I really don’t know if this is how people make Kancha golla or not, but to me it sure tasted like one. For those, who do not know what is a Kancha golla, it is a Bengali sweet made with milk and sugar. This is my take on this sweet dish called sandesh and as usual I have made it simple 😉

Ingredients

1 Liter of Full fat Milk (best result with 6% fat milk, but try to go below 3% fat)

1 Tbs Vinegar

2 to 3 Tbs of Sugar

2 tsp of Cinammon powder

1 tsp Nutmeg powder (optional)

Prepare the Chhana

In a deep pan or kadai pour the milk and put on the heat. Keep an eye on the milk while heating. When the milk starts to boil, reduce the heat and add the vinegar. I usually reduce the heat so that the milk doesn’t spill over, you see the boiling milk has a tendency to do that. After adding the vinegar, you can increase the heat again. But keep an eye.

 The milk should starts to curdle. Keep boiling till all you can see is transparent water (whey) and curdled milk. Turn off the heat.

Whenever I see a recipe, which needs chhana, it always mentions of a muslin cloth to filter out the extra water. The problem for me was that I could not find any muslin where I live. I searched online, apparently you can buy them in London, but not in the part of India where I live. This was a big reason behind me never trying to make anything chhana related. However, like any other great discovery in the world, it came to me one fine day, that why not try the really fine sieve I have at my disposal. I tried, and viola! It was just perfect for me.

So use a very fine sieve to drain out the extra water. but don’t keep the chhana in the sieve for very long, it tends to make it very dry. Leave some moisture in it.Now comes the hard part. You actually need to knead the chhana till you get a somewhat smooth paste. Keep doing it for 5-10 mins if your hand permits, or ask your friends or family to give you a hand. And then add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and knead again for couple of minuets.

When you feel satisfied with the texture, divide it into small balls. And you are done. Keep them in the refrigerator for sometime and then serve cold.

A Quick Recap

• Boil the milk
• When the milk starts to boil add the vinegar and wait till all the milk curdles
• Drain the excess water from the chhana
• Knead the chhana till you get a smooth paste
• Add sugar and spices, knead some more
• Divide into small ball
• Server cold