Sandesh

Method

1. Bring the milk to a boil over a low heat, and once the milk starts to rise in the pan, stir in the yoghurt. The milk will rapidly curdle to leave curd-like cheese floating in water. If it does not split add some more yoghurt and leave for 20 seconds over the flame.

2. Drain the pan into a muslin lined sieve and discard the water. Run fresh tap water over the cheese to remove any sourness from the yoghurt.

3. Twist the muslin around the cheese to make a tight ball and place a weight on top (e.g. a heavy saucepan). Leave for 20 minutes for the water to drain away.

4. Place the cheese and sugar together in a blender and pulse three times, until the mixture forms a slightly grainy paste.

5. Spoon the mixture into a cold non-stick frying pan and place over a moderate flame, stirring continuously for about 3-5 minutes, depending on how much water was previously removed. By this time, the sugar will have melted and the mixture will start to leave the base of the pan. It should be like soft dough. It will dry more as it cools. If in doubt take a small piece and form it into a small ball: it should hold its shape without being at all hard or cracking.

6. Now the basic mixture is ready. You should make the mithai while the mixture is warm. You can roll into little walnut-size balls for the simplest, purest sandesh or you can add any of the above flavourings to the mixture. I often make the basic mixture and then divide it into parts, which I then flavour separately. In India, we use beautiful handcrafted moulds to make pretty shapes.

7. Decorate as suggested above and chill until ready to eat.

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Ingredients

1 litre whole milk
100 -150g Yogurt
45g caster sugar

Optional Flavourings

½ tsp green cardamom powder
pinch saffron powder, mixed with ¼ tsp sugar
rose water, to taste
vanilla essence, to taste
40g pistachio nuts, ground to a paste
Cocoa powder, to taste
desiccated coconut, to taste

Optional decorations

silver or gold leaf
chopped pistachios
flaked almonds
saffron strands
flaked coconut
rose petals

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