Chhena Payesh - USMasala hits 200 !

ES!!! I am writing my 200th post!!! At the risk of sounding cheesy I can not help but say - I cannot believe it. It almost feels like I started only a couple of days ago and only yesterday I was congratulating myself for my 50th. What amazes me even more is that I have been blogging only for just about ten short months. Do your math, with about 20 posts a month, I believe I can safely conclude about myself 'I love to cook'.
Over and above all, I am totally and completely amazed at the response USMasala gets from my readers. You make me feel all warm and fuzzy with all your encouragement, so a big Thank You to you all. My stats tell me how immensely loved my site is. It is very humbling and makes me more passionate about what I love doing. It has been out and out an joy-ride. It is such a great feeling to touch someone's life in anyway - help in a certain way - someone somewhere in some part of the world, an unknown stranger who suddenly becomes a very familiar name and face.
I'm not kidding when I say that food blogging has changed my life in ways I never imagined. The most important thing is it has taught me is that you follow your passion and the everything else will follows. Another big thing is to admire the simplest things in life- a food-photo that comes out well, an experiment that succeeds, a thoughtful comment left on a post. The creativity, thinking, writing, history, everything.

Hubby deserves a special mention. Between tasting my dishes, taking awesome pictures and being my 24 x 7 technical support, he is the one who keeps the show going :) Thanking him would actually diminish the value that he adds to my efforts.

To all my readers - Thank you for being a part of my life and letting me and USMasala be a tiny part of your lives. Love you all!

Now on to the recipe.
We Indians love our spices as well as sweets. Any celebration or happy occasion for that matter is definitely accompanied with sweets. There is a mushrooming of mithai shops and  local halwais on every nook and corner wherever you go and there is usually such a variety of sweets that it is difficult to decide what you want to eat. Each part of India has its own sweet specialties and varieties so you can imagine how vast and expansive the world of Indian sweets can get.
Chhena Payesh is one of such delightful treats- one of the most nostalgic sweets from my childhood days. Although this is a classic Bengali dish and I have eaten it at several places, but till today the thought of chhena payesh is reminiscent of my grandma's place, a small town in the lush green country side.
Traditionally, these are sold in small clay pots and get that authentic earthy taste - 'sondha'' as we say in hindi. It is made with milk which is first turned into paneer with lemon juice or vinegar and draining the whey. Where I come from it is called chhena. Sweets are typically either chhena or khoya based. Although there are lot more varieties of khoya based sweets, I prefer the chhena based ones.
Chhena Payesh is simply is a slight variation on the Ras-malai. The same dumplings, only slightly smaller and a little softer, are flattened and served in a slightly thick, saffron and cardamom flavored milk sauce or the payesh. Although they look similar to the ras-malai, the taste profile being more earthy is quite different and very pleasing. I have used the dumpling recipe as-is from Manjula's site. The recipe for the payesh is my own.

So enjoy my 200th and stay tuned for more.

Ingredients:

Milk ........................................ 4 cups (I use 2%)
Lemon juice .............................. 3 tbsp
Sugar ...................................... 1 1/2 cups
Water ..................................... 4 1/2 cups
Green cardamom powder .............. a pinch

Method:
1. Mix lemon juice in 1/4 cup of warm water and keep aside.
2. Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, making sure not to burn at the bottom.
3. As the milk comes to a boil, add the lemon juice gradually and stir the milk gently. The curd will start separating from the whey, turn off the heat.
4. Once the milk solids have separated from the whey, drain the whey using a strainer lined with cheesecloth or muslin cloth.
5. Wrap the curd in the cheesecloth and rinse under cold water, and squeeze well. This process takes out the sourness from the lemon.
6. To take out the excess water squeeze the cloth, or press the wrapped paneer under a heavy pan for about one hour. Taking the right amount of water out of the paneer is the most important part of this recipe.
7. To check if enough water is out of the paneer, take a little piece of paneer on your palm and rub with your fingers. After rubbing the paneer for about 15-20 seconds, you should be able to make a firm but smooth ball.
8. Once the paneer is drained, place on a dry, clean surface and knead the paneer for 3-4 minutes until the paneer almost rolls into smooth soft dough.
9. Knead the paneer by dragging the palm of your hand hard on the paneer. Keep scooping it back to together and knead more. If the paneer is too crumbly, add a teaspoon of water. Your palm will be little greasy.

For the chhena dumplings/ balls -
1. Divide the dough into  22-25 equal parts and roll them into smooth small balls.
2. To make the balls apply some pressure at the first and then release when forming the balls.
3. Mix the sugar, cardamom and water in a pressure cooker on medium high heat and bring to a boil.
4. Add the paneer balls and close the pressure cooker. After the pressure cooker starts steaming, turn the heat to medium and cook for about seven minutes.
5. Make sure the pressure cooker is large enough to accommodate the finished Rasgullas, as they will expand to about double in the volume while cooking in the syrup.
6. Turn off the heat and wait a few minutes before opening the pressure cooker. Pour cold water over the pressure cooker before opening.
7. Rasgullas should be little spongy. After rasgullas are refrigerated, the sponginess will reduce and will be soft in texture.

For the payesh, ras or sauce - 
Ingredients:
Milk ......................................... 2 cups (I used 2%)

Half and half/evaporated milk .......... 1 cups (or you can use regular milk)
Sugar ....................................... 1/4 cup or to taste
Saffron ..................................... 1/2 tsp
Green cardamom powder ............... 2 pinches
Cashew and pistachios ................... 2-3 tbsp finely chopped
Method:
1. Mix the milk and half and half (or evaporated milk) and bring to a boil in a deep heavy bottom pan. Lower the heat to medium low and let simmer while stirring often till the milk is reduced to about two cups. Stirring often is important as otherwise the milk starts to burn at the bottom.
2. Add sugar and saffron and cook for two minutes.
3. Gently squeeze the sugar syrup out of the chhena balls. Add into the milk sauce. Stir gently and cook for 3 - 4 minutes on medium-low heat. Add the nuts and mix.
4. Turn off the heat and add the green cardamom powder. Serve warm or chilled. ENJOY!

Notes:
1. Although you can serve the chhena payesh immediately after making, leaving it ovenight in the refrigerator for consumption the following day helps develop the flavors even better.
2. To save time and effort you can also use store bought rasgullas, chop them in small pieces or use as is.

Sending this to Flavors of Bengal event by Priya started by Nayna

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