Cham cham is a sweet made in Bengali. It is done by curdling milk and forming them into cylindrical shapes. They are further cooked in a sugar syrup and garnished. This sweet, though a little complex to make, I am sure will yield good results after you diligently follow the steps to prepare it. It is an intriguing recipe and in this article, we will discover how the cham cham sweet of Bengali origin is made.
Ingredients
1 liter of milk
4 cups of water
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
¼ teaspoon of green cardamom powder
¼ cup of mawa (grated)
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/8 teaspoon of green cardamom powder
2-3 tablespoons of sliced pistachio
5 strands of saffron dissolved in ¼ teaspoon of milk
2 teaspoons of coconut flakes
What Cham Cham Sweet Can Be Served With
Cham cham is usually served in sugar syrup and stuffed with pistachios and rolled over in coconut flakes.
Special Utensils
- Cheese cloth
- Kadai
- Slotted spoon
Steps
- First make the chenna. This is done by boiling the milk in a saucepan. Next, you add lemon juice and stir till the milk curdles.
- When the greenish whey appears, pour the curdled milk into a pan lined with a cheese cloth and pour the milk gently onto the cheese cloth whilst holding together the edges of the cheese cloth. Squeeze out the liquid from it.
- Rinse chenna under running water for some time to remove the sourness that could remain from the lemon.
- Tie the ends of the cheese cloth to the tap and let it hang for about 30 minutes. After this, untie it and begin with the cham cham .
- When you untie the cloth, transfer the chenna unto a plate and use your hand to crumble it.
- Mash it and knead till it begins to become like a dough. Stop the kneading process when you notice that it is releasing the fat.
- Divide the chenna into ten equal sizes and form them into oval shapes of about an inch.
- In a deep pan/kadai, pour four cups of water and one and half cups of sugar to make the syrup. Heat it on medium heat and stir till the sugar dissolves.
- When it starts boiling, drop the oval shaped chennas into it.
- Cover it with the lid and let it boil for 12 minutes on medium heat. After about 6 minutes, remove the lid and turn over the oval shaped chennas. Use a slotted spoon for this.
- Cover again and let it fry for 6 more minutes.
- Turn off the fire and transfer them to a large bowl. Add ¼ teaspoon of cardamom powder to it and allow it to cool down.
This is cham cham sweet for you. We will now move on to the filling or stuffing.
- Add ¼ cup of mawa, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1/8 teaspoon of cardamom powder and dissolved saffron strands into a bowl. Mix together.
- Strain the excess syrup after the cham cham has cooled completely. Pick up one of the oval shaped chenna balls and slit it vertically.
- Put the flaked coconut and pistachios each onto a plate.
- Now, stuff the oval balls with about a teaspoon of mawa and roll it over in flaked coconut. Sprinkle the pistachios over the mawa in the cham cham and press it with your hand.
- Put it on a plate and do same for the rest of the cham cham. Refrigerate for about 2 hours and serve them chilled.
