Kalakand or Milk Cake to appease the gods…
Last evening we attended a Satyanarayan Puja. As an offering I decided to make Kalakand or Milk cake, from the scratch.
I probably needed an excuse to make this luscious dessert. All things considered, I felt that the effort might please this all powerful and merciful deity.
My Kalakand or Milk Cake Story
Growing up, my mother invoked and performed the puja before all things good and bad. She still does a puja every time my brother visits.
I have often thought of doing it at our house but really not progressed to the event. Maybe next year…
The kalakand, is a classic burfi or dessert one of many classic Bengali sweets, that are well worth the effort. I do have a recipe in the Bengali Five Spice Chronicles, but that is a little simpler as I use evaporated milk. But for yesterday, I used whole milk which I cooked down to yield a dessert that was soft crumbly and pure perfection.
Process Therapy
Something about the entire process of slow cooking and making the dessert thinking of pure thoughts was uplifting. I remembered days of childhood, when I helped my grandmother prepare for puja offerings. The evening was peaceful, spent in the company of people who were uplifted by the simplicity of an evening of prayer. Something I miss on days when I have the time to miss and reminisce, I miss have a temple closer to us.
Now, down to the Kalakand, fancifully called milk cake in other parts of India, we are talking milk, sugar and cardamom. I add some almonds both to the fudge and to garnish, but that is purely optional. In this recipe homemade channa or paneer is folded into thickened milk and it is cooked down until the mixture is thick and begins to leave the sides of the pan.
The process needs patience, and about an hour of active cooking. Making sweets at home is time consuming. The alternative of sugary fairly stale impressions of Bengali sweet is hardly an option either.
Finish by pouring the thick dessert into a pan. Complete by garnishing with nuts.
May the gods smile on all of us and brings me many an occasion to savor homemade kalakand again.
To make homemade paneer check this post out, and for another satisfying Indian dessert check out this rice pudding.
A classic Bengali dessert, Kalakand or milkcake is the stuff dreams are made off.
Ingredients
- 2 and half gallon whole milk
- 2 limes
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom (about 15 pods)
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- Pistachios and almonds to garnish
Instructions
- Bring 1 and half gallons of milk to boil, when it reaches a rolling boil, turn off the heat and add in the lime juice squeezing in half a lime at a time until the milk curdles to form paneer.
- Drain the channa in a cheese cloth lined colander and gather the paneer and set aside to drain.
- Heat the remaining milk and set aside to thicken on low to medium heat, stirring occasion to ensure that the milk does not stick. You need to ensure that the milk is cooking fast enough to evaporate but the temperature is not high enough to burn the milk. When the milk has cooked down to half its volume add in the drained paneer and mix in.
- Continue cooking this mixture for about 20 minutes until it is fairly thick and even, stirring constantly.
- Add in the sugar, ground cardamom and almond meal and continue cooking until the mixture is thick enough to separate from the sides. This will need constant stirring and cooking until the mixture separates from the sides of the pan.
- Pour this into a greased square casserole or baking dish.
- Cool, cut into squares, invert and serve.