Kalakand Recipe: Method 1 (By using Homemade Chenna):
Kalakand is a traditional Indian Sweet Dessert Recipe usually prepared during festivals. It is prepared mainly from two ingredients, Milk and Sugar with other ingredients as optional.
Course Barfi, Dessert, Mithai, Sweets
Cuisine Indian, North Indian
Keyword Kalakand
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Resting Time 2 hourshours
Total Time 2 hourshours50 minutesminutes
Servings 12servings
Calories
Author Recipe by Chits
Equipment
Heavy Base Kadai or Pan
Spatula
Large Bowl
Strainer
Muslin Cloth
Tray or Plate
Ingredients
2litresFull Cream Milk(1.5 litres for preparing Chenna)
1/2cupPowdered Sugar
1/2teaspoonCardamom Powder
2-3tablespoonLemon Juice/Vinegar
2tablespoonFinely Chopped Pistachios
Ghee or Butter for greasing
Instructions
Take 1.5 litres of Fresh Full Cream Milk in a wide and heavy base kadai or pan.
Heat the Milk under medium flame till it comes to boil. Once it comes to boil, switch off the flame.
Now take 1 tablespoon of Vinegar or Lemon Juice and add it to the boiled milk. Stir the Milk with spoon for few seconds. You will observe that the milk starts to cuddle.
Next add another tablespoon of Vinegar and stir the milk. Stir the milk till it completely curdles and green coloured whey is separated from the chenna.
If the milk does not curdle completely, add another tablespoon of vinegar and stir the milk.
Once the milk completely curdles and the Chenna is separated from the green whey, stop adding vinegar to it.
The quantity of Vinegar or Lemon Juice required for curdling the milk depends upon the quality of the milk. So even if the milk does not curdle with 2-3 tablespoon of vinegar, you can add extra vinegar to it.
Now take a large bowl and place the strainer over it. Over the strainer place a muslin cloth or clean handkerchief.
Pour the curdled milk in the strainer to separate the Chenna from the whey. Squeeze the muslin cloth to remove excess water from the Chenna.
After squeezing take out the Chenna from the muslin cloth and place it in a large bowl. With the help of your palm mash the chenna to remove the large chunks and make it partially fine with smaller granules. Once done keep it aside.
Now take 1/2 litre of Full Cream Milk in a heavy base kadai and heat over medium flame.
Add Sugar to it and boil the milk continuously over medium heat till it reduces to almost half the initial quantity.
As the milk keeps boiling you will see that it starts thickening. Keep stirring the milk regularly so that it does not stick at the bottom and at the edges of the kadai.
When the Milk attains the required thick consistency, add Chenna and Cardamom Powder into the thickened milk. Mix it well.
Cook the Chenna under low to medium flame. Once the mixture reaches the consistency when it looks like that it well set properly on cooling, then switch off the flame.
Now take a tray or plate and grease it with Butter or Ghee.
Transfer the mixture to the tray. Spread the mixture and level it flat with the help of spatula.
Sprinkle Chopped Pistachios over the mixture. With the help of spatula, slightly press the Chopped Pistachios so that it sticks at the surface of the mixture.
Allow the mixture to cool down to room temperature. Once the mixture cools down, cut into square shapes or any other shape as you like.
Tasty and Delicious Kalakand are ready to serve. Serve it after full course meal or as per your wish. To keep it fresh for longer time, refrigerate it.
Notes
To curdle the Fresh Milk, add Vinegar to Milk in batches. Milk will curdle in 2 tablespoon of Vinegar. If it does not then you can add extra amount of Vinegar. The amount of Vinegar required totally depends upon the quality of milk. You can replace Vinegar with Lemon Juice also.
While preparing the Condensed Milk, adjust the quantity of Sugar as per your taste. If you like more sweetness in your recipe, you can add extra sugar to it.
Here we have used Pistachios for garnishing. You can use any type of nuts to garnish as per your choice such as Cashews, Raisin, Almonds, etc.
Prepare Kalakand and serve it fresh. Keeping in refrigerator for increasing the self-life will slightly make it hard. So refrigerate Kalakand only when required.