Arguably one of the biggest turning points in the history of Bengali confectionary was the use of chenna. For the uninitiated, chenna much like paneer is also a byproduct of milk. It is made by curdling of milk - its melt-in-mouth quality has made so many of our sweetmeats so iconic. Even Food Historian KT Achaya wrote in his book 'A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food' wrote, "the precipitation of milk with slightly acidic whey yields solids in the form of chenna, the base of innumerable sweetmeats."
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Kachagolla is one such iconic sweet from the range of sinful Bengali sweetmeats made with chenna as the star ingredient. Yes, kacha golla, rasmalai, roshogolla are all carved out of chenna. Kachagolla is perhaps one of the easiest Bengali sweets to prepare, it requires only 3 ingredients milk, sugar and chenna. The delicate and crumbly sweet is both a festive staple and a comfort treat. Kachagolla is so soft, that you cannot stop at one. (We tried and failed. But we have no regrets.)
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Here's a fabulous recipe of kachagolla by food blogger and YouTuber 'Cook With Parul'. Here she uses paneer, but you can always use some home-made chenna, the recipe of which you can find here.
1. Take some paneer. Cut in in small pieces. You can take some chenna too.
2. Take a grinding jar, and add paneer after crushing them slightly. Make a fine paste
3. Transfer onto a plate.
4. Divide into two equal parts.
5. Take on half and add sugar Knead into a fine dough.
6. Mash for 3-4 minutes.
7. Transfer the paneer dough onto a pan
8. Mix well on low flame, until the dough is slightly soft.
9. Cook until sugar melts
10. Add some condensed milk. Mix until everything is combined on low flame for 3-4 minutes
11. Cook until mixture thickens.
12. Turn off the gas, let is cool.
13. Take a plate and pull out the paneer mix that you didn't cook.
14. To this half, add that half that you just cooked.
15. Combine everything well using your hand.
16. Prepare a log, pull out small balls, shape them as laddoos.
You can find the full recipe with detailed list of ingredients on the YouTube Channel 'Cook With Parul'. Try this recipe at home and let us know how you liked it in the comments below.