Bengal culture somewhere fascinates me a lot, may be because my maternal side belongs to the royal Bengal. Not just the food, but the art and culture etc , each and everything is simply amazing here. And when it comes to food, there can’t be anything better than Bengali Sweets and desserts. Mostly made out of milk/ milk products, need to be consumed withing 1-2 days… but who cares when the sweets are so delicious it’s difficult to store more than a day. One such creamy luscious authentic and traditional bengali sweet, served in special occasions is CHANAR PAYESH.
Thick full cream milk, reduced to half it’s consistency and cooked with fresh home made cottage cheese dumplings is simply delectable. The delicacy is often served to the groom for some extra pampering…haha!
Well the delicacy is served chilled and can be garnished in many ways, i avoided the garnish here because i wanted to display the actual thick and creamy consistency of the sweet through my pictures. But yes, there’s no limitation to the garnish, you can use chopped nuts, rose petals or simply drop few strands of saffron on top to make it look more inviting.
Prep Time | 15 minutes |
Cook Time | 30 minutes |
Servings |
helping
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Ingredients
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- Take home made chenna or fresh paneer in a bowl and mash well with your palm to make it smooth and moist.
- Pinch marble sized chenna and make dumplings and keep aside.
- Boil full cream milk in a thick bottomed pan and reduce it till it turns off white and creamy.
- Keep scrapping the cream from sides and add into the boiling milk.
- Add sugar, saffron milk and cardamom powder along with chopped cashews, almonds and pistachios. Cook for another few minutes. Keep stirring in regular intervals to avoid milk getting burnt.
- Once the milk comes to a thick and creamy consistency, slide in the chenna dumplings and cook for another 5-6 mins in low flame.
- Add raisins and turn off the gas keep aside to cool.
- Refrigerate the payesh and serve chilled.
- You can add condensed milk (omit sugar) to thicken the milk fast.
- Don't ad the raisins in the beginning as it may splutter the milk. Always add raisins in the last and turn off the gas immediately.
- If you are using store brought paneer, make sure it's fresh.
- Garnish the payesh with your favorite nuts, rose petals or saffron etc. It's completely optional and depends on one's choice.
- If you don't like cardamom flavour, you can add few drops of rose water into it. Again it depends on one's choice.
If you liked this authentic recipe, kindly do drop in your feedback in comments below. You may also log in to my facebook page at Spoon Fork And Food
Love : Shaheen
1 comment
Chhanar paayesh was lovely!…i made chhana(paneer) at home….it was tasty n hassle free! my son loved it sooo much😊😊