Milk laboriously and lovingly cooked over dying embers till significantly reduced. A generous helping of jaggery. An indulgent throw of fragrant rice. Fruits and nut as you willed. And what you had was kheer, delectable and divine.
References to kheer / payasam / payesh date back several millennia to the ancient Vedas, soul food, staple for celebrations and the ubiquitous offering to the heavens above.
Centuries passed. The lucrative spice trade brought the Portugese to the Indian shores. And what they also got with them was the science of curdling milk. And we were introduced to paneer.
And then someone wise, in the tumultuous nineteenth century where boundaries blurred and cultures morphed and old orders changed yielding place to new at a dizzying pace, forged a marriage of the very Indian kheer with the crumbled paneer learnt from the Portugese. And was born the quintessential Bengali favorite Chanar Payesh.
Chanar Payesh. Yet other example of the mammoth influence invaders and colonialists have had on our cuisine and shaped it to the eclectic form by which we recognise it today.
Chanar Payesh (Bengali style cottage cheese milk pudding )
Ingredients
- 2.5 lit full milk
- 1/2 tbsp vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp rose water
- 1/4 tsp green cardamom powder
Instructions
- Mix vinegar and water in a bowl.
- Boil 1/2 litre of milk. As it comes to a boil, switch off the flame. Add vinegar and keep stirring gently till the milk curdles.
- Line a big bowl with muslin cloth or cheesecloth. Drain the chana and whey mixture through it. Strain the whey and wash the chana with cold water 2-3 times to remove the vinegary smell.
- Tie the chana in the muslin cloth and hang till all the water has drained for 45 minutes.
- Take out the chana in a bowl and crumble and lightly mash it using your fingers.
- Boil the rest of the milk in a thick bottomed pan. Add the elaichi powder and let the milk simmer on low heat till reduced to almost one third.
- Throw in the mashed chana and sugar, give it a hearty stir and let it simmer over low flame for another 15-20 minutes till it thickens a bit. If you like it sweeter, feel free to indulge - add some more sugar !!
- Take off the heat. Add the rose water and allow to cool. The Chanar payesh is ready to serve.
Awesome
Thanks Nandita… you have to add milkmaid once the milk is almost reduced to half 🙂
Thank you Rahul and Soma.
Want to try this- but should the milkmaid be added to the remaining one litre milk and simmered? Beautifully expressed as always
Loved reading it 🙂
Awwww just waiting for this kinda write up from you. Amazing !! You post feed my soul and make it more hungry. Thank you