Nolen Gurer Sandesh is a traditional Bengali Sweet, made with fresh Chana/Cottage cheese and Date Palm Jaggery these sweets are a timeless classic. This jaggery is seasonal and available only during the winter. But if you love this jaggery just like the way I do, you can stock the Gur in an airtight container, it stays well in the refrigerator up to 1 year. Being a Probashi Bangali I always stock this well for making payesh, sondesh etc. A few days back I tried my hand on making these sondesh using my mother’s sondesh moulds for the first time. And I was quite pleased to see that I could manage to pull out some decent sondesh, my daughter also loved them, and had 2 at one go. The recipe is easy, but you need some patience and practice with the Sandesh making. There is no joy greater than making sweets at home. Don’t forget to share your experience with me, if you’ve tried this recipe. 🙂
Nolen Gurer Sandesh/Cottage Cheese Fudge with Date Palm Jaggery
Learn how to make Bengal's favourite sweet Nolen Gurer Sandesh at home by following this easy recipe which needs only 2 main ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 litre- Full cream milk
- Juice of 1 and ½ lemon
- 6 tsp- Gur/Jaggery
- Ghee/clarified butter for greasing the moulds
Instructions
For Chana/Cottage cheese
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In a deep bottomed pan Add milk. Let it boil on high heat, once boiled, lower the heat.
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Add lemon juice, stir well, the milk will begin to curdle. Cheese/chana/chena and whey will start to separate at this stage.
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Add some water (½ cup) immediately. Higher the heat, give this a quick boil. Again lower the heat. This way all the milk fat will separate nicely from the whey. And in the end, you will get to see a clear whey.
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Line a big bowl with muslin cloth/cheesecloth. Drain the whole cheese+whey mixture on this.
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Discard the whey or you can store this for 2-3 days in the refrigerator to use in your curries, gravies or dal. It gives a nice lemony flavor into any dish.
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Now tie the loose ends of the cheesecloth and place it under running water to wash away the lemony smell. Hang this for an hour. This way all the excess water will drop away from the cheese.
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After an hour if any extra water is still there, squeeze the cheesecloth using your fingers. But make sure not to squeeze too much, because we need moist cheese to make sondesh.
For making Sandesh
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Now on a clean plate knead the cheese for 5 minutes or until very smooth and lump-free. Now add the jaggery into this, and knead again for 3-4 minutes.
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Grease the moulds (if using) with ghee, keep aside.
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Heat a nonstick frying pan, add the cheese mixture into this. And cook on very low heat for 3-4 minutes.
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The mixture will be very soft while cooking, but don’t worry it will harden nicely when it cools. Don’t overcook otherwise, the sondesh dough will become dry and at the time of making sondesh they wouldn’t hold up the shape, might crack also.
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Now remove from the heat. Start making sondesh from the warm dough.
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Take a small portion from the dough and press into the moulds, wait for 10-15 minutes. Then remove the sondesh from the mould, it will take the impression of the mould within this time. Repeat the process. You don’t need to grease the moulds again with ghee, just carry on with the sandesh making.
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If you are not using moulds. Then just make round balls out of the dough, or give any other shape you wish to.
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Serve them cold or at room temperature. Keep the rest of the Sandesh refrigerated and consume within 3-4 days.
