After being in Chicago over a month and eating healthy food, I had a craving for Indian sweet called Cham Cham. The sweet shops in India town sell most sweets but their taste and flavor is no match to the sweets prepared in India: original and authentic. So I decided to make this sweet at home.
Cham Cham is a Bengali sweet which originated in the 19th century India. Over the years it has evolved into varied shapes, colors and flavors. Cham Cham is not just a delicious sweetmeat, it has a very appetizing look too. No wonder some people use Cham Cham as a term of endearment for their loved ones. If you have tasted Cham Cham before, you are sure to drool at the very thought of it. Those of you who have not tasted it, it has matchless flavor which can't be explained in words.
Cham Cham is made with freshly prepared chena or paneer.
Ingredients:
For chena and syrup:
5 cups of milk, 3 tbsp of lemon juice, 2 cups of sugar, 4 cups of water
For stuffing:
1/4 cup mawa or khoya, 1/4 tsp cardamom powder, 3 tbsp confectioner sugar, 3 drops kewra essence, 10-12 saffron threads, 5-6 pistachios chopped finely.
Method:
Take milk in a heavy pan and boil it on the medium flame. When milk starts to boil, reduce the flame and add lemon juice gradually. Stir it gently. Milk will start to curdle. Turn of the stove and let it cool off a bit. Take cheese cloth or any muslin cloth. Place it on a colander and let the curdled milk pass through this muslin cloth. Whey will drain away and thick chena will be left in the cloth. Run this chena or paneer under the cold water tap so that no residues of lemon are left in the chena. Now collect the opposite links of the cheese cloth, tie them and hang on the water tap in your kitchen sink.
Let all the water drain away. It takes almost an hour. After an hour you may squeeze the chena bundle gently between your palms so that no excess water is left. Transfer the chena into a pan and knead it for 30-35 minutes. Put a drop of oil on your hands and make round balls. When all the balls are made, turn these into oval shape by pressing the front and the sides. Place these on a plate.
In the meanwhile prepare the sugar syrup by adding 2 cups of sugar and 4 cups of water in an uncovered pressure cooker. Boil it till all sugar dissolves. Add saffron threads so that Cham Cham turns light yellow. I could add food color but I wanted to go organic and that is why I preferred saffron threads. Now put only 6 or 7 prepared Cham Cham to this syrup. Cham Cham expands in the sweet syrup. Close the lid of the pressure cooker. When steam starts to build or it whistles once, reduce the flame and put timer for exact seven minutes. Now turn off the stove and place the cooker under the cold water in the kitchen sink immediately.
Open the cooker and place the Cham Cham in a flat big bowl with some sugar syrup. Let it cool completely. Place this bowl in the refrigerator for two hours so that Cham Cham turn a little hard.
Method for Stuffing:
Mash khoya or mawa with a spoon, add cardamom powder, confectioner sugar and mix well. Now take the hard Cham Cham, slit it vertically in the middle, stuff it with khoya mix and put it back in the same flat plate. Repeat this process with all the Cham Cham pieces. When all is done, sprinkle the kewra essence and garnish with chopped pistachio.
Your delicious Cham Cham is ready. Cham Cham tastes better after 10-12 hours as it soaks the syrup more. It can stay fresh in the refrigerator for a week in a covered bowl. Enjoy.
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