Since long, our followers were quite keen to know the process for Kalakand recipe. This soft, and moist barfi is one of the most popular Indian delicacies. This soft delight resonates with tradition and culture of sweet making in India. To take you down the memory lane, here is the quick recap of your grandma’s recipe.
The recipe is much easier than Besan sweets, which Indian women usually prepare during festivities.
Let’s learn how to make Kalakand with only 6 ingredients that are always found in every Indian kitchen.
First, take a liter of milk and boil it on medium flame to prepare paneer. Let it cool for about 3 minutes and then add one tablespoon lemon-juice (keep adding a spoon at a time until you see milk cuddling till you find translucent water separating). Continue stirring. You will notice small, cohesive granular units starting to appear. That’s paneer, stir the paneer mixture for about 3-4 minutes.
After 3-4 minutes, take the lumpy liquid of the container and strain the water out of it. Wash the mixture with regular water and strain it again. This is to make sure that the flavor of lemon doesn’t stay in paneer.
Roughly mash the preparation a little and keep it aside. Alternatively, you can choose to buy paneer from outside, make sure you wash it with lukewarm water and grate it with a medium or small grater.
Pro Tip – The whey water you get while preparing the paneer is high in protein and adds to the taste of curries, upma, etc.
In another vessel, boil 1-litre milk in a heavy bottom pan on a slow to medium flame. Stir constantly. Keep scraping the pan from sides and the bottom to make sure the milk isn’t sticking to it.
Reduce the milk to half its volume and then add the paneer you prepared earlier to this condensed milk. You may use ready-made condensed milk as well to save time. Make sure the paneer prepared is grainy, for the texture of Kalakand is very granular.
Cook on medium flame and stir until paneer absorbs all the condensed milk in the pan. It will take about 10-12 minutes. When paneer gets mixed with condensed milk, thoroughly add 1-2 cups of sugar to this succulent mixture, according to your taste. Cook and stir on low flame for 5-6 minutes until the sugar gets dissolved.
Add cardamom powder and mix well for 3-4 minutes. Finally, kalakand mixture is ready. Allow the final mixture to settle down for 2-3 minutes and cool down a bit.
Pack the solution before it cools down completely into a settling pan greased with ghee. Garnish it with chopped pistachio and almonds and add more dry fruits into Kalakand with a spatula according to taste.
Let it cool for about 3-4 hours and then cut Kalakand barfis out of the cake.
Easy, isn’t it ? Next festival, make sure you make kalakand barfi and make its taste speak for you. If you need one more dessert options to complement the course, and then look up our easy recipes such as Shahi Tukda and Malpua recipe!
