By: Salina Parvin.

While desserts are predominantly served at the end of a meal, those with a serious sweet-tooth well agree that anytime is dessert time! Eid-ul-Azha is just a few days away and there is no better way to celebrate the festive occasion than to prepare and serve traditional Bengali sweets.

Whether you are serving an array of desserts, or just pick one or two of the family favourites, the following recipes may serve you well.

Kalojam

This gives you the wondrous feeling of biting into a ‘gulab jamun’ but in a handier form! Kalojam is made with a perfect mix of ‘mawa’ and flour to get a super soft kalojam, which is deep-fried and dipped in warm sugar syrup to make a lovely semi-dry sweet. This is ideal to serve on any occasion or to send across to friends as you don’t have to worry about the syrup dripping out of the container.

Ingredients

For the kalojam —

2 cups crumbled mawa

¼ cup plain flour

3 tbsp milk powder

3 tbsp arrowroot

Ghee or oil for deep-frying

For the sugar syrup —

3 cups sugar

1¼ cups of water

A few saffron strands

Method

Combine the sugar and water in a deep non-stick pan; mix well and cook on a medium flame for 10 minutes or till the syrup is of one string consistency, while stirring occasionally. Add the saffron, mix well and keep the syrup warm. Combine all the kalojam ingredients in a deep bowl and knead very well into a smooth dough. Divide the mixture into 20 equal portions and roll each into oval or round balls. There should be no cracks on the surface, or else the kalojam will crack while deep frying. Heat oil or ghee in a pan and deep fry 10 kalojams at a time on a medium flame till they turn blackish in colour on all sides. Drain and immerse in the warm sugar syrup. Soak for 1 hour. Serve immediately or serve warm.

 

Roshogolla

These spongy-soft round mishtis, soaked in sugar syrup, have become an icon of Bengali cuisine. One simply does not say no to roshogolla. Made from ball shaped dumplings of cottage cheese and semolina dough, the roshogolla is then cooked in light syrup made of sugar.

Among all Bengali sweets, this takes the first place in our home for various occasions. It is delicious, and needs only basic ingredients from the kitchen. You can make these a day prior to Eid and surprise your loved ones.

Ingredients

2 cups cottage cheese (chhana)

2 tsp semolina

2 cups sugar, 6 cups water

Method

Knead chhana and semolina until smooth and form a soft dough. Divide the chhana dough into marble size portions. Roll each dough into smooth balls. Be careful that there are no cracks. Keep aside. In a heavy bottom pan, boil water and sugar over a medium heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves and bubbles just start to form. Add the chhana balls to the sugar syrup and immediately cover with a tightly snuggled lid. Cook for 30 minutes over a medium heat. Do not open the cover, remove from heat keeping the lid on. Let cool for about 30 minutes. Open the lid and pour the roshogolla in a large bowl with syrup. Let the roshogolla soak in syrup and completely cool before serving.

Chhanar jilapi

Ingredients

1 cup chhana

¼ tsp cardamom powder

¼ tsp baking powder

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp all purpose flour

Oil for deep frying

Pistachios to garnish

For sugar syrup —

1 cup sugar, 2 cups water

A few saffron strands

2-3 pods cardamom, crushed

Method

Mix flour, baking powder, cardamom powder, milk and chhana. Knead well to make a smooth dough. Cover it with a cloth/cling wrap and leave for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the sugar syrup. In a wide pan, put water, sugar, saffron and cardamom pods and bring it to a boil. Let it boil until the syrup becomes a little sticky. Keep aside. Now start shaping the jilapis, pinch small balls from the dough and roll the ball into a long thick rope. Shape the rope into a pretzel or just a swirl. Repeat for the rest of the dough and put the shaped jilapis to one side. Heat oil in a pan, fry the jilapis until golden brown. Remove from the oil and dip it in the warm sugar syrup. Leave it in the syrup for 2-3 hours before serving.

Pranhara shondesh

Shondesh is a popular Bengali sweet. The first shondesh was introduced by Bhim Nag in 1826. This dessert is made with fresh cottage cheese and sugar. There are many different varieties of the shondesh like plain, gurer, norom paker shondesh, kora paker shondesh, etc. Chhana is also known as curdle milk solids. Some people in the region of Dhaka call it “pranhara” which is a softer kind of sandesh, made with mawa and fresh chhana.

Ingredients 

2 cup chhana

½ cup ground sugar

½ cup powder milk

¼ cup mawa, 1 tbsp milk cream

1 tbsp ghee

Method

Mash the chhana into a smooth paste. Take half of the chhana in a heavy bottom pan and add sugar. Cook on medium heat, stirring continuously for 3-4 minutes. Remove the pan and allow it to cook down. Now add the remaining chhana, powder milk, ghee and milk cream to it. Mix till smooth. Take a small amount of mixture at a time and give them perfect round shape with the palm of your hands. Coat mawa over it and prepare to serve.

Kachagolla

Kachagolla is a famous Bengali sweet dish. This delicious sweet recipe is made from cottage cheese, sugar and cardamom. It requires few ingredients and is quick and easy to prepare.

Ingredients

250g chhana (cottage cheese)

200g sugar, ¼ tsp cardamom powder

Raisins and nuts to garnish

Method

Knead the chhana with the palm of your hand for 8-10 minutes. Combine chhana and sugar in a non-stick pan. Place the pan over low heat. Stir continuously for 2-4 minutes. The sugar will melt and release moisture; quickly remove the pan from heat. Add cardamom powder and stir the mixture continuously for 5-6 minutes. Let the mixture cool down.

Take small portions and shape them into round balls, garnish with raisins, nuts and serve.

Darbesh

Darbesh is a popular and classical Bengali sweet which looks like a boondi laddu but tastes different. One of the main ingredients is mawa, while we don’t add mawa in the boondi laddu. These are prepared in a lot of Bengali households and enjoyed by all.

Ingredients 

750ml oil

200g mawa

1 big cardamom seed

1 pinch baking powder

250g gram flour

2 tbsp cashew nuts

50g rice flour

½ tsp nutmeg powder

2 tbsp raisins

Few drops red and yellow food colour

4 cups water

4 cups sugar

Method

Take rice flour, baking powder and gram flour in a bowl and whip them together with water to make a batter. Split the batter into two equal halves. Add the red colour to one half of the batter and the yellow to the other.

Heat oil in a pan. Pour the batter through a perforated ladle. Fry the drops until crispy. In a separate pan, add water to sugar and boil till it forms a thick syrup. Dip the fried boondi in the syrup. Simmer on medium flame for about 5 minutes and keep stirring frequently. Turn off the flame and cover it with the lid.

Mix nutmeg powder, raisins, mawa, cashew nuts and crushed cardamom seeds with the boondi when it is still warm. Let it cool down. Use your hand to make round shaped boondi laddus. Darbesh is ready.

Rashmalai

Ingredients

For saffron flavoured milk —

5 cups full fat milk

½ tsp saffron strands

1 tbsp warm milk

¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp cardamom powder

For the roshogolla—

5 cups milk

1½ tbsp lemon juice

1 cup sugar

To garnish —

1 tbsp pistachio (slivers)

1 tbsp almond (slivers)

Method

For the saffron flavoured milk, boil the milk in a non-stick pan on high flame, stirring twice in-between. This will take approximately 4-5 minutes. Reduce the flame to a medium and cook for 15 minutes or till the milk reduces to half its quantity, while stirring occasionally and scraping the sides of the pan.

Meanwhile, combine saffron and warm milk in a small bowl. Mix well and keep aside. Add the sugar to the boiling milk. Switch off the flame, add the saffron-milk mixture and cardamom powder and mix well. Keep aside to cool for 30 minutes and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

For the roshogolla, boil the milk in a deep non-stick pan on high flame, add the lemon juice gradually and keep stirring gently till it curdles. It is completely curdled when the chhana and the whey (greyish) separate.

Strain using a fine cotton cloth. Place the cloth with the chhana in a bowl of fresh water and mash it gently for 1-2 minutes. Tie and hang it for 30 minutes for the extra water to drain out. Squeeze the cloth to drain any more water remaining. Now knead the chhana well using your palm for 3 to 4 minutes or till it is smooth and free of lumps.

Divide the chhana into 10 equal portions and roll each portion into a small ball between your palm and flatten it lightly and gently. Keep aside. Put 5 cups of water in a pan, add the sugar and bring it to boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves completely. Put the chhana balls into the sugar water and steam for 7-8 minutes. Switch off the flame and allow it to stand in the steamer for 30 minutes.

Remove the roshogolla from the sugar syrup, squeeze them gently and add them to the saffron flavoured milk and stir gently. Refrigerate them for at least 30 minutes. Serve chilled, garnished with pistachios and almonds.