Almond Sandesh

Almond Sandesh is a variation of  the famous dessert Sandesh. Traditionally Sandesh is prepared by cooking Chhena and sugar in a low heat. Chhena or Paneer is basically protein, so it needs to be cooked in a low temperature to maintain its softness.
One of my friend tried making Sandesh with store bought Recotta cheese, but it didn't taste the same. Sandesh has to be made with soft Chhena, nothing else works the same.

Ingredients
Milk, 1 Gallon
Lime Juice, about 1/2 cup (for making chhena)
Sugar, 2 cups
Rose Essence, few drops
Almond (Raw), 1 cup
Sweet Cream Butter, 1 tsp
mini parchment cups, for individual storing

Cooking 

Making Chhena: Boil the milk in a heavy bottom pan. It's always faster if the milk is in room temperature. Switch off the heat after it comes to a boil. In a bowl mix the lime juice with double amount of water. Then stir in the diluted juice in the hot milk. Keep some more juice handy.  You might need to add more Juice if the milk doesn't cuddle. Once the milk cuddles, strain it into a cheese cloth and blanch the Chhena(paneer) in ice water. Once the chhena cools down to room temprature take it out of the ice water and gather it tightly in the cheese cloth. Then try to get rid of most of the water from the Chhena by squeezing out the water. You might try placing a heavy container on top of  it for a while, that usually takes most of the water out. 

Preparing basic Sandesh dough:
Mix sugar and Chhena in a bowl, and knead till the sugar dissolves. Taste the dough and add sugar if you want the Sandesh to be any sweeter.
Heat a wide nonstick pan in medium to low heat. Coat the butter all over the surface of the pan. Then add the Chhena and sugar mix. Cook it in low heat, stirring continuously, for about 10 to 15 minutes. Take it out of the heat and place it in a bowl to cool down to room temperature.

Preparing basic Dry Mawa:
In the same nonstick pan, take a portion of the Sandesh dough. Cook it in low heat for about 10 more minutes, stirring continuously. When it starts to solidify, try to flatten the mix with the back of the flat spatula while stirring. Switch off the heat after it starts to granulate. Place it in a flat plate to cool down.
Once it comes to room temperature, you can dry grind the mawa if you want it finer.






Assembling the Sandesh:
Soak the Almonds overnight. Peel the skin, keeping a few for the decoration. Roughly chop the peeled almonds. Now mix the chopped almond and rose essence in the Sandesh dough. Mix it thoroughly and make equal size roundels out of it. 
Arrange the mini parchment cups and add some dry Mawa in each cup. Now roll each of the roundels in dry mawa and place it in the cup. Now press a soaked almond on top of the roundel. After making all the Sandesh refrigerate it till you're ready to eat.  

 

Sijha Manda Pitha

Sijha Monda Pitha is my all-time favorite pitha. And my mom makes it the best. She makes it on special occasions like puja or brata days, which calls for special desserts :) and she'll start making it early in the morning before the puja(prayer) starts. We're not allowed to have them before the puja, when it's offered to the God.  I remember waiting for her to finish the puja so that I can devour them. And I'm so glad I'd no one to share it with, because my brother and dad doesn't like them, and my mom usually fast on those special days!! I usually finish most of them before any guests arrive, to be on the safer side :)

Pitha is a traditional Oriya preparation, mostly sweet but there are few savory variations too. Monda Pitha is very common in Oriya households and everyone has their own variations of making it. The covering can be made with soaked rice, powdered rice or semolina(suji). And it can be cooked with water, coconut milk or milk. The stuffing varies from  coconut with Jaggery, sugar, channa dal or sprouted moongdal. Some put paneer, nuts and raisins in the stuffing. Everyone puts different species in the stuffing. The sweet ones usually have cardamom, clove and/or black pepper. The savory ones have ginger, black pepper and/or cumin.  And some like to boil the Monda(dumplings) in water, whereas some like it steamed or even fried. I would say, when you're not sure if your Monda cover will break or not, go with steaming, the pithas are safe that way :) If the cover doesn't break at all while stuffing and molding, then go for boiling. You can always check with one Monda first, if it doesn't break you can add the rest to the water.

I make it the way my mom makes it, the ones that I like the most!! For that we'll need
For the cover
Rice Flour- 2 cups
Water- 2 cups as per required to make dough
salt- 1/2 tsp
sugar - 1 tsp (optional)
Oil (or Ghee)- 1 tsp , I use canola oil coz hubby doesn't like Ghee :)  
For the stuffing 
grated coconut - 1 cup (fresh or frozen)

sugar (or jaggery)- 1/2 cup, as per taste
Oil (or Ghee)- 1/2 tsp, I use canola oil
cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
crushed black pepper - 1/2 tsp

Making the dough for the covering: 
Heat the water in a nonstick pan. Add salt, sugar and oil. when the water comes to a boiling point, switch off the heat and add the rice flour. Mix it well till all the flour incorporates with the water. If the mix is very dry then add some boiling water. If the mix is watery then add a little more flour. Different rice flour needs different amount of water, so you've to be ready for either case. Then cover it and let it sit for 30 minutes or so, till it's just warm to touch. Take the dough out and knead it well for 5 minutes. It'll be a sticky dough, but it'll firm-up once it's cool down completely. You can oil your hand before kneading to make it more manageable. After kneading cover it and set aside.



Making the Coconut stuffing:
Heat a little oil in the nonstick pan and add the grated coconut. Cook it for about 5 minutes in medium to high heat, till it turns golden brown. Then add the sugar and crushed black pepper. Cook it for another few minutes. Switch off the heat and finally add the cardamom power. Let it cool down to room temperature.

Molding the Mondas :)
Make small roundels of the coconut stuffing.
Divide the covering dough in small portions. Put a little water or oil in your palm (Using a little water or oiling your hand makes the task a little easier and the dough doesn't stick to the palm as much). Take a small portion of the dough and flatten it with both of your palm. Try shaping it as a disk. Now using your thumb and fingers try to deepen the disk so that it can hold the stuffing. When it's deep enough put the stuffing and gather the edges of the covering. Carefully seal the covering by pressing all the edges together. If the covering breaks then take small amount of dough and patch the breakage. Now carefully shape the Mondas(dumplings) rolling between your palms.



Cooking the Mondas
At this point you have to decide whether to boil it or steam it. If you had to fix the Mondas a lot while molding it, you'll need to steam it. They'll most likely break in the boiling water. This time my dough behaved well, so I'll risk boiling it :)
Boil water in a heavy bottom pan. Add a little salt to the water(optional). When water starts to boil, add the Mondas one after the other. Don't add all the Mondas at once, it'll bring down the water temperature. Don't cover the pan, and let the Mondas cook. The Mondas will be done when they start floating on the water, which should take about 8 to 10 minutes. Carefully remove them from the boiling water, one by one.
If you're steaming the Mondas, it should take about 10 to 12 minutes to cook.

 

Sijha Monda Pitha goes well with (Puri)Dalma or Bandhakobi Tarkari (Cabbege Curry)

Monda Pitha