‘Mithais' from Bengal

Bengali sweets are a class apart they are stylish, those with a discerning sweet tooth would say. Subtlety wins, and conquers hearts. Try some of these and indulge your sweet cravings.

Bhappa Doi

Ingredients

Yogurt - 1 cup

Full cream milk - 1 cup

Condensed milk - 1 tin

Dry fruits - Almonds, pistachios, raisins

Saffron - A pinch, for garnish, optional

Method

Blend one cup each of yogurt, full cream milk with a tin of sweet condensed milk for a minute. Add chopped dry fruits, around five almonds, blanched and sliced, 10 pistachios chopped and five-six raisins. Stir well. Pour into a foil-coated container and cover. Add 2 cups water into a pressure cooker, place the covered container in it and pressure cook on high till the first whistle. Simmer cook for 20 minutes. Put off the flame and cool for 30 minutes. Open the lid and peel off the covering. Remove the inner vessel from the cooker. Cool to room temperature. Discard the water / fluid that oozes out and invert onto a serving plate / dish. Peel off the foil wrapper. Chill for four to six hours or overnight. Serve this Bengali delicacy, garnished with saffron, dry fruits of your choice.

Rasgullas

Ingredients

Fresh milk - 1 litre

Lemon juice - 3 tbsp

Sugar - 2 cups

Water – Three-and-a-half cups

Kewra essence - A drop

Rose water - 1 tsp

Pista, almond slivers, saffron - For garnish , optional

Method

Boil the milk, preferably fresh, full fat cow's milk. As it boils, add 3 tbsp lime juice. Stir as it curdles into clear whey and cottage cheese (paneer). Drop 12-15 ice cubes into the mixture. Keep a cheese cloth / muslin over a deep vessel. Pour the mixture and let the water drain.

Shape into a pouch and expose to fresh, clean running water from a tap and let this hang for 15 minutes. Gently squeeze-dry the contents of the pouch. Open the pouch and take the cottage cheese ball.

On a plate, keep the cottage cheese at one end. Go over the entire mixture by rubbing a handful using your hand, across the plate, so that the cottage cheese reaches the opposite end.

Do this over and over until the cottage cheese has evened and can be easily rolled into smooth balls. Divide the mixture into uniform sized balls (I got about 19 from a litre of milk).

Press each mix between your hands, swirl the mix tightly and loosen your grip in a circular motion as these form smooth even balls. In a pressure cooker pour in the water and add two cups of sugar. Over medium high heat, let the sugar dissolve.

When the syrup starts to boil, pour in a drop of Kewra essence and one tsp rose water, and add the paneer balls . Close the lid of the cooker and place the weight.

Over low heat, cook till the first whistle. Let this cook for another five minutes. Turn off the heat. Leave for about 40 minutes. Open the lid and transfer the rasgullas, one by one, into a bowl.

Take care as the balls are tender at this stage. Slowly pour in the syrup. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for a couple of hours. Serve chilled.

Garnish with pistachio and almond slivers and strands of saffron.

Rasmalai

Ingredients

Fresh milk - 250 ml

Sugar – One-and-a-half tbsp

Rasgullas - 6

Cardamom powder - A pinch

Varq / edible silver sheet - To garnish , optional

Method

Take 250 ml milk in a non-stick pan. Cook , stirring for about 8-10 minutes till the milk has reduced to half or less. Add the sugar and a pinch of cardamom powder. Stir well.

Gently squeeze each of the rasgullas with your hand to let out excess syrup. As the sugar dissolves, place the rasgullas in the milk mix and let it boil for a minute or two. Remove from heat.

Let it cool to room temperature. Pour the contents into a serving dish and chill.

Serve chilled, garnish with saffron and pistachio slivers. Decorate with varq / edible silver sheet.