Malai Sandesh

The Autumn festivals also known as Sharodutsov in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Tripura begins with Durgapooja celebration the victory good over evil followed by Laskmi pooja, the goddess of wealth. After two weeks, festival ends on new moon day with celebration of  Kalipooja which symbolizes epitome of "shakti" the power and Dipaboli, the festival of lights. 

Autumn festivals hold a very special place in all Bengali's hearts. Being far away from home this festive season brings back lots of memories, new clothes, pandel hopping, home made sweet-savory goodies, endless fun and frolic with friends and families. To keep this festive spirit alive every year we follow some rituals, light up some earthen lamps, perform Laxmipooja, prepare some traditional festive goodies and some other sweets that I make all year long.

Today I made Malai Sandesh/Bengali cheese fudge with homemade chana(cheese), dunked in lightly sweetened thickened milk flavored with saffron, cardamom powder and garnished with ground pistachios. I tasted this dessert at friend's potluck a long time back. Someone made it in a jiffy using store bought ricotta cheese which is bit similar to Bengali chana(cheese). It tasted very authentic with great flavor. The recipe intrigued me because of its simplicity as I never made dessert before. I made Malai Sandesh with store bought ricotta cheese quite a few years until I learned to make right textured chana for Bengali sweets. 

I prefer making everything from scratch because I am very passionate about it. This recipe is one of the easiest. You can't go wrong. I made chana in the microwave as usual. As soon as it's drained well and cooled I kneaded with sugar and cardamom powder and baked it for 30 minutes in the oven and prepared malai at the same time. Doesn't it sound simple? Here is the recipe.

Ingredients~
2% half gallon milk
1/3-1/2 cup sugar
3-3 1/2 cups half and half milk
A pinch of saffron threads
A pinch of freshly grounded cardamom powder
1 tsp ground pistachios

Method~
Follow this instruction to make chana. Drain well for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven for 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Knead chana with half sugar and cardamom powder. Spread the chana mixture evenly into a  8" square baking pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool for a while. While baking it heat half and half in a heavy bottomed pan. Bring it to the boil stirring constantly. Reduce and simmer till milk is reduce to half. Stir 1/4 cup sugar and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Cut baked sandesh into wahtever shapes you like and transfer into a  serving dish. Pour malai over sandesh and garnish with saffron and ground pistachios. Let it cool completely before serving. A very Happy Kalipooja and Deepaboli from our family to yours. Wish you all joy, peace and good health forever.  Let there be peace on earth.

Happy Deepaboli 2018