Sandesh Recipe - Learn How To Make Bengali Sweet Sondesh

Sandesh is a traditional Bengali sweet dish that is known for its taste all over India and abroad. Learn how to make this extremely delicious and beautiful dish with the help of step by step photos and detailed recipe given below:

Preparation Time: 25 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Recipe Yeild: 6 servings

Alternate Names: Sondesh, Shondesh, Bengali Sandesh

Ingredients:

• Milk - 1 litre to prepare the chen
• Vinegar - 2 table spoon diluted in 1 small cup water
• Khoya / Mawa - 150 gm
• Sugar - 100 gm (can vary with taste)
• Dry Fruits: For garnishing as pr requirement
  • Almonds (Badaam)
  • Pistachios (Pista)
• Saffron (kesar) or Edible Color - 1 pinch

Procedure:

1. In a deep vessel (bhagona or pateela) pour 1 litre milk (dudh) and set it to boil on high flame. During this time take sugar in a mixer jar and grind to form a fine powder.
2. When the milk comes to boil, pour in 2 table spoon of vinegar (sirka) diluted in 1 small cup of water and stir with a ladle. Remember to do this process of curdling the milk on high flame. Notice that milk will begin to curdle (dudh ka phatna) after 1 minute into big lumps.
3. Now spread a clean cotton cloth (handkerchief) over a deep vessel or bowl and pour the curdled milk to seperate the chena (or paneer) formed, from the liquid.
4. Strain the liquid nicely using hands (as shown in the picture below). Gather the cloth from all sides in the form of pouch (potli) and rinse the chena left in the cloth with water. Squeeze the cloth with hands nicely so that the extra liquid is drained out.
5. Now take out the chena as one piece in a plate. With your palm start mashing and chafing (masalna) the chena, and smoothen it nicely to form a smooth dough. Similarly mash and chafe (masalna) the khoya with your hands and smoothen it. Then take the smoothened chena, khoya and powdered sugar together, and start chafing (masalna) them, so that they together form a uniformly smooth and white dough like mixture (as shown in the image below).
6. Heat a non-stick pan nicely and then lower the flame. Now saute the above mixture in it for 4 minutes only. (Remember saute only for 4 minutes and stir continuously) This step will help the ingredients to lose their raw taste and distribute their flavors uniformly through the dough mixture.
7. Now allow it to cool and then make small balls of the mixture into desired shape using hands. Garnish with dry fruits (badaam, pista) and saffron (kesar) or edible color (as shown in the images below). The dish is now ready to be served.

(Moulds of various designs for making sandesh are available in market and can be use to shape them)