Bhapa Sandesh/ Steamed Bengali Cheese Fudge

Autumn season is known for auspicious celebrations for Indian starting with Navaratri, Durga pooja, Laxmipooja and ending with Diwali, Kali pooja(another form of goddess Durga) and Bhai PhoNta.  

Diwali/Festival of Lights signifies light over darkness and good over evil. This joyous occasion is marked as a national holiday in India and celebrated on the month of October or Early November every year. People decorate their house with clay lamps or electric lights. Some families worship goddess Laxmi Pooja for divine blessing. Families and neighbors gather together with new clothes, display fireworks and share home made sweets and savory snacks. 

2015 Laxmi Pooja

We have been eating lot of sugary treats during this festive season. It is quite difficult to be calorie conscious. So I have decided to make soft and mildly sweet Bhapa Sandesh/Steamed Cheese fudge for Diwali celebration. This is one of the low fat and low sugar Bengali sweet indulgences that satisfy every ones palate without any guilt.

Bhapa Sandesh needs just few ingredients you have at home. I have been making this sweet almost two decades and never failed. Normally it is steamed in the steam vessel or pressure cooker on the stove top. I prefer to bake it in water bath.

Ingredients~
Fresh chana/paneer from 1 gallon2% milk click here
2cups 2% milk
1/2 -3/4 cup sugar
5 green cardamom pods
1 tbsp coarsely ground raw pistachio nuts
A few drops of rose water
Butter for greasing the pan
Rose petals

Special equipment~
7x7 inch cake pan
A large roasting pan
Food processor
parchment paper


Method~ 
Boil 2% milk in a heavy bottomed pan until it reduces to 1 cup. Add in sugar and boil until sugar completely melts. Discard green outer shell of cardamom pods and grind the seeds into a fine  powder with a mortar and pestle. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a food processor blend together chana/paneer, milk-sugar mixture, ground cardamom and rose water until it becomes a smooth batter. Cut a 7x7 square parchment paper and line the bottom of the cake pan, not sides. Butter the parchment paper and sides of the pan. Pour chana mixture into the buttered pan. Smooth the top with a back of a spoon. Sprinkle with ground pistachio. Place the cake pan in the roasting pan and carefully fill with about 1 inch hot water in the roasting pan.  Reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees. Bake in the bottom rack for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours or until completely set. Insert a tooth pick in the center. It should come out clean. Be careful not to over bake it or else Sandesh will be hard. Refrigerate for couple of hours. Cut into desired pieces, garnish with rose petals and serve. Happy Diwali from our family to yours!!