Sandesh

The curds are tossed with sugar over a low heat and never boiled or fried.

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

Ingredients

• 2 litres whole milk, for the chhena
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 200 g caster sugar
• 4 cardamom pods, seeds ground
• a pinch of saffron
• 20 g pistachios, slivered

Method

1. THE CURDS ARE TOSSED WITH SUGAR OVER A LOW HEAT AND NEVER BOILED OR FRIED. Its article names the simplest form and gives it in one clause: makha sandesh, makha meaning KNEADED, prepared by TOSSING THE CHHENA LIGHTLY WITH SUGAR OVER LOW HEAT -- and when shaped into balls it is called kanchagolla, kancha for raw and golla for ball. Raw is the right word for it. The ten chhena sweets already written are each decided by a cooking step, whether they are simmered in syrup, fried hot, fried slow or baked for hours. This one has none: a few minutes over the lowest heat to melt the sugar into the curd, and that is all it ever gets.
2. THE HEAT IS THE WHOLE RISK. Low, and moving constantly. Let it catch or tighten and the curd turns grainy and dries, and there is no bringing it back.
3. IT IS DONE WHEN IT LEAVES THE SIDE OF THE PAN IN ONE MASS. Five to eight minutes. Any longer and it will set hard rather than soft.
4. THE SUGAR IS CASTER AND IT IS WEIGHED AGAINST THE CURD. Two hundred grams to the chhena from two litres of milk, which is about four hundred grams. Sweeter than that and it will not hold a shape.
5. IT IS KNEADED WARM, WHICH IS WHAT MAKHA MEANS. Turned out and worked with the heel of the hand until absolutely smooth. This is where the texture is made.
6. THEN IT IS EITHER ROLLED OR PRESSED INTO A MOULD. Balls for kanchagolla; or pressed into a wooden mould for the shaped kind.
7. ITS ARTICLE DESCRIBES A FIRMER CLASS AS WELL, AND IT IS DRIED. For the more elaborate kinds the chhena is DRIED AND PRESSED, flavoured with fruit and sometimes coloured. Drying it first gives something that can be cut and carried.
8. AND A SOFTER ONE MADE WITH DIFFERENT DAIRY. Its article names pranahara, softer and made with mawa and yoghurt rather than chhena alone.
9. IT IS SERVED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, THE DAY IT IS MADE. Cold dulls it and a day later the sugar has drawn water out of the 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.

Filed under India · All recipes