Nolen Gurer Sandesh ( Cottage Cheese Fudge with Date Palm Jaggery )

Winter is here with all its beauty. It may not be that pleasant for our east coast friends who has to face the 6-inch tall snow walls right now. But here in San Diego we are having better time with slight colder breeze of winds and nice sunny afternoon. In our native land, winter is synonymous with some of its signature food and sweets. One of them is “Nolen Gur”-r Sandesh. Nolen gur or date palm jaggery - a key ingredient in most winter delicacies from sandesh to payesh and everything in between.

Today I will share the mouthwatering recipe of Nolen Gurer Sandesh. This is one more sweet that any Bengali can die for. The season starts immediately after Diwali or Kali Puja. Since we were in India this time during the festival season, we were lucky to get some good quality Nolen gur. Though it’s available nowadays throughout the year, it definitely tastes better during winters because of its freshness. Restaurants and sweet shops preserve nolen gur in its solidified form or as “patali gur” at freezing temperature and then serve it during other seasons of the year.  

In my recent trip, I also got some beautiful molds for making Sandesh.  Some of you already asked me about where you can find these molds in Kolkata. They are available in Natun Bazar near Girish Park, Kolkata. Since now I have the “gur” in my refrigerator and the molds to make the shape, then what to wait for ? I made the Sandesh that my readers were waiting for long time. I learnt making Sandesh in traditional way couple of years ago. Though the process is little time consuming but not so complicated.  Also off late, I learnt about an alternative process of making Gurer Sandesh that uses Ricotta Cheese. It’s hard to believe that both the versions taste alike. Using ricotta cheese in the place of home-made Indian Cottage Cheese (i.e. Chenna ) means the process is more simplified and it cuts the cooking time by half. So in the same post I will share both the methods. Try out whatever is convenient to you and pamper your soul!

(Traditional way ) Recipe of Nolen Gurer Sandesh : For 10 to 12 pieces 

Ingredients :

Whole Milk : 1 and half liters
Lime juice : of a whole lime 
Nolen gur : 6-7 tablespoon or to taste 

Method :

1. Boil the milk in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium to low heat, stir occasionally. Once the milk starts boiling, lower the flame. Pour the lime juice and stir in. Milk will start cuddling and change into chenna ( cottage cheese ) and greenish water. 

2. Remove the pan from heat and leave the chenna in this condition for 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Pour the chenna - water mixture over a cheese cloth or a soft cotton cloth and let the water drain away. 

4. Put this cloth with the chenna under cold running water for 2 to 3 minutes to remove the lemony smell. Then hang the chenna along with cloth on the kitchen faucet for around 45 minutes. 

5. Now once again squeeze the cloth, if there is any extra water. But note that the chenna should not get too dry. 

6. Put the lump of chenna over flat surface and knead it. Start kneading with the heal of your palm for about 4 to 5 minutes. Add Nolen Gur ( Date Palm Jaggery ) and knead again until jaggery is totally mixed with the chenna. 

7. Put a nonstick pan on low heat, add the kneaded chenna. Cook the chenna at low heat by stirring it continuously with a spatula for about 4 to 5 minutes.

8. Brush the inside of the molds with little ghee ( clarified butter ).Take out the warm Sandesh and shape with molds. If you don't have any molds just toss into balls. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

( Easy way ) Recipe of Nolen Gurer Sandesh : for about 20 pieces 

Ingredients :

(Part Skim)Ricotta Cheese : 32 Oz.

Nolen Gur ( Date Palm Jaggery ) : around 12 tablespoons if it is liquid 'gur' or If you are using 'patali gur', take little less than one ball or as per the desired sweetness.  

Ghee (Clarified butter) : 2 tablespoons.

Method :

1. Take a mixing bowl, add the ricotta cheese and the jagerry and mix it well. If you are using Patali Gur. Cook it in the microwave for few seconds. The jagerry will be soft. Mix it nicely until jaggery is totally mixed with the cheese.

2. Take a nonstick pan and add the cheese jaggery mixture. Cook it at low heat by stirring it occasionally. It will take time, once mixture comes out clean from the side of the pan that means you are done. Don't make it too dry, because when it comes to room temperature automatically it will become tight. So avoid cooking for extra time. Otherwise it will turn out KodaPak r Sandesh.

3. Take it out from the pan and let it cool down. You can put it into the refrigerator for half an hour. Now warm up the ghee, add 1 tablespoon of it to the Sandesh and knead it nicely.

4. Brush the inside of the molds with little ghee ( clarified butter ) and shape with molds. If you don't have any molds just toss into balls. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

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Mango Kalakand ( Mango Flavored Indian Cottage Cheese Fudge )

After a break, I am back with a traditional Indian sweet dish today. When I noticed that my last post was 100^thone, made a plan to celebrate this event with some dessert recipe. Thanks to all of my readers to follow this blog and encourage me all the time.

When it comes to sweets, you will find different variety of cuisines in India. Some of these dishes are popular only in a specific region. But there are others that get widely popular and manage to cross boundaries of many states and regions. Kalakand is one such sweet preparation, which was invented in northern part of India, specifically in Rajasthan. But it has made its name in every part of the country and commonly appears during festival season of either parts of India. Kalakand, also known as Sandesh, is made out of solidified, sweetened milk and cottage cheese.The name of this Soft, crumbly, bite size , milky-white, square-shaped sweet makes all Indian’s mouth water.

You can follow several different styles to make kalakand. In one process, it’s preferred to use sweetened and solidified milk(khoya), while others like to use condensed milk. The whole preparation can be either done in a microwave or on a stove-top, whatever is the easier way for you.  I am not against the fact that the traditional method can still provide you the best results. It gives the best texture and the perfect softness, but at the same time, the easier method is not that bad as well! Though I have tried both, today I will share the traditional one. 

The process starts with making some fresh paneer. All you need is whole milk and something acidic, like lemon juice or vinegar. Making Paneer at home is little time-consuming. If you would like to take the short route, you can however skip this step completely. I mean, you can buy paneer from any Indian store or replace paneer with ricotta cheese. But I have preferred to use fresh paneer. As I said, most of the time Kalakand looks milky white. But since I added some mango pulp to give some summer flavor, so it got a nice yellow color in my preparation. Hope you would like this than the usual kalakand.  

Recipe of Mango Kalakand : for 24 pieces 

Ingredients :

Home-made fresh paneer / Chenna : 500 g around ( 2 cups )

Sweetened Condensed milk : 1 can (400 g)

Milk powder / Dairy whitener  : 2 tablespoons 

Mango pulp : 4 to 5 tablespoon 

Cardamoms : 3-4, crushed

Pistachios : few, chopped 

Method : 

1. Mash paneer coarsely and add milk powder to it. Add the condensed milk and mix it nicely. 

2. Take a thick bottomed pan, pour the mixture into it and heat it up. Cook on medium high heat. Add the cardamoms and mango pulp. Stir continuously till the mixture becomes thick. It will take 8 to 10 minutes (approximately ).

3. Remove from heat, and spread it on to a greased dish. Sprinkle chopped pistachios.

4. Put it into the refrigerator and let it cool. Cut into squares and serve. 

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Bhapa Sandesh / Steamed Home-made Cottage Cheese Fudge

Today, I came up with the recipe of a dessert that I prepared on 4th of July weekend! It is one of most loved and traditional sweet dish in Bengal. Very easy and simple to make, need only four ingredients to make this mouthwatering dessert. It takes only 15 minutes for preparation and another 15 minutes of cooking time! So Bhapa Sandesh would be ready only with half an hour of your effort! To make this delicious dessert, you need a steel container with lid and a pressure cooker. If you don't have those, use microwave instead.

'Bhapa Sandesh' doesn’t need any introduction to any Bengali. To rest of the people, Sandesh is a specific type of sweet or dessert created with chenna (Indian Cheese) and sugar, sometimes milk with sugar. They are available in many types and shapes. This particular type is made by steaming home-made cottage cheese and that's why the name is Steamed Sandesh. 'Bhapa' is Bengali word for steamed. Sandesh is usually decorated with some dry fruits, or rose petal or saffron streaks. Since I prepared this dish on America's Birthday, I sprinkled with some blue, white and red sugar decors. This is my east met west Steamed Sandesh :) You can use 'Nolen Gur' (Date Palm Jaggery ) or brown sugar in place of powdered sugar, which I tried in last winter and came out awesome.

Recipe of Bhapa Sondesh or Sandesh : for 10 pieces

Ingredient :

Whole Milk / Full Fat Milk - 2 liters
Sugar - 6-7 tbsp or as per the taste
Vinegar or Lemon Juice - of a big lime mix with 2 tsp of water.
Cardamom (crushed ) - 2 or Cardamom Powder - a pinch
Chopped Pistachios ( optional ) - 2-3 tbsp
Saffron - few strands ( optional )

Method :

1.    Boil the milk in a big pan and stir continuously. Once the milk starts boiling, lower the flame. Pour the lemon juice or vinegar. Stir the milk. Once the milk starts curdling, and it changes into chenna (cottage cheese) and greenish water, remove the pan from oven.

2.     Leave the chenna / channa in this condition for 5-7 minutes.

3.     Put it over a soft cotton cloth / or a cheese cloth (if you have any). Let all the water drain away.

4.     Now put this cloth with the chenna under running cold water for 2-3 minutes. This will help to remove the smell of lemon.

5.     Hang the chenna along with the cloth on the kitchen tap / faucet for 30 minutes. Please note that the Chenna shouldn’t get too dry. If it gets dry, the Sandesh won’t be soft enough.

6.     Now in a big bowl, take the chenna out, add sugar and mix it nicely. Once it gets soft and smooth, add the cardamom powder. Again knead it nicely, until you feel oily on your palm. Add the chopped pistachios. ( you can use food processor for the mixing and kneading )

7.     Take a steel container, grease it with non-stick spray or butter. Pour the cheese mixture into the container, sprinkle the saffron strands and cover it with lid. If you don't have any container with lid, take a steel bowl and cover it tightly with aluminium foil. 

8.   Take a pressure cooker, add 1 cup water and place the container carefully. Cover the cooker's with lid. But don't put the pressure regulator weight over the vent pipe. Let it cook on low to medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes. If you want to avoid the pressure cooking method, take a microwave proof bowl, grease it, pour the mixture and cook it for 5 to 8 minutes.

9.   Once it is done, let it cool down first at room temperature. Then put the container into the refrigerator for half an hour.

10.  Cut it into the pieces. Bhapa Sandesh is ready!! Sprinkle or decorated with some dry fruits and serve!  

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