Sandesh

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Today is Raksha Bandhan, the festival that celebrates the unconditional love between a brother and sister. On this day sister ties a decorated silk thread called Rakhi on her brother's wrist and prays for his long and happy life. In return the brother promises to protect her from no matter what comes in her life.

I am blessed with such a beautiful person as my brother and sitting here 1000s of miles away from him I am really missing him. This is the only day in the year when I really get home sick :(
Growing up he used to be my punching bag and we used fight like dogs and cats. But when it would come to protecting we would stand for each other. I would carry his tiffin box to school because other kids would eat his :), he would get angry if walking on the street some guy looked at me  ;)

As sitting here and just missing him doesn't help I decided to prepare a dish that reminds me of him the most, Sandesh.
As a kid he always had a sweet tooth, and sandesh used to be his favorite. 
So dear brother if you are reading this post, its just for you... Love Di.

Ingredients:

For Home made chenna/ paneer
  1. Milk: 6 cups
  2. Vinegar: 1/4 cup
  3. Water: 1/4 cup
For Sandesh
  1. Chenna/paneer prepared from the list above.
  2. Sugar: 1/4 cup (add more if you have a sweet tooth like my bro)
  3. Saffron: few strands
  4. Milk: 2 tbsp
  5. Pistacho: For garnish


Procedure:
Lets fist prepare the chenna/paneer.
In pot heat milk and bring it to a boil.
In a bowl mix equal parts of vinegar and water.
Pour the mix into the boiling milk and reduce the heat.
In few seconds water you can see the milk cuddle and chenna is prepared. 
As the you see milk converting into chenna and water , turn of the heat and let it cool down a bit.
Drain the water and strain the chenna/paneer using a cheese cloth for sieve. 
Squeeze out all the excess water from chenna/paneer. 
You chenna is ready, you can use this for a lot of preparations like, rassagulla, chenna poda, chenna kheeri, even as paneer for curries.

Lets prepare sandesh.
For that soak the saffron strands in warm milk.
Knead the chenna/paneer into a smooth paste.
Add sugar and the saffron soaked milk and knead again.
transfer this mix into a pan and cook into at low temperature for 4-5 mins. This will help melt all the sugar and mix well with the paneer.
Remove from heat and make sandesh out of the dough. You have do it when the mix is still warm else getting it to hold the shape would be quite difficult. Garnish with pistachio refrigerate and serve.



I was out of pistachio so I used almonds instead :).
Sandesh can be prepared in different shapes and sizes, so do what your heart says and garnish it with pistachio.

I wish you all a happy Raksha bandana and may God bless all with loads of love.
Rakhee

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