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Chocolate Sandesh

Ready in 25 mins

Recipe by Mamtha Sunil Kumar 

Chocolate Sandesh is a "truffles-style" dessert from the Eastern province of West Bengal. Along with Rassagulla this desert nicely rounds off an east Indian meal. Chocolate Sandesh is as easy to prepare as Rassagulla and makes for a great desert for the family. So experience the sweetness of Bengal in your mouth, through this truly unique chocolate flavoured sandesh

Preparation Time

25 Minutes

Ingredients for Chocolate Sandesh

If you are not familiar with any ingredients, please check our International Cooking Terms page.

Currently displaying quantities in US Imperial Measurements

To serve 4:

1¼ pint milk
¼ teaspoon lemon juice
4 fl oz water
1 tablespoon caster sugar (or sugar substitute)
2 tablespoons double cream
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon icing sugar (a.k.a. powdered or confectioners' sugar)
4 pistachio nuts (to garnish)

How to Cook Chocolate Sandesh

  1. Heat the milk in a pan and bring it to a gentle boil over a medium heat. Remove from the heat, stir the lemon juice into 4 fl oz (120ml) of water and add to the milk then stir slowly and gently until white curd forms on the surface and separates from whey.
  2. Use a white muslin cloth to strain the milk. The solid remaining in the cloth (the curds) is called "chenna" (cottage cheese). Wash this cheese well under cold running water, then twist the cloth that was used for straining to extract as much water as possible.
  3. Combine the chenna and sugar (or sugar substitute) together in a bowl and mash it well using your hands. Add in the cream, cocoa powder and vanilla essence and mix well.
  4. Divide the mix into 8 equal portions and shape each portion into a square (or any other shape that takes your fancy!). Sprinkle icing sugar (a.k.a. powdered or confectioners' sugar) over the top and garnish with pistachio nuts. Refrigerate the Chocolate Sandesh for at least 30 minutes and serve chilled (with Rassagulla if you wish).
MAMTHA SUNIL KUMAR'S HOT TIP:
You can make the chenna (cottage cheese) from skimmed milk which has all the goodness of milk and only 0.1 grams of fat as compared to 23 grams of fat from full fat chenna.