Chhena Poda

It is baked for hours and its flavour comes from the sugar caramelising, with no syrup anywhere in it.

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

Ingredients

• 800 g Chhena, as on its own page, well kneaded
• 250 g sugar
• 80 g fine semolina
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 40 g cashews and raisins
• 2 tablespoons ghee, for the tin
• 1 banana leaf, to line the tin, optional

Method

1. IT IS BAKED FOR HOURS AND ITS FLAVOUR COMES FROM THE SUGAR CARAMELISING, WITH NO SYRUP ANYWHERE IN IT. Its article is unusually direct about both halves: the mixture is baked for several hours until it browns, and it is known as one of the Indian desserts whose flavour is predominantly derived from the CARAMELISATION of sugar. That makes it the odd one out among the chhena sweets by a long way. Every other sweet here meets sugar as a syrup, before or after cooking. This one has the sugar mixed into the curd at the start and then drives it dark in the oven. The name says the same thing: poda is burnt.
2. THE SUGAR IS IN THE MIXTURE, NOT ON IT. Two hundred and fifty grams kneaded into the curd with the semolina. There is no syrup to make and nothing to soak.
3. THREE HOURS AT A LOW HEAT, NOT ONE AT A HIGH ONE. 150C for two and a half to three hours. The caramelisation has to happen slowly and all the way through; at 200C you get a black top over a pale, wet middle in forty minutes, which is a different and worse thing.
4. THE TOP IS MEANT TO GO VERY DARK. Properly dark brown, nearly black at the edges. If it looks like a cheesecake it has not been in long enough.
5. THE TIN IS LINED WITH A BANANA LEAF IF YOU HAVE ONE. Ghee alone works. The leaf scorches against the base and adds a faint smokiness, and it is also the only easy way to get it out in one piece.
6. THE SEMOLINA IS WHAT STOPS IT WEEPING. Eighty grams. Chhena and sugar alone release liquid over three hours and the bottom turns to a wet layer.
7. IT IS COOLED COMPLETELY IN THE TIN BEFORE CUTTING. Several hours. Warm, it crumbles; cold, it cuts into clean wedges.
8. ITS INGREDIENTS ARE ESSENTIALLY THOSE OF TWO OTHER SWEETS HERE, AND THAT IS THE POINT. Its article says so of chhena gaja and rasagola. Curd, sugar and semolina boiled in thick syrup, simmered in thin syrup, or baked for three hours are three unrelated desserts, and the method is the entire difference.

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.

Filed under India · All recipes