Sandesh

Sandesh is a Bengali recipe made by using simple ingredients such as milk, sugar and cardamom powder. Below is how i did it.

Milk - 1/2 gallon

Lemon - 1/2 cup

Powdered sugar - 1/2 to 1 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Almond nuts - optional as topping

Place the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and bring it to a boil. As the milk comes to a boil, slowly pour the lemon juices. The acid in the juice will curdle the milk and in less than 30 seconds, the milk fat will separate from the liquid to form paneer cheese. Empty the milk whey (the liquid) with the paneer in a colander layered with cheesecloth. You can use the whey for other cooking purposes as well. 

Remove the cheesecloth holding the paneer and place something heavy on the paneer cheese so whatever remaining liquid is in the paneer will drain. After about 15 minutes, remove the weight and place the paneer on a dry surface and bray the paneer. Braying is a process where you press the paneer till all the granular nature of paneer becomes smooth and binding like a dough. For the braying process, I used the stand mixer with the flex-edge beater. After about 5 minutes of beating, the granular hard paneer became smooth and dough like. During this beating process, I added 3/4th cup of powdered sugar and the cardamom.

Remove the smooth paneer and place it on a pan in the lowest possible heat and gently warm the paneer to remove its raw nature. After about 5 minutes, when the paneer looks shiny, remove it from the pan and let it cool. Once cool, press it to form a ball and place ghee fried almond pieces as seen in the picture above.

Don't forget to offer it to Krishna!

Pictures courtesy my wife.

Hare Krishna.