Coconut or Narkel Sandesh

It’s Navarathri season once again. Navratri, the Festival of Nine Nights is here again (“Nav” meaning nine and “Ratri” meaning night). This festival lasts ten days and reveres and celebrates the nine forms of the Hindu Godess Durga or Shakti (energy of the universe). The festival is celebrated according to the traditional Lunar calendar and starts on the new moon day falling between September 15thand October 15th every year. Special food for Neivedhyam or ritual offering is cooked for each day. Apart from the usual festive fare, this time I decided to make Coconut or Narkel Sandesh as well. Sandesh made with coconut and moulded in half moon shapes is called Chandrapuli.

Sandesh, pronounced Shondesh, is a milk based sweet from the eastern Indian regions of Bengal and Orissa. It is also made in parts of Bangladesh. Full fat cow’s milk is curdled and drained to make a soft cheese called Chenna. This is kneaded further till soft and cooked with sugar or palm jaggery. The resulting dough is shaped in clay or wooden moulds.

Medieval Bengali literature mentions a sweet called Sandesh though the ingredients aren’t known. The modern Channa/ Chenna based Sandesh is thought have origins in the 17^th century when the first Portuguese settlers in Calcutta brought cheese making techniques with them. Before this curding milk wasn’t done and even considered inauspicious. Bengali sweet makers quickly adopted the cheese making techniques, and became inventive in using cheese in sweets. Thus they say, Sandesh was also born.

The word Sandesh, in Hindi at least, means message. With some stretch of imagination, people tend to liken the confectionery to a sweet and happy message. Which isn’t all that far from the truth, I guess. Sandesh is mildly sweet and is definitely about happiness.

At its simplest is Kanchagolla, a very soft and moist Sandesh rolled into laddoo like balls. Then there’s the beautifully moulded Sandesh that we’re all more familiar with. Sandesh can be creamy or coarse in texture, soft or firmer depending on what variety it is. It can be sweetened with sugar or “nolen gur” or “patali gur”, the famed Bengali date palm jaggery. Sandesh can also be flavoured  according to preference. There is also Jol Bhara Sandesh, a type of moulded Sandesh with a sweet liquid filling. So Sandesh is a sweet that lends itself creative variations.

Kerala is the land of coconuts among other stuff, so I chose to make Coconut or Narkel Sandesh. My friend Sayantani sent me a beautiful set of clay and wooden Sandesh moulds and Navarathri seemed as good a time as any to try them out. It’s just the beginning of palm jaggery season in West Bengal, so I used locally sourced jaggery.

Sandesh is not very difficult to make, though it can take a little time and planning. You have to start with making the Channa/ Chenna. This is done by curdling full fat cow milk with an acidic agent, usually lime juice or yogurt. It is important that the curdling process forms a very soft cheese, softer than for paneer. Cow milk is good for this, as is the amount of lime juice or yogurt used for curdling it. Once the milk cheese has been drained, it must be kneaded well using the heel of the palm. This ensures soft and creamy Channa/ Chenna.

Once the milk cheese is soft and smooth enough it is mixed with sugar or jaggery. Here I’ve also added mawa/ khoya for a more milky taste and fresh coconut. Running the fresh grated coconut in the blender a couple of times produces a smoother mouth feel. This mixture is then cooked over low to medium heat, with frequent stirring until, it becomes less moist and dough like.

The cooked dough is shaped by pressing it into Sandesh moulds. If you don’t have Sandesh moulds, you can roll the dough mixture into small 1 inch balls. You can also decorate them using cookie press moulds.