All over India,
the gastronomic culture of Bengal is well
known for its affinity towards sweets, especially rosgolla and sandesh. Most
Bengali sweets are made of milk turned into Chenna, sugar, spices, fruits,
nuts, coconut and now a days even chocolate. Sweets are an essential component of Bengali
hospitality. Bengalis send sweets to
friends and family on every meaningful occasion.
The word “sandesh” means a message. In olden times when a message or invitation
was sent in Bengal, this special sweet was
always sent along.
Being a light sweet, Sandesh is healthy as it supplements a
good source of protein, carbohydrate and sugar thereby providing energy. Sandesh comes in more than a hundred
varieties.
I made this Bengali sweet on the occasion of Diwali. Once I successfully made it, I realized this
was the easiest sweet I have ever made.
I feel it is worth sharing it with my blog readers.
Ingredients:
Milk 1 ½ liter, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 2 tbsp water, ¾ cup
plus one tsp sugar, a few strands of saffron, 1 tbsp milk, a few drops of
yellow color.
Method:
Boil milk in a heavy pan.
When it reaches a boiling point pour vinegar and water mixture on this
boiling milk and stir it lightly with a big spoon. Lower the flame. When milk starts cuddling, turn off the
flame. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Now
drain it through the cheese cloth and hang it on your sink tap so that all
water drains up in an hour.
Soak saffron in a tbsp of
milk and let it sit for a while.
When all water drains up, take out the cheese or chenna and
mix it well in the food processor for eight minutes by adding sugar to it. Add yellow color and saffron mix milk.
Cook on a very slow flame in a heavy pan stirring
continuously with a wooden spatula. Make
sure not to overheat the chenna mix as it might turn grainy and leave fat. It should be neither too dry nor too
moist. Should be like a soft dough.
Immediately make small balls or any other shape you like. Garnish with crushed pistachio or any other
way if you like.
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