Sandesh

Never in my life had I thought that I would ever love cooking. Yes before getting married I would cook things every once in a while just to flaunt my cooking skills (which I guess is ingrained in my genes ha ha: D).

Over this weekend, here is what I made, and it turned out to be an absolute hit. Since early childhood, I happened to live with lots of Bengali friends and families and their sweets are well known all over India. Sweet, simple, elegant and delectably pure sweets. One of them is “Sandesh” or “Sondesh”.I remember my father bringing packets of these sweets and they would disappear overnight .However I never got to eat more than 2-3 being the youngest sibling and smallest tummy. Without going any further, I would love to share this recipe with all the sweet lovers who have the real taste for just simple milk based non-complex sweet.

Here’s what you are going to need:-

Milk – 8 cups

Lemon juice - 4-5 tablespoons

Saffron

Sugar -1/2 cup

Cardamom powder- 1 teaspoon

As simple as this.

1)Bring milk to a boil and spoil it using the lemon juice.Once the milk is curdled do not over cook to avoid making a tough kind of "cheena" or cheese.Once the milk is curdled drain out all the water using a cheese cloth.Run cold water to stop further cooking and to also remove the taste of the lime juice.Squeeze out all the water as much as you can with your hand.No need to use the heavy pressure to extract excess water .The drained cheese should feel very soft in texture.

2)Now mix the cheese with your hand and bring it to even smoother texture .A good exercise for your arms and hands.It Should look just like the log below.


3)Now add 1/2 cup of sugar and cardamom powder and mix some more gently.No need to be vigorous this time.Just mix to bring cheese and sugar together.




4)Heat up a non stick skillet and on medium high heat drop your cheese and sugar mixture in it.Keep stirring constantly.

5)After 2-3 minutes your will see that mixture has started melting .This is because of the water released from the sugar in the cheese.Keep stirring constantly as even a blink of an eye can stick the cheese into the pan and cause the color change which would not look appealing to the eyes at all.
6)It takes around 7-8 minutes to dry up the sugar water and you will see the cheese mixture coming out like a dough while still looking a little sticky.Please resist the urge of cooking more to make it absolutely dry.This is the very crucial point where if you over cook the cheese mixture will become crumbly.This sweet is supposed to have a little raw earthy tasting cheese.
7) Put the mixture back on the wooden board and use your muscle power one more time(Dont worry not much this time and this will be it :) ) .Bring the mixture into a smooth consistency.You will see that the dough will start leaving the surface of the wooden board and your hands will become very oily.That is because the dough will start oozing oil once achieving the right texture.
8)Just like the picture below.
8)Now divide the dough into 24 parts just like below.
9)Using the pressure of your both palms press and form the ball at the same time.Once you see that the balls are smooth without much frays ,press a little with your palms to give it a flat look.Give your thumb impression in the middle.
10)Stick some saffron strands in the middle to give the real look of a real Sandesh.And here you have it.
There are few tips which I think are important in making this sweet:-

1)Always use wooden board to mix the dough as the wood brings the right consistency in any milk and oil based sweet.This I learnt from my teacher who always said that wood soaks up the extra oil and gives the product the right texture.
2)Do not over cook.
3)Using home made cheese gives the real authentic taste and smoothness to these sandesh.

I can not tell about you but for me I have the real taste tester at home all the time standing just behind me so that I can finish cooking and give her some to taste.She can sense when I am cooking ordinary chapati-sabjee and when some thing special.That is the time when she dosent even like to watch her favorite program "Barni".She will keep standing with both her hands spread and a shuttle twinkle in her eyes telling me "mommy your dish is not successful until I approve it".
11)She eats and gives me an honest smile of approval which tells me that she liked it and I feel all the work I have done to cook some thing nice was worth it.
This post is my contribution to JFI - Saffron event hosted by DK.