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Sweets and desserts

Sandesh

Bengal's delicate sweet of fresh chhena cooked briefly with sugar or date-palm jaggery and pressed in moulds.

Sandesh is a Bengali sweet made by cooking fresh chhena with sugar, or with nolen gur, date-palm jaggery, in winter, just long enough to dry it slightly. It is shaped by hand or pressed into carved moulds of flowers, shells and fish. Sandesh is offered to guests, sent on happy occasions and eaten at every Bengali celebration.

What goes in

Chhena: 62%62%Sugar or nolen gur: 23%23%Cardamom: 8%Pistachio or saffron: 8%4parts
  • Chhena862%, Fresh, kneaded.
  • Sugar or nolen gur323%, Sweetens.
  • Cardamom18%, Optional scent.
  • Pistachio or saffron18%, Decoration.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Rest Make fresh chhena and hang it until moist but not wet.
  2. Step 2: Knead Knead it until smooth.
  3. Step 3: Simmer Cook with sugar or gur over low heat, stirring, until it leaves the pan.
  4. Step 4: Knead Cool slightly, then knead again.
  5. Step 5: Layer Shape by hand or press into moulds.
  6. Step 6: Serve Decorate with pistachio and serve fresh.
  7. Chhena: 62%62%Sugar or nolen gur: 23%23%Cardamom: 8%Pistachio or saffron: 8%
    Finished Sandesh, by share.

Many textures

Bengali confectioners make sandesh in many grades. Narom pak, soft cooked, is moist and melts in the mouth. Kora pak, hard cooked, is firmer and keeps longer. Kanchagolla is barely cooked and very soft. Flavours range from plain to cardamom, saffron, pistachio, mango and chocolate. The name is often linked with sandesh in its meaning of news or a message.

Nolen gur

In winter, the sap of the date palm is boiled down to make nolen gur, a fragrant liquid jaggery. Sandesh made with it is one of the seasonal pleasures of Bengal, and many people wait all year for it. Notun gurer sandesh has a light brown colour and a smoky caramel flavour. The best is said to come from rural areas where the sap is collected fresh.

Where it is used

Guest offeringFestivalsWinter treat

The cheeses in it

ChhenaFresh curd cheese is the whole sweet.

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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