M.M.Mithaiwala's Malai Sandwich - A Bengali Delicacy

A TREAT - both visually and gastronomically!

 

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes (For boiling milk, curdling and straining) 6-7 hours of chilling
Cooking Time: 25 minutes if cooking in open vessel or 8 minutes if cooking in pressure cooker
Makes: 7-8
MM Special Tip : Milk Products are best consumed within 24 hours. 

Ingredients:
For Chenna Paneer:
1 lit of milk (Use milk with atleast 2 % or above fat content)
Few spoons of lime juice or citric acid (To curdle milk) 

For Sugar syrup:
2 and 1/4 cups of sugar
About 5 cups of water
Few Cardamons crushed
Few drops of Rose Essence(Optional) 

For making Sandwich :
Chenna Paneer
1/2 to 1 tsp of Sooji/rawa/semolina
A pinch of baking powder 

For Stuffing:
1/2 cup of Sweet Mawa/ Khoya/ Malai/ Rabri
2-3 tsp of sugar (Or as per taste).You can also use icing sugar
A pinch of saffron soaked in a spoonful of milk (optional)

Yellow or pink colour ...Few drops ( Highly optional, Not used in this recipe) 

For Garnishing :
Some unsalted pistachios sliced finely 

Procedure: 

• For making chenna, first boil the milk in thick bottomed pan. 
• When it reaches boiling point, lower the flame & slowly add few spoons of lemon juice . Keep stirring , if needed add few more drops of juice until the milk curdles properly & whey is separated. Strain through Muslin cloth.

MM TIP : Do not discard this Whey, use it to add nutritional value to Dal or use it for kneading dough for Roti/chapati.

• Squeeze out excess water, and hang the cloth for 5-8 minutes to completely separate the whey from paneer.But do not let it rest more than 20 minutes.
• Now knead this chenna paneer along with 1/2 tsp of semolina and a pinch of baking powder, for 5-8 minutes till a very smooth dough is obtained, that is easily rolled into a ball without any cracks on surface .
• Pinch very small piece of this dough & roll it into small, smooth Square shape. Repeat the procedure till all the dough is used up.
• In the meantime, take a pressure cooker (or any thick bottomed vessel) and add sugar & water along with crushed cardamoms & let it boil till sugar dissolves.
• Carefully drop all the chenna paneer squares in the boiling syrup & close the lid of pressure cooker (or cover it with a lid if making in open vessel).
• Wait for 1 whistle (or boil for 20-25 minutes in open vessel). Lower the flame and cook for 1-2 minutes more.
• Put off the flame and let the pressure release from cooker. Now you should have soft spongy, sweetened, double the original size and squares of paneer.
• Transfer the cooked paneer squares along with the syrup into a bowl and let it cool till it room temperature. Later, Refrigerate for 6-7 hours in same syrup to chill.
• Now take the stuffing that you are using ,add powdered or icing sugar and mix well . At this stage you can mix the soaked saffron to enhance the flavors.
•  Now slice horizontally in the center each square of paneer, and place a spoonful of stuffing on one of the slice, and cover it with another slice, pressing gently. Instead of completely slicing apart, you can cut the square till 3/4 th, leaving the ends joined with each other. Repeat the process for all the squares.
• Garnish it with some finely sliced(slivers) pistachios and Varq (Optional)

Serve it immediately or after chilling. Enjoy !

  Follow M.M.Mithaiwala

 www.mmmithaiwala.com