soaking the khoya balls in honey syrup and then having them drizzled with sugar.
This delicacy is very much similar to an Arabic dessert named Luqmat-Al-Qadi, which was introduced to India with the invasion of Mughal emperors. A theory also suggests that it was first prepared by the personal Persian chef of Shah Jahan but there is no evidence to support this theory.
With the passage of time, many regional varieties of Gulab Jamun arose, each having a captivating story of its own. One such variation is the dessert ‘Ledikeni’, from West Bengal. It is cylindrical in shape and that is the only difference between it and the Gulab Jamun. Ledikeni has an exciting story behind it being named so. In the 1850s, Bhim Chandra Nag, one of Calcutta’s brilliant confectioner was asked to prepare a special sweet for Lady Canning, the wife of Governer General Lord Charles Canning, who was coming to India to be with her husband. The sweet impressed Lady Canning, and she became so fond of it that the locals soon started referring to it as ‘Ledikeni’- a mispronunciation of her name!
Today, Gulab Jamun forms a part of the ‘spiritus mundi’ of majority of Indians. With time, it has become popular in other places as well. It is savored in Nepal and Pakistan, where it goes by the name Gulab Jamun only. In Maldives, it is known as ‘Gulaabujaanu’ and in Bangladesh and Myanmar, as ‘Gulab Jam’. It is also common in Mauritius, Fiji, the Malay Peninsula, South Africa, and the Caribbean countries of Trinidad and Tobago, where, interestingly, it is called ‘Rasgulla’.
Source: Internet
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