Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Kalakand; 5 minutes Microwave recipe


Yesterday the biggest festival of Bengalis have come to an end. After almost a week long excitement of Mahalaya and pujos the festivities ended by saying final good bye to Maa Durga. Last evening everyone gathered around the idol with tears in their eyes for the last time this year. Its the sending off ceremony of Maa and her kids to a faraway land called Kailash where she lives with her husband. 


By offering her sweets, Sindoor, Pan and alta, everything that signifies the glory of an eyo stree (married woman) we bid farewell to her for this year. with that the non stop pandal hopping, tremendous amount of adrenalin rush in terms of adda (chat) marathon walk from one puja to another, spending hours in glamming up with new clothes, make ups and jewelleries has also come to an end. 

I love this time of the year. Not only because we celebrate the maximum number of birthdays but also because the Bijaya goodies that we get to eat. Every household prepares themselves with plenty of varities of Bijoya snacks, ranging from elo jhelo, kucho nimki, narkel nadu, Narkol Tokti, jibegoja, ghugni and what not. You just need to get ready to welcome family and friends with open hands. To bless them for a great year ahead, to offer respect to the elders by touching their feet and to extend the festivities for few more days. After all how can we let go of the biggest Bengali festival on earth without few more days of eating.

This year along with nimki, elo jhelo and naru I also have prepared this microwave kalakand. There are plenty of recipe available online and I adapted the one from Sandeepa's blog. Ricotta isnot very easily available here so I made my own fresh cottage cheese at home by curdling milk. The recipe came together very very easily and may be because I decreased the quantity it was done in just 5 minutes.

Please make sure that you have microwave safe pots before you try this recipe. I love my borosils and Domits. 

Microwave Kalakand
(makes 8 pieces)

Ingredients:
Milk: 1 liter
lemon juice: 2 tsps
Condensed milk: 1/2 can or 200 gms
green cardamom: 2
saffron threads: few (optional)
ghee: to grease the pans

Few pistachios to sprinkle on top

Method:
Heat the milk and bring it to boil in a heavy bottom pan. Add the lemon juice and bring down the flame to medium. gently stir and the milk will curdle. boil it for a couple of minutes till the whey separates from cheese.  Switch off and pour the whole content on a cheese cloth lined colander. Drain the whey completely and then by holding the cloth ends wash it under running water. That way you will get rid of the lemony smell. 

Now bring the sides of the cloth together and tie it to create a potli or cloth pouch. Hang it somewhere to drain the excess water. Let the water drain at least for 30 minutes.

Take the Chhena or cottage cheese in a food processor bowl. Add the condensed milk and pounded green cardamom and the saffron threads if using. Pulse it for few seconds to get a thin and smooth batter.

Grease one microwave safe bowl ( preferably ceramic or glass ones) with little ghee. Pour the entire content of the chena mixture in it. Cook for 3 minutes on Microwave high (900W for my Samsung). Wearing a oven mitt carefully take it out and give it a good stir. Micro again for another 2-3 minutes. check at every one minute interval or you will end up with burnt cheese. The end result would be grainy and almost dry. The entire mixture would start to leave the sides of the pan. 

Grease another plate or flat bowl. Pour the Chena mixture into it and using a spatula tightly layer it. Chop the pistas and sprinkle and press on the top. Let it come down to room temperature before putting it in fridge. Chill it for at least 2 hours before cutting them with a sharp knife.

Serve chilled or at room temparature.

A Homemaker's Notes:
Check the chena mixture while it gets cooked in the microwave. IF you let it stand in the oven for too long it will burn and the whole thing would be inedible.

You can also decorate it with Silver leaf (chandi ka varq or Tabak).

To make it kids friendly try adding 1/4 cup of melted chocolate in the chhena mixture and then cook it as mentioned. This will give delicious Chocolate Kalakand.

For a much extravagant treat you can make two layers one with chocolate and another the plain. While layering just layer one upon another to get exquisite looking Kalakand.

You can also try adding Fruit crush like strawberry crush in the chena mixture and same flavour to get Strawberry Kalakand.

34 comments:

  1. I'm going to try this recipe.. looks so delicious:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful kalakand and one easy recipe too :) will sure give this a try sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I make this as well. A vigilant eye on the microwave sure helps. A permanent favourite in my house.
    Love your photos.
    Sure it came out yum!
    Shubho Bijoya.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I make this as well, a very vigilant eye though, on the microwave.
    Your photos looks splendid.
    Shubho Bijoya!

    ReplyDelete
  5. delicious and ummy with awesome clicks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sayantani! Number 1: I am trying this tomorrow. I love kalakand! Number 2: Why don't you submit this on www.gourmettable.in 's under 5 minutes category?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you Saee. just submitted it to the Gourmettable.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just cant resist to those beauties, when i saw the title of the recipe i thought you would have prepared with ricotta cheese, love that u prepared with chenna..Wonderful job Sayantani.

    ReplyDelete
  9. we dont need to add sugar?

    -Aparna

    ReplyDelete
  10. Delicious, I am going to try this one.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Aparna, 1/2 a can of Condensed milk is sweet enough. no need to add more sugar.

    ReplyDelete
  12. will definitely try this recipe....n will give u a feed back

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks... I just tried this... n im waiting it to cool for a couple of hours in the fridge.. Keeping my fingers crossed it turns out as good...

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have just prepared it n kept for cooling in the fridge now.. Waiting to taste it... :P

    ReplyDelete
  15. Prothome tumake and tumar lovely family ke Shubho Bijoya r onek shubecha..sotti bojha he jaye na ki korey eyi 3-4 days eto taratari sesh hoye jaye...M/W ta invent hoye koto bhalo hoyeche bolo to and kalakand ta besh bhalo hoyeche and chobi O khub bhalo tula hoyeche..bhalo thekho ...hugs and smiles

    ReplyDelete
  16. Perfect Sayantani, and I love this fast 5 minute version..

    ReplyDelete
  17. This one gets added to my sweat free treats for a crowd. Thanks for sharing Sayantani!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Such a pretty photograph! Have to try MW kalakand this Diwali.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Such a pretty photograph! Have to try MW kalakand this Diwali.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Yummy dessert recipe.....beautiful clicks too!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Yummy dessert recipe.....beautiful clicks too!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Homemade sweets r always the best :)
    delicious

    ReplyDelete
  23. wow microwave kalakand looks so yummy and am drooling here :) amazing clicks dear !!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Definitely on the must try list..lovely pics

    ReplyDelete
  25. This is my favorite,thx for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  26. Gonna try this. So interesting recipe. first time here,wonderful blog you have. Following you will be happy if follow me back as well.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hi Sayantani,
    Kalakhand looks so beautiful,such an easy recipe too.Glad to join your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  28. This is absolutely mouthwatering Sayantani... Just a quick trick for those who stay abroad or if you a busy working women: you can use ricotta cheese and condensed milk to make it even faster (no need to curdle milk to get the chhana)... right proportion of ricotta and condensed milk gives it a very good creamish texture too...

    ReplyDelete
  29. @Chondryma, I have already mentioned that in the post.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I m so sorry Sayantani.... I just read it again now and yes you have mentioned that already... I guess I was drooling over your pictures and went over your words.... My bad!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hi can i mix it after two minutes interval instead of one if i cook it only four minutes in all? Thanx

    ReplyDelete
  32. It is very frustrating to see most of comments are on the presentation. I wish there were comments on the outcome of how it turned out for them and if they have done it with any variations. It will be much useful comment to others who want to try.

    ReplyDelete