Coconut Sandesh(Narkeler Sandesh)

Narkeler Sandesh

In Bengal, social  and religious ceremonies can not do without sweets. Many hundreds of sweet shops have emerged as a result of changing tastes and competition, not only in the country but all over the world. The old custom of distributing sweets in religious occasions still continues. Sweetened cottage cheese, khoa (Dried milk) and flours of different cereals and pulses are the usual components of the sweets of Bengal. some of the popular Bengali sweets are sandesh (shondesh in Bengali), Rasgulla (rashogolla in Bengali), Pantua, Chamcham (chomchom in bengali), Rasmalai (rosomalai  in bengali) to name a few.

Shondesh : This is made from sweetened and finely ground cottage cheese. Confectioners of Bengal have come up with a hundred varieties of the sweet retaining the basic structure. Shondesh can range from a simple kachagolla to the complicated jolbhora or indrani.

Ingredients :

Full Cream Milk                                   2 packets(1 litre)

Curd                                                    1/2 cup

Rose water                                           1 tbsp

Green Cardamom Seeds                       1/2 tsp, ground

Sugar                                                    150 grams, powdered

Method :

Heat the milk. When it starts boiling, add churned curd and heat till  the milk separates and forms Paneer or cottage cheese. Strain the water from the paneer or chana  using a cloth strainer. Tie the paneer in the cloth, dip in cold water and place under weight to drain out all the water. OR you can just buy 225 grams of  ready made cottage cheese from the market.

Grind the paneer or chana in a grinder or motar n pestal to a smooth paste. Remove to a plate and mash well with hand.

Add the powdered sugar to the paneer.

Place the mixture over heat and stir constantly to avoid lumps.

When the mixture solidifies, splash rose water over it and remove the pan from heat. Keep stirring for a little longer.

Place the cardamom n raisins in two separate plates.

Now divide the mixture into several equal portions of the required size. Place a raisin on the sandesh mould and flatten them over moulds to give them the desired shapes.

Place them on a serving dish and serve cold or at room temperature.

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