Poila Baisakh celebration without sweets is unimaginable. While there is a sweet shop in every nook and corner of the city, homemade mishti defines love. This Bengali New Year, whip up two fun and decadent mishtis with renowned blogger Debjani Chatterjee Alam, of the blog Debjanir Rannaghar.
Two-in-one sandesh
Debjani gives an adorable twist to the two-in-one ice cream and turns it into Bengal’s favourite sandesh. “Growing up in the ’80s, Two in One ice cream was my absolute favourite. We enjoyed it at weddings and whenever something exciting happened, like getting good grades or winning a drawing contest. I made a two-in-one sandesh, which is simply a flavoured sandesh with vanilla and strawberry,” said Debjani.
Ingredients
To make chhana or cottage cheese:
- Full cream milk: 2 litres
- Lemon: 2
To make two in one sandesh:
- Chhana/cottage cheese (prepared from two litres milk): 600g
- Powdered sugar: 5tbsp
- Vanilla essence/ extract: 3 drops
- Strawberry jam/ strawberry compote: 4tbsp
- Condensed milk: 6tbsp
- Ghee (to grease the mold): 1tsp
Method
To make chhana or cottage cheese:
- Boil milk in a deep-bottom pan and reduce to ⅓
- When the milk is reduced in quantity, simmer on the flame and add lemon juice to curdle it
- Once the milk starts curdling, switch off the flame
- Cover the pan with a lid and leave it for 10 minutes
- Strain the water from the chhana/ cottage cheese using a strainer
- Place the chana in the middle of a muslin cloth and tie the edges to close it
- Put something heavy like a shil nora over the chhana-filled cloth
- Leave it for 30 minutes to drain excess water
- After 30 minutes, remove the cloth – you should have a block of cheese as the end product
To make the sandesh:
- Take the chhana/cheese block and mash it using your hands to make it lump-free
- Start kneading the chhana to make it soft
- Mix condensed milk with the softened chhana
- Now, separate the chhana into two parts
- Take one part of chhana in a pan and start cooking it on a low flame by adding 3 tbsp of powdered sugar and vanilla essence
- Cook until the chhana solidifies a bit and leaves the edge of the pan
- Take the vanilla-flavoured chhana out on a plate
- Start cooking the remaining chhana along with 3 tbsp of sugar and strawberry jam/ compote on a low flame
- This portion took me around 10 minutes of cooking, as it involved the jam as well
- Take the strawberry-flavoured chhana out onto a plate
- Now grease the choice of the sandesh mold using a little ghee
- Take a half portion each of the flavoured mixtures and shape them as shown in the picture
- Remove from the mold carefully
- Two-in-one sandesh is ready to serve
Baked Soan Papdi and Mishti Doi Cheesecake topped with Mini Gulab Jamun
Debjani shares an Indianised version of a baked eggless cheesecake prepared with soan papdi, mishti doi and mini gulab jamun.
Ingredients
For the cheesecake:
- Mishti doi: 500g
- Condensed milk: 200ml
- Single cream: 200ml
For the base:
- Soan papdi: 10 pieces
For garnishing:
- Mini gulab jamun: 15 pieces
Method
- Take a muslin cloth and pour the mishti doi over the cloth, and tie the ends of the cloth
- Hung the tied cloth from a stand for one hour
- This will help in discarding the whey from the curd
- Once there is no whey, take the curd out in a bowl
- Blend the curd using a spoon until it is smooth
- Now add the solid portion from the single cream, followed by the condensed milk
- Mix thoroughly to prepare a smooth mixture
- By this time, preheat the oven to 160 degrees C for 15 minutes
- Take a soan papdi and crumble those using your fingers
- Now take a 7" springform pan and pour crumbled soan papdi
- Using your fingers, spread and press the crumbled soan papdi to construct the base
- Pour the cheesecake mix and lightly tap the tin.
- Now bake the cheesecake for 40-50 minutes or until it sets completely at 160 degrees. Check in between
- Once done, switch off the oven and take the pan out and then place it over a wire rack
- Wait until the temperature falls
- Once at room temperature, demold the cheesecake and refrigerate it
- While serving, top it with mini gulab jamuns
