Kalakhand is a famous North indian milk sweet made from reduced milk and cottage cheese/chenna. it is flavoured with cardamom and saffron and garnished with chopped nuts. totally delcious and ofcourse fattening.
diwali is around the corner and many of you must be excited and getting ready for it. although this year will probably be low key in many households due to the covid situation im sure nobody will cut down on the sweets ….wink! food definitely brings us happiness!!
This dish is definitely very easy to make provided you have the patience. you have to be near the stove and stirring the milk at all times as it is very easy to burn the milk. Im sure we all have our ‘milk stories’!! one minute we turn around and that milk gives us double the work!! but its alllll worth it 🙂
You can aslo view the recipe video below!
to make the chenna/ paneer-
full cream milk – 500 ml
lime juice or white vinegar – 2 to 3 tsps
to make the kalakhand:
full cream milk – 500 ml
sugar – 1/4 cup + 2 tbsps
cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
ghee – 1 tbsp
almond, sliced – 10 (to garnish)
pistachios, sliced – 15 (to garnish)
PROCESS:
- To make the chenna, bring the milk to boil.
- Then, start adding the lime juice or the vinegar 1 tsp at a time to curdle it. Stop when the milk has completely curdled, and the whey water has completely separated.
- On a strainer, spread a muslin cloth. next pour the curdled milk on it. The chenna will collect in the muslin cloth and the whey water underneath.
- Wash the chenna under running water to completely remove the lime/ vinegar taste.
- Then wrap the muslin cloth tightly to remove any water and let it stand/ hang for awhile.
- In the meanwhile lets make the kalakhand – In a non-stick pan, heat the milk on low flame. Keep stirring continuously so that the milk doesnt burn at the bottom.
- When the milk has reduced, and only quarter of the milk is left behind, roughly break up the chenna/ paneer and add it to the milk and continue to cook on low flame.
- Continue stirnng and let the chenna absorb all the milk.
- When the milk has thickened slightly add in the sugar. Now, again the milk mixture will become loose and runny.
- Continue stirring on low flame till the milk has thickened again.
- Now, add in the cardamom powder and the saffron and mix.
- Continue cooking and stirring. When the milk has almost thickened add in the ghee to moisten it.
- Cook further and when all the moisture has left you will be left with thick lumps of chenna and milk you can switch off the flame.
- Generously grease a 5×5 inch dish with ghee. If you want thicker slices you can choose a smaller dish.
- Drop all the hot kalakhand mixture into the greased dish and press it well so that there are no gaps.
- Garnish with the sliced almonds and pistachios and press so that it sticks to the kalakhand. Let it cool completely before cutting.
NOTES:
- This sweet, like palkova, takes a long time to cook. It took me almost 45 minutes to cook this. We have to be patient and cook on low flame. Otherwise it is easy to burn the bottom.
- It is advisable to use a non stick pan so it is easier. I started off using an iron pan, and even though I was stirring continuously, towards the end it still started to burn at the bottom.
- Also it is easier to cut neatly when you line the pan with parchment paper before you set the kalakhand. so you just lift it out along with the baking paper. this way you can get neater cut slices.
YOU CAN ALSO VIEW THE VIDEO BELOW:
