Friday, June 24, 2016

Sandesh

This is another delectable sweet from West Bengal, a vibrant eastern state from India. Sandesh is also made from paneer. The method to make paneer is on this blog post. It is always preferable to make paneer at home for the fresher the cottage cheese the better the texture of your sweets. Of course if by some miracle you have access to real fresh paneer, then go ahead and buy that.

Sandesh is one of the easiest sweets to make and can be presented in very interesting ways. Here's one with rose petals looking so royal!


To make paneer, you will need. -

4 cups  - Whole Milk
2 tblspn - White Vinegar (mixed with 2-3 spoons of water)
Muslin Cloth

Once you have paneer, you will need -

1 cup - Sugar
Rose petals and rose essence (half a teaspoon)/ Saffron infused in milk/ cardamom powder


Method -

Knead the paneer really well for about 15-20 minutes. After kneading for 15 minutes, add sugar little by little and incorporate it into the paneer. You can reduce the quantity of sugar if you think it is too much. After that, take a wok or a wide bottom vessel and on low flame sauté the paneer sugar mixture for 4-5 minutes till the raw smell disappears. You can avoid this like I did when I made with the rose flavor. If you sauté, then sandesh will last longer, else you will have to eat it within a couple of days.

Now add the rose essence or cardamom powder if you are using any of these. Mix well. Make small balls and press flat. For rose sandesh - you add rose essence and garnish with fresh rose petals. For cardamom sandesh - just add the cardamom powder. For saffron sandesh - once you have shaped the sandesh, drizzle the saffron infused milk on each sweet. I did sauté the paneer while making the saffron ones, you can see the difference in the texture.

Serve warm or cold.



 

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