We must be quite familiar with the sweet from Bengal, called Sandesh. It is usually prepared from ‘chena’ or cottage cheese and often given different flavours with date palm jaggery, chocolate, mango, strawberry etc. Today my recipe is about Aam Sandesh aka mango flavoured sandesh. Throughout the summer this yellow coloured sweet attracts extra attention in sweet shops of Bengal. A perfect blend of fresh mango puree and homemade fresh cheese is a treat to your sweet tooth. It is a double treat if you love both mangoes and Sandesh.

Variety of mangoes are available here in Delhi from April till mid of August like Alphonso, Kesar, Langra, Chausa, Dasheri etc. However, I found Chausa and Dasheri being the sweetest and in my current recipe for Aam Sandesh, I used Chausa mango.

Mango and cottage cheese, both have a long list of food values. Fiber, Vitamin C, Folate and different minerals enrich mangoes. Clearly, the ‘king of fruits’is not only juicy and delicious but also beneficial for our health. You can read the details here. Being rich in protein, vitamins and calcium, many of us prefer to add cottage cheese in daily menu. Read more about cottage cheese, here.

We can also read my earlier post on ‘Shandesh’ and ‘Aam Doi or Ripe Mango Curd’, if interested.

Ingredients for 14-15 pieces :

1. Full fat Milk (6% fat content) – 1 til.
2. White vinegar – 4 tbspoon
3. Ripe mango – 1 (weight around 250 gms.)
4. Sugar – 6 tbspoon.
5. Raisine to garnish (optional)

Procedure :

• At first prepare cottage cheese or chena using milk and vinegar. You will get around 200 gm. of chena from 1 lit. full fat milk. Find the link of detailed and step by step procedure for making chena here.

• Then peel the mango and cut into medium chunks. Put the mango pieces in a blender and add sugar to it. Blend it to a smooth puree. If there are some hairs/fibers in the mango puree then strain it and discard the fibers.
• Now take out the chena on a flat work surface and rub with your palm for 4-5 minutes or until smooth. Keep the chena aside.

• After that, pour the mango puree in a kadai and place the kadai over low-medium flame. Cook the puree for 2-3 minutes until it thickens and the colour becomes darker.
• Then add the chena to the kadai and mix well with the mango puree. Getting mixed with the mango puree, chena will turn little soft and watery. Cook the chena, stirring continuously, over low flame for 10 minutes or until it starts leaving the pan and gets dough like texture.
• Now switch of the flame and spread the cooked chena on a plate. Let it cool down a bit and again knead the chena for a couple of minutes while still warm.
• Now divide the chena into 14-15 equal parts and give them your desired shape (I tried to give it a mango shape, you can make it square or round also). At this point the chena balls still remain soft, however turns dry and hard as getting cold .
• Last part is garnishing, which is totally optional. One can have the mango sandesh as it is. However, I garnished it with raisin. Mango puree could be a good option for garnishing. Make an indentation with your finger at the centre of the sandesh and put some mango puree into it.

Note :

• Don’t overcook the chena otherwise it will become crumbly and difficult to bind.
• One can use market bought paneer instead of freshly made cottage cheese. 200 gm. paneer is needed for this recipe.
• It is always better to consume sandesh fresh. Otherwise you can refrigerate it in an air tight container for maximum 2 days.