Chana'r Jilipi - a Bengali dessert

Another lovely sweetly festival (Bengali New Year) is just round the corner. And you know, the celebration is not afar. The actual celebration will start from 14^th April. I prefer to celebrate such moments with something that is made at home.

When I make food that helps me recall by-gone-days, even build some memories. Today’s takeaway generation has lost much of that.  It doesn't really leave much room for remembrance, do they? I try to collect the recipes from old cookbooks, Ma’s diary, faded handwritten notes scribbled by grandma – perhaps now ready to slip away. That is how some of the nostalgia survives.

Today’s Chana’r Jilipi Recipe I am sharing with you, was made by Grand Ma. 

Ingredients for making Chana'r Jilipi: (for 10-12 pieces)

For Jilipi:
Homemade Cottage Cheese / Casein (fresh made): 1 cup
Khoya Kheer / Mewa: 1 cup
Suji / Semolina: 2 tbsp
Refined Flour: 2 1/2 tbsp 
Baking Powder: a pinch
Melted Butter to mix Refined Flour
Green Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp 
White Oil for frying

For Syrup: 
Water - 3 cup 
Sugar - 6 cup 
Green Cardamom - 5-6

Method for making Chana'r Jilipi: 

1. Soak Semolina in 4 tbsp of warm water for 15 minutes.
2. Take Casein, Mewa in a mixing bowl. 
3. Melt Butter in a pan. Add Refined Flour. Mix well. Add this to Casein Mix.
4. Add soaked Semolina to Casein Mix. Add Cardamom Powder. 
5. Knead well. Make a smooth dough. 
6. Divide the dough in small equal size balls. Roll each balls in long strips. Give them coil shape like Jilipi. Leave them aside for 5-7 minutes. 
7. Meanwhile you can make Sugar Syrup. Take all ingredients (except green cardamom) in a deep-bottom aluminium pan. Wait till Sugar dissolves in the water. Add Green Cardamom. Stir well. Boil the Syrup till it gets 1-string* consistency. 

[1 String consistency* : Place one drop of syrup in between your thumb and forefinger. To taste the consistency you have to pull apart them gently. If only one thin thread is formed, it indicates that you have got 1-String consistency.]

7. Heat oil in a frying Pan. Fry those coil shaped Jilipi in medium hot oil until they become dark brown, but not too dark. 
8. Dip them into Sugar Syrup. Keep them in the Syrup for at least 3-4 hours. It will soak the syrup. 

Kancha Golla

Ingredients to make Kancha Golla:

Full Cream Milk - 1.5 ltr.
Lemon Juice - 2.5 tbsp
Fresh Cream / Malai - 1/2 cup
Khoya Kheer - 1 cup
Nolen Gur / Sugar - 1 cup

Process to make Kancha Golla:

1. Boil entire milk in a deep vessel at medium flame.

2. Mix lemon juice with 1 cup of water.

3. When the milk comes to a boil add Lemon water into the milk slowly.

4. When the milk starts curdling cook for another 5 minutes and after that when you see green colored water separating from the curd remove the vessel from flame.

5. Now drain the water with the help of a clean cotton/muslin cloth and collect the Chana.

6. Run fresh water over the Chana for 5-7 minute to get lemon flavor out of the Chana.

7. Once you are done with the washing, bring together the edges of the cloth and tie both the end properly and place it in a plate and put a weight over the cloth for 15 minutes. 

8. After 15 minutes, place the entire Chana in a hot pan. Stir with a spatula. 

9. Add Fresh Cream or Malai. Stir again for 3-5 minutes.

10. Add Khoya Kheer and Sugar (or Jaggery). Stir continuously. Chana will now change its colour. It will get brown colour.

11. Once the Chana mixture becomes sticky, turn off the flame. 

12. Now make round balls of your desired size and shape out of the hot mixture. You have to make ball as soon as the mixture is cooked. If mixture cools down, it will become hard. You wouldn't be able to give any shape. 

You can garnish Kancha Golla with chopped dry fruits. 

Rabdi Sandesh

Ingredients to make Rabdi Sandesh:

1 cup Chhana (Homemade cottage cheese)

6 cups full cream milk

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. sugar

2-3 pods of green cardamom

1/2 tsp. ghee for greasing

Few Cardamom for garnishing

Process to make Rabdi Sandesh:

1. For making homemade cottage cheese or chhana take 5 cups of milk in a heavy bottom pan. Bring it to a boil on high heat. When the milk starts boiling reduce the heat and add vinegar or lime juice to it. As soon as the milk curdles turn off the heat and stir it well.

2. Line a strainer with cheese cloth and pour the curdled milk over it. Wash chhana with running cold water to wash off any residual acidity. Bring the sides of the cheese cloth together and squeeze it to drain the excess water. Don’t drain it too hard.

3. Take chhana in a flat tray and knead it with the heel of your palm. Add 2 tbsp. of sugar and crushed cardamom seeds. The chhana mixture should be moist. If you feel its not moist enough add few drops of milk to it.

4. Grease a steel Tiffin box with ghee and spread the chhana evenly. Pour half cup water in the cooker and carefully place the closed tiffin box inside it. The water level should cover 1/3 of the height of the tiffin box. Cook it on medium heat without the pressure-weight for 15 minutes.

5. Allow the tiffin box to cool down completely. Remove the cover and place a plate upside down on top of the open tiffin box. Turn it over. Now your Sandesh is ready. Cut it into squares.

6. In a heavy bottom pan take milk and cook it on medium heat till the color changes to one shade darker of its original one. Don’t forget to stir it continuously. By this time it will be reduced to its half. Add 1/4 cup of sugar and freshly crushed cardamom seeds. Stir well.

Add steamed chhana cubes and turn off the heat. Let it stand for couple of hours before you serve.

Tempting Ras Bara - You can't take off your eyes!

Ingredients to make Ras Bara: 

A. For Bara

Urad Dal - 1 cup (for 15 pieces)
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
Salt
Oil to fry

B. For Syrup

Water - 3 cups
Sugar - 2 cup
Juggary - 1 cup or less as per your taste (I used date palm juggary)

Process to make Ras Bara:

1. Soak the Urad Daal in water overnight (or 7-8 hours).
2. After 7-8 hours wash the soaked daal under running water. You need to wash it until you find water runs clear.
3. Pour it in a mixer grinder bowl and add little water. Make the paste with it.
4. Pour the paste in a bowl. Add little salt and fennel seeds.
5. Now beat the paste very well. If you don’t beat well, the dumpling would be hard. And It would not be able to soak the sugar syrup.

[To know if beating is fine or not, place a drop of paste to a glass of normal water. If the drop floats, you don't need to beat any more. But if it sinks down, it indicates that further beating is required.]

6. Heat enough oil in a deep bottom frying pan. If oil gets hot, reduce the flame. Place one drop of paste to the hot oil to check whether the oil is ready for frying or not.
7. Now place a spoonful of paste to the oil. It would look life dumpling in hot oil. You can place 7-8 dumplings at a time. Fry them till light brown colour.
8. Take out the dumplings from the oil and keep them aside in a bowl. Ideally you should keep those dumplings on a napkin lined plate, so it can absorb the extra oil.

Making Sugar Syrup for Ras Bara

1. Heat water in a pan.
2. Once it starts boiling add sugar. keep stirring. It would help sugar dissolve fast.
3. Add juggary and mix well. Stirring is required again. Once the juggary mix well with water, turn off the flame.
5. Place the fried dumpling to the syrup one by one. Let it be there for 1-2 hours. Dumpling would float in the syrup.
6. Serve  hot or cold as per your choice. 

Komola Kheer / Creamy Milk Pudding

Ingredients to make Komola Kheer: (for 2 persons)

Full Cream Milk 1 ltr
Khoya / Mawa : 1/2 cup
Sugar: 1 cup (or as per your taste)
Extracts from Orange: 1/2 cup
Diced Orange (De-seeded): 15 pieces (halves)
Process to make Komola Kheer:


1. Heat the milk. Make sure you have taken a heavy-bottom wide rimmed pot. Because your milk will rolling-boil. While boiling stir continuously. 
2. Now reduce the flame from high to medium. Stir until you see milk becomes thick. Stir continuously, otherwise it will stick to the bottom of the pot. Milk would become half in quantity. It will take more than 1 hour. 
3. Add Khoya Kheer. Make sure you still keep stirring. Let it dissolve to the milk.
4. Add Sugar. You keep stirring. Sugar will dissolve to the milk. 
5. Add Orange Juice. Mix well. Turn off the heat. 
6. Transfer it to a different bowl. Cool to room temperature.
7. Add Orange pieces. 
8. Chill for 3-4 hours or more than that. 

Your Komola Kheer is ready. You can serve it chilled. 

Patisapta

Ingredients to make Patisapta: (15-17 pieces)

For Crepe: 

Refined Flour - 3 cups
Semolina - 1 cup
Rice Flour - 1 cup 
Milk - 3 cups
Date Jaggery - 1/2 cup

For Filling (Kheersa): 

Milk - 2 lts. 
Khoya - 1 cup
Date Jaggery - 1 cup
Coconut - 1 cup
Malai / Fresh Creme - 4-5 tbsp (optional)

Process to make Patisapta:


For Filling:

1. Heat the milk in a heavy-bottom pan in high flame. Once it starts roll-boiling, reduce the flame. Keep stirring until it becomes half in quantity. And your milk will become little grainy. Don't stop stirring. Otherwise it will stick to the bottom of the pan.
2. Add Khoya Kheer. Stir well. 
3. Reduce the heat...on medium-low flame. Still keep stirring both bottom and sides of the pan. After 25-30 minutes you will feel that little more grainy. Then add Jagguery and again stir to mix it well to the milk. add Coconut and Malai. Mix well
4. You still stir until it becomes thick granular type khoya. Set it aside to cool to room temperature. 

For Crepe:

1. Take Refine Flour in a mixing bowl. Add Semolina and Rice flour. Mix well with your hand. 
2. Add 1 cup of milk first. Don't add entire milk at once. Mix well. 
3. Add Jaggery. And mix well. Then again add little more milk. The batter thickness should be like pancake batter. Set it aside for half an hour. 

Making Patisapta:

1. Heat a frying pan. Apply little oil to smear the pan. 
2. Pour  a ladle-full of batter on the pan. Tilt the pan. Move the batter with the back of the ladle. Actually you have to distribute the batter in a circle, but don't make it too thin. The batter would take 5-7 seconds to set. Don't flip over the sides. 
3. Now place little bit of the filling lengthwise at the center of the crepe. Fold the crepe. You will find little brown at the bottom of the crepe. Take it out. 
4. One Patisapta is ready. Now repeat the process to make more. 

You can serve it hot or cold.