Sandesh Recipe - Swasthi's Recipes (2024)

Sandesh recipe – sondesh is a delicious Bengali sweet, popular all over India and abroad. It is often made for festive and special occasions, more importantly for Durga puja during Navratri. There are so many variations of making sandesh recipe. All are quite simple as much as just kneading up the three basic ingredients sugar, chena (paneer) and cardamom powder. Refrigerate for few hours and enjoy it.

Traditionally sandesh is made by curdling milk and draining all the whey to collect the chenna. This chenna is kneaded well to a smooth texture and then cooked on a low heat with powdered sugar.

Later it is cooled and rolled to small balls and then flattened. Indian sweet stalls usually sell sandesh in many different flavors.

To make sandesh, it is always good to use fresh chena or paneer that is still moist. Instead of sugar, even palm jaggery or a mix of sugar and palm jaggery are used. You can make these cheesy delights more attractive by decorating with whatever you like.

Decorate with Choco chips or Choco sprinkles. Nutty decoration using pista and badam. You can even garnish with Tutti Frutti.

Apart from the 3 main ingredients, I haven’t used anything else to make this. You can add 1 tsp. pista almond powder to the mix while kneading, however the color of the sandesh turns pale if added.

For more easy bengali sweets, you can check
Rasgulla
Rasmalai
Kalakand
Paneer kheer
Cham cham

Preparation for sandesh recipe

1. If you are a beginner or making paneer the first time, then read this detailed post on how to make soft paneer. However I am also sharing briefly here.

2. Bring 3.5 cups full fat milk to a boil.

3. Add 4 to 5 tbsp curd or lemon juice diluted with water to the milk. Stir well. When you see the milk begins to curdle, switch off the heat. Make sure it is curdled well. Allow to settle just for a minute.

4. Place a muslin cloth on a colander. Drain off the paneer. If you have used lemon juice, Rinse the paneer under running water. If you have used curd, you can just skip rinsing.

5. Squeeze off the excess water from paneer. Make a knot of the cloth, hang it for sometime to drain up excess dripping whey. We just need moist paneer, so make sure there is no dripping whey or water from paneer otherwise sandesh will turn grainy.

How to make bengali sandesh

6. Add paneer to a plate along with almond powder. Knead it very well until smooth.

7. Move the chenna to a non stick pan. Add sugar (powdered) and cardamom powder begin to heat on a low flame. Fry for 4 to 5 mins.

8. Cool down completely. Then knead lightly.

9. Roll them to balls and flatten a bit. Tuck whatever you wish to garnish in the centre. Refrigerate for 2 hours and serve.

Tuck in Nuts or few strands of Kesar for a traditional look.

Shelf life is short. Refrigerate and finish sandesh within 2 to 3 days.

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