Mango is the favourite of fruit of the family. Ever since
the first lot arrives in the market in the early summers to almost the end of
monsoons, or to say, as long as the fruit stays in the market, it is bought
religiously and enjoyed fervently. However, of late, because of the scare of
the carbide ripened mangoes, we have stopped buying the fruit from the market. We
have discovered some farms in the outskirts. Now, our fruit is lifted from these
farms while it is being plucked, thus ensuring that fresh produce presumably
chemical free and definitely carbide free lands up on our plate, and, at the same
time reducing carbon footprint.
Mangoes in the farm |
Last month, there was a lovely recipe posted by a blogger friend
from Kolkatta that swept me off my feet. Amrita posted the recipe of Mango
Sandesh in her blog Sweet 'n' Savoury. She used mango pulp in the famous
Bengali sweet Sandesh. It was a beautiful fusion of two of our favourite
things. I made mango sandesh twice and we loved it immensely.
Second round of Mango Sandesh |
This is how I made Mango Sandesh.
Mango Sandesh
Ingredients
1 liter full cream milk
1 liter full cream milk
½ cup curd (1 used the standard 240 ml cup)
¾ cup mango pulp (peel, chop, puree the mango and strain the
pulp)
3 tablespoons sugar
Pistachios chopped (for garnishing)
Method
Boil the milk. Reduce the heat.
Add curd and stir till the milk curdles and green whey
separates.
Turn off the heat after two minutes.
Put the curdled milk in the muslin cloth and squeeze out
excess water. Hang the muslin bag for fifteen minutes. The cottage cheese is
ready for use.
Transfer cottage cheese to a plate. Mash it well. Knead it
with the heel of your palm till it becomes smooth.
Take mango pulp in a thick bottomed steel wok. Add sugar.
When sugar dissolves, add mashed cottage cheese. Mix well.
Cook on low flame stirring continuously.
Mixture starts turning thick. After about 10 to 15 minutes,
it begins to move like a big lump when
stirred. Turn off the heat.
Let the mixture cool.
When it is comfortable enough to handle, shape into small
balls, roughly the size of a walnut. Flatten it between palms.
Wow.. wat colours! Beautifully presented Namita.. not a huge fan of mangoes, but your pictures look fabulous and I have never heard of manoges in sandesh... inovative recipe :)
ReplyDeleteOh.. and I love your plating Namita :) Pretty little yellow rounds on that pretty square plate!
ReplyDeleteI adore Mangoes too and just loved these sandesh. Learnt a new trick from you to curdle milk with curd and I am so loving the chocolate version. Happy that you enjoyed the recipe.
ReplyDeletesandesh looks wonderful like from stores
ReplyDeleteSandesh look beautiful Namita! But those mangoes are making my mouth water!
ReplyDeleteDo you know I reckon I could veganise this recipe? If I used homemade nut cheeze and milk instead of the dairy variety I wonder if I might be able to reproduce this recipe? I am going to give it a go :) Cheers for sharing Namita :)
ReplyDelete