Durga Puja and Sandesh – Rose-Scented Bengali Cheesecake Balls
Sandesh is the simplest and most essential of Bengali sweets. It is perfect for celebrations, but also for prayers, and quite times. I had to make some today. The COVID news from India is so distressing. I keep feeling a lump in my throat thinking of my mother and other loved ones. The pictures are horrible. As with anything good or bad, my only coping mechanism is cooking.
What is Sandesh/Sondesh?
In keeping with the festive spirit, I share with you a recipe for Sandesh. A simple Bengali sweet. Made with two ingredients – sugar and chenna (fresh homemade paneer).
The next two months are really festive season all across Indian – with a multitude of festivals, Durga Puja, Navratri, Eid and of course Diwali. I wish I had time to celebrate each of them in detail. One of the benefits of growing up in a secular country like India, there really is no Dirth of festivals.
Simply speaking the story of Durga is the eternal commemoration of the victory of good over evil.
Almost all cultures have their version of this story of magic and excitement. And final fanfare when good triumphs over evil.
More about Sandesh
The Durga Puja Story
Well, the Bengali version, is interesting in the bad guy is actually destroyed by a powerful woman. A ten handed woman to boot! The concept highlights female power or shakti. This is an especially interesting story to come up with for my daughter.
The demon Mahisha Shura received a boon from Lord Shiva. He could not be killed by any man. He took advantage of this and continued to terrorize people. The gods fed up of this, created the goddess Durga, who epitomizes the power of the woman. She is a 10-armed mother goddess who rides a lion. She is shown with her 4-children. They in turn merit their own festivals but we shall save that for another time. Durga kills Mahisha Shura – thereby vanquishing evil.
While this is technically a ten-day festival commencing with Mahalya. Most of the religious festivities take place during the last five days of the festivals. There are different religious offers, most notably prayers including Pushpanjali (floral offerings).
There are food offerings most popularly the myriad number of sweets.
I miss all of that, but most of all I miss is the incredible transformation that takes place in the city of Kolkatta during Durga Puja. A weeklong carnival where Mardi Gras meets Christmas with a very Indian flavor.
To bring back just a little memory of this period, I made Sandesh/Sondesh probably the closest to Indian Cheesecake make with fresh paneer. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this turned out, call it luck…
Now, my recipe simply shapes these into handmade balls, in India, there are actually various Moulds available for this dessert that allows you to shape it in a multitude of ways. Here is a modern recipe for a bar style Sandesh, and then roshogolla, a quintessential dessert that never goes out of fashion.
Durga Puja and Sandesh – Rose-Scented Bengali Cheesecake Balls
A homestyle recipe for the classic Bengali dessert called Sandesh
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon 2% milk
- 1/3 cup tart natural yogurt
- 1/3 cup sugar can be more if you like it sweeter
- 1 teaspoon rosewater
- Chopped Crasins
To Garnish
Instructions
- Place the milk in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, when the milk is bubbling, add in the yogurt and stir.
- In about 10 to 15 seconds, the milk should separate into cottage cheese or whey, if needed you can add some more yogurt.
- Strain the mixture in a cheesecloth, discarding the whey, drain the cheese for about 11/2 hours.
- Place the cheese in a food processor and process for about 1 minute, the mixture should collect into a ball at this point.
Notes
Most of the prep time is to allow the whey to drain.
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