It is the Bengali new year today, poila boisakh, meaning first of boisakh (the first month in the Bengali calendar). So, shubho nobo borsho to you, if you are reading my post on this day. As customary, maa cooks up a treat for the entire family today. Among which, a fish curry and some sweet is mandatory. Since, fishes are symbolic of everything good in the Bengali culture, it is a must on happy occasions, such as the new year celebration. And a sweet because, the start to anything should always be on a sweet note. Don’t you agree? Hence, keeping up with the tradition, while maa made some rasgullas in Mumbai, I made this delicious kalakand with condensed milk.
You must be wondering, why not a Bengali sweet today. The reason is, having already made rasgullas and bhapa doi, I wanted to try a non Bengali one this time. And this melt-in-the-mouth kalakand is the husband’s choice. This North Indian sweet is made with chaena (paneer) and reduced, thickened milk. But, to reduce my efforts and also save time, I have replaced the latter with condensed milk. This not only saves time, but also eliminates the use of one whole ingredient – sugar. That is because, condensed milk is already sweetened. Therefore, my kalakand with condensed milk, is actually a three ingredient recipe. And the third element is cardamom powder, to flavour the sweet. I have also adorned the kalakand with chopped nuts, some edible silver foil and rose petals. While these aren’t necessary, they enhance the beauty of this delicacy even more.
Easy recipe
This kalakand recipe is easy and straight forward. It involves just three steps and about 45 minutes of your time. To make these milk cakes, you will first need to make the chaena or the paneer. Once that’s done, drain it and cook it along with the condensed milk until it no longer has any liquid left. And the final step is to mix in the cardamom powder and cool it down. That is it. Just these simple steps and you will be treating yourself and your loved ones to some crumbly, moist and delicious kalakand. If for some reason, you can not find condensed milk, you can cook milk until it reduces to half and use it in place of it. In this case, you will need double the quantity of the milk. One part will be to make the paneer and the second for the thickened milk.
Kalakand is generally mildly sweet and that is how even we enjoy it. Therefore, in my recipe I have not added anymore sugar. The sweetness of the store bought condensed milk works well. However, if you would like it sweeter, you could add sugar towards the end of the cooking process.
The texture: things to keep in mind
The kalakand has a soft, crumbly texture. And that comes from crumbling the freshly made paneer. So, once you have drained the water out of it (I’ve written down the detailed process below) just break the lumps using a fork. However, be gentle and do not mash the paneer up. You don’t want it to be smooth, just small crumbs. Another important point to bear in mind is that, while wringing the water out, we are not looking to remove all of it. Unlike in the rasgulla recipe, where we place a heavy object over the chaena to drain even the last bits of water, here that is not needed. Some moisture is required to give the kalakand its melt-in-the-mouth feel.
Serving suggestions
My delicious kalakand with condensed milk, is best enjoyed chilled and fresh. It will keep well in the fridge for up to a week. Nonetheless, the fresher it is eaten, the better it will be enjoyed.
While there are richer versions too of this delicious sweet, I have kept mykalakand recipe much more doable. This is an Indian sweet recipe that you will be able to replicate no matter where you stay. A lot of recipes, for instance, make use of khoya or milk solids. Whereas mine only requires milk, condensed milk and cardamom powder. All of which are easily available ingredients. Therefore, mine is a recipe that you can definitely give a go. It is easy, it is quick and it for sure is delectable! And when you do, you will need to make sure that you make a big batch of it. Because, second and third helpings are a promise with these delicious kalakand squares.
Also, if you do try my recipe out, tag me in your picture on Instagram and/or drop a comment/rating below. I’d love to hear how my recipe turned out for you.
And, once again, shubho nobo borsho! 🙂
Eat hearty!
Kalakand with condensed milk
Equipment
- Thick bottomed cooking pot
Ingredients
- 1 l whole milk
- 250 g condensed milk
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 4-5 tbsp lemon juice or 1:1 vinegar and water mixture
For garnishing (optional)
- 3 tbsp pistachios chopped
- 3 tbsp almonds chopped
- 1 tbsp dried rose petals
Instructions
- In a thick bottomed pan, over medium heat set the milk to boil. Do not stir
- Once it comes to a rapid boil, turn off the flame and add the lemon juice (or vinegar and water mixture) and stir gently. At this point, the chaena/paneer will separate from the whey
- Place a soft cotton towel over a colander and place this then, over a large bowl. Drain the cottage cheese (chaena) over this. Do not discard the whey, you can use it to make your curries and/or knead your flatbread dough
- Give the towel a good squeeze to remove any remaining whey and rinse to rid the taste of the lemon/vinegar. Using a fork, break the chaena lumps to make smaller crumbs. However, do not mash it completely, the crumbs will give a gorgeous texture to the kalakand
- In the same cooking pot, add the condensed milk and the chaena. Over a low to medium flame, cook this while stirring continuously until all the liquid dries up
- Keep an eye on this mixture and keep stirring to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Otherwise it will brown and discolour the sweet
- Once the condensed milk in the mixture has dried up, switch the flame off and add the cardamom powder. Mix in well
- Grease a small tray with ghee and transfer the kalakand mixture on it. Level it using a spatula and leave it to set in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes
- Garnish with the chopped nuts and rose petals (if using) and cut using a sharp knife into squares
- Serve this delicious, moist and crumbly kalakand with condensed milk slightly chilled. Enjoy!
Notes
- These quantities make about 600 grams of the kalakand
- This kalakand will stay good in the refrigerator for about a week. However, it is best consumed fresh
- If condensed milk is not available to you, cook another litre of whole milk until thickened and reduced to half. You can then use this in step 5
- Taste the sweet mixture in step 7. If you need to add extra sugar, do so here and keep cooking until any excess moisture evaporates
- l - litre
- g - grams
- tsp - teaspoon
- tbsp - tablespoon
