Chhena Gaja

The water is squeezed out and the dough dried before it is cut into rectangles and boiled in a thick syrup.

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

Ingredients

• 600 g Chhena, as on its own page
• 120 g fine semolina
• 600 g sugar
• 500 ml water
• oil or ghee for deep frying

Method

1. THE WATER IS SQUEEZED OUT AND THE DOUGH DRIED BEFORE IT IS CUT INTO RECTANGLES AND BOILED IN A THICK SYRUP. Its article sets out the sequence and every step of it is unusual. Chhena and semolina are kneaded thoroughly; then water is SQUEEZED OUT of the mixture; then it is DRIED BRIEFLY until it reaches the right consistency; then it is moulded into palm-sized rectangles -- gajas -- and BOILED in thick sugar syrup. So the dough is deliberately dehydrated twice before it is cooked, which is the opposite of what you would do to a dumpling you wanted soft, and it is why these come out firm enough to pick up in slabs.
2. THE SQUEEZE IS REAL AND IS DONE IN A CLOTH. Gather the kneaded dough in muslin and wring it. A surprising amount comes out. This is what stops the rectangles spreading when they hit the syrup.
3. THEN IT IS SPREAD OUT AND LEFT TO AIR FOR TWENTY MINUTES. Its article says dried briefly until it acquires the right consistency, which in practice means the surface goes matt and the dough stops feeling cool and damp.
4. THEY ARE CUT AS RECTANGLES, NOT ROLLED AS BALLS. Palm-sized, a centimetre and a half thick, cut with a knife from a flattened sheet. The shape is what the sweet is called after and it is the easiest way to tell it from the other chhena sweets here.
5. THEY ARE FRIED FIRST AND THEN BOILED IN THE SYRUP. Deep fry at 150C to a light gold, drain, and only then into the syrup -- and in the syrup they genuinely BOIL, which its article specifies, rather than being left to soak. Ten minutes at a simmer.
6. THE SYRUP IS THICK, WHICH IS WHY THEY CAN BE BOILED IN IT. Eight hundred grams of sugar to five hundred millilitres of water, a two-thread syrup. A thin syrup boiled with fried pieces in it just soaks them to a pulp.
7. DRYING THEM AFTERWARDS IS A CHOICE AND IT CHANGES THE SWEET. Its article notes the gajas are sometimes dried a little more after the syrup, in which case the sugar may crystallise on the surface. That gives a dry, slightly crunchy coat instead of a wet one. An hour on a rack.
8. ITS INGREDIENTS ARE NEARLY THOSE OF TWO OTHER SWEETS AND ITS ARTICLE SAYS SO. It notes the ingredients are essentially the same as rasagola and chhena poda and that the three are very different in taste -- which is exactly the point of putting all three in one batch. Boiled in thick syrup, simmered in thin syrup, and baked for hours are three different dishes from one bowl of curd.

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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