Rose Sandesh

Blogging Marathon # 35 Week 4 Day 3

Theme : Special Theme : Bookmarked Recipes - online or otherwise

Course : Dessert

Sandesh (Bengali: সন্দেশ Shôndesh; Hindi: संदेश) is an Bengali dessert created with milk and sugar.^[1] Some recipes of Sandesh call for the use of chhena (cheese) or paneer instead of milk.^[2] Some people in the region of Dhaka call it Pranahara (literally, heart 'stealer') which is a softer kind of sandesh, made with mawa and the essence of curd.^[3]

Sandesh can be made with the use of Chhena or cottage cheese. The simplest kind of Sandesh in Bengal is the kanchagolla. It is basically prepared by tossing the Indian cheese (chhena) lightly with sugar over low heat. The sandesh is essentially hot, sweetened Chhana which has been shaped into balls. For the more complex and elaborately prepared sandesh, the chhana which is used for preparation is dried and pressed, flavored with essence of fruits, sometimes even colored and cooked to many different levels of consistencies. Sometimes it is filled with syrup, blended with coconut or kheer and molded into a variety of shapes. These shapes can frequently be seen resembling conch-shells, elephants, fish etc.

Recipe Source : http://www.tarladalal.com/Rose-Sandesh-7473r

Preparation time : 30 mins

Cooking time : 10 mins

Makes :  10

Difficulty level : Medium

Ingredients :

• 2 ltrs low fat milk
  
• 1/2 tsp citric acid (nimbu ka phool)
  
• 2 tsp (approx.) sugar substitute
  
• a few drops of rose essence
  
• a few crushed rose petals

For the garnish
a few rose petals

Method :

• Heat the milk in a vessel. When it starts boiling add citric acid. Stir continuously using a wooden spoon till it curdles completely. Remove from flame.
• Drain the curdled milk through a fine muslin cloth and wring it to squeeze out excess water from the resultant paneer.
• Open the cloth and mash the paneer with your palm on the cloth itself. If the paneer is hot use the edge of the cloth to rub it.
• Remove the paneer onto the kitchen platform and rub in the sugar substitute according to taste. Add the rose essence and crushed rose petals.
• Knead well to bind and get rid of any lumps.
• Make 10 small round portions of the paneer, big enough to fit in the sandesh/ moulds.
• Press the rounds on the sandesh moulds and shape accordingly.
• Garnish with rose petals, unmould and store refrigerated.
• Serve chilled.

Tips

1. If sandesh moulds are not available you can use plastic or rubber chocolate moulds or simply shape the sandesh into small rounds.
2. If you do not like the raw taste of paneer cook for 5 min on low flame or on micro high for 1 min stirring after 30 seconds.

Nutrient values per piece

Fat	Protein	Carbohydrate	Energy	Iron	Fibre
0.2 gm	5.0gm	9.2 gm	58 kcal	0 gm	0.4 mg

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#35

Hope you have enjoyed reading this post. Please take a minute to share views and valuable comments.

Regards, 

Briju Parthasarathy