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Kalakand – An Indian Dessert

Kalakand – An Indian Dessert

Kalakand is a very popular Indian sweet made of cottage cheese or chena. It is made during different festivals and celebrations in India. Today I am giving you a very simple recipe of making it at home. Packed with calcium and protein, this energy rich recipe is just what you need to perk you up on a slow day.

Kalakand
Kalakand

Ingredients for 9 – 12 pieces :

  1. Whole Milk – 2 liters
  2. Lemon juice – 2 tbspoon
  3. Powdered sugar – ½ cup
  4. Thinly sliced pistachio for garnishing
  5. Ghee for greasing

Procedure :

  1. First of all make cottage cheese or chena with 1 lit. (approx. 4 cups) of milk. Find chena recipe here : Chena/Indian cottage cheese
  2. Then in a heavy bottomed pan boil the remaining 1 lit milk on medium flame until it reduces to half. Stir occasionally so that it doesn’t get burnt at the bottom.
  3. Meanwhile squeeze the water very well from the chena and break them into small pieces.
  4. Now add the chena to the half reduced milk. Cook the mixture stirring continuously, till it becomes a kind of dough and starts leaving the pan from the bottom (i.e. all the moisture evaporates and a solid mass remains).
  5. Then add the sugar and stir for another 2 or 3 minutes to incorporate the sugar very well into the Kalakand.
  6. Now transfer Kalakand in a plate greasing with ghee. Flat it out in a ½ inch thick square and level the surface.
  7. After that sprinkle the sliced pistachios on top while it is still warm so that the pistachio can stay on the top of the Kalakand well.
  8. Now leave it to set for a few hours in a cool, dry place. When completely set, cut into squares or diamonds and serve.
Kalakand

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12 thoughts on “Kalakand – An Indian Dessert

  1. Swapnil

    I made it at home. It was good, but it was a little dry and hard (not very hard). But moist kalakand tastes better (the ones I’ve bought from sweet shops). I guess I added the sugar a couple of minutes too early. and when I kept it to set, it was leaving some water. I guess that was the water which could have kept it moist. Do you know what I should be doing to prevent this?

    1. Jayeeta

      Hello Swapnil,
      Nice to hear that you have tried Kalakand at home. As all we know that sweets made from “chena” are very delicate recipes. Frankly speaking I am also in the beginning stage of that kind of proficiency. In spite of that I am trying to give you few tips, let’s see whether it helps or not. 🙂
      1. To make any sweets of chena, you need to prapare very soft chena or cottage cheese. Don’t add lemon juice in very hot milk, then you will end up with a hard chena. Boil your milk first, then let it cool down a bit and then add the lemon juice.
      2. Add the sugar when all the moister evaporate out from the mixture and only a dough remains. I hope you used powder/icing sugar.
      3. After adding sugar, your mixture again turns a bit watery. The only way to remove this water is to cook the mixture for few more minutes.
      Try it again and let me know about the outcome. 🙂

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