Buoyed by the phenomenal success of the first installment of my recipe blog (YEAH RIGHT!), here’s the next one. It was supposed to be chicken and rice, but let’s go with shondesh! It’s simple and can be made by a lazy graduate student or postdoc, or anyone else really! Best part about this dish is that it can be made using just a microwave oven and takes less than 2 hours to make from start to finish!
Ricotta Shondesh
Sweets are not really my strong point (coming to think of it, what IS my strong point?), but I learnt this from someone and put my own touches to it. As I mentioned before, it’s simple and tasty. Try this. I apologize for not having a photo of it, so please bear with me!
Ingredients:
· Ricotta cheese, 1 large container, or 2 small containers. You can use your tried and tested chhana (cottage cheese) as well.
· Sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk, 1 small can
· Nolen gur (liquid jaggery) this is completely optional, but if you can get some nolen gur, your shondesh will be out of this world!
· Ground green cardamom powder (chhoto elacher guro) – a pinch
· Slivered pistachios or almonds, for garnishing
· Ghee or melted butter, for greasing
Method:
1. Take the entire amount of ricotta cheese in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 10 minutes. Take it out, mix it all up and then put back in the microwave and microwave again on high for 10 more minutes. Take it out again, mix it all up and then, yeah you guessed it, put it back in for 10 more minutes and mix it all up. So you need to microwave the ricotta for 30 minutes in all, at 10 minute intervals and don’t you dare forget to mix it all up when you take it out. If you have done exactly as I suggested, you should be left with something that has the texture of our familiar chhana or cottage cheese. This step basically is needed to get rid of the water present in the ricotta.
2. Cool the microwaved ricotta slightly and then add the ground green cardamom powder. Mix well. The green cardamom is pretty much a MUST in any dessert you make!
3. Slowly add the condensed milk to the ricotta stirring constantly making sure to break up any lumps. The amount of condensed milk to be added really depends on the texture of your ricotta; my suggestion is to add a little, mix, check he texture and add some more. It shouldn’t be watery as cake batter, nor should it be as tough as dough. In case you are fortunate enough to have some nolen gur in your kitchen, keep the mixture dry rather than wet. Taste the mixture to make sure it is sweet enough for you. If you have added the right amount of condensed milk (and nolen gur) you should not have to add any sugar.
4. Once you think you have the right texture, add the nolen gur to the mixture, mix well and then microwave on high for 5 minutes. Take it out and stir well.
5. Cool the mixture slightly. Grease a flat rectangular dish with some ghee or melted butter, just enough to make sure the shondesh does not stick to the dish. Spread the ricotta mixture on the dish, making sure you keep it as level as possible. Put it in the fridge and chill for at least 1 hour so that the shondesh sets. The best choice is to let it set overnight.
6. Cut the shondesh into shapes of your choice – rectangle, square, rhombus or anything more creative! Garnish with slivered almonds or pistachios and serve!
Remember:
Ø The kicker in this dish is how well you dry your ricotta. Also, be careful about how much condensed milk and/or nolen gur you put it; you don’t want your shondesh to be runny. This is shondesh after all, not chhanar payesh! So I’d have the mixture dry rather than wet. You can make it wet if it’s too try, the other way round is WAY tougher to get done.
Ø Don’t be scared if you see your ricotta turning all watery in the first microwave step or you hear it sizzle; it’s all part of the game.
Try it and let me know how you liked it. I am always available to answer your questions.
Cheers.
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