Chhenar Payesh

Chhennar Payesh is a traditional Bengali sweet made primarily of Chhenna or cottage cheese and milk. Living in Kolkata for a long time has made it one of my favourite sweet dishes, though it is available only at some sweet shops. I never tried making it myself but today I decided I must try it. And it has turned out to be delicious. It wasn’t too difficult either.

So, here’s the recipe-

INGREDIENTS-

½ litre milk

250 gm cottage cheese/ chhena

200 gm condensed milk

Cashewnuts

Almonds

Raisins

Cardamom powder

METHOD –

1.    Boil milk in a pan.

2.   Add condensed milk and mix well. In case you do not have condensed milk while you’re making this or you don’t want to use it, you can simply add sugar and increase the amount of milk.

3.Add the chhenna or cottage cheese and stir well. You can choose to make balls of the cottage cheese before adding. Cook until the payesh thickens (only a bit).

4.   Turn off the gas and then add cardamom powder, 

chopped cashewnuts, 

chopped almonds,

and raisins ( chopped or unchopped. I prefer to chop them before adding. You can do either).

5.   Pour into a suitable bowl and let it cool. Refrigerate for about 2 hours and serve chilled.

As I write this, I’ve put the Payesh in the refrigerator and am eagerly waiting for it to get chilled. Though I’ve already tasted some, I love having chilled Payesh than anything else. My cousin has told me at least a dozen times that he can’t wait any longer to dig into it. Well, neither can I !