Chanar Payesh

Chanar Payesh is a luxurious, elegant Bengali dessert. It is a creamy fresh cottage cheese pudding infused with green cardamom flavour, with pops of plumpy raisins and crunchy nuts. This dessert is fundamentally made with Milk and Sugar. If you have Chana or store-bought Paneer in your fridge, it is an effortless dessert recipe for cold winter nights or any occasion.

What is Chana, and how can it be made?

Chana is Bengali-style fresh homemade cottage cheese, and it is the star ingredient in most Bengali confectionery! It is so easy to make at home that my mum used to make fresh Chana every day for my grandfather’s afternoon snack.

1. All you need is a heavy-bottom saucepan to heat the milk. Once it is hot, wait for a few seconds and stir it to reduce the temperature.

2. Then add an acid ingredient like vinegar, lemon juice or citric acid to the warm milk. Because of the easy access, I often use vinegar.

3. Stir the milk. You will see that the milk starts curdling!

4. Remove the saucepan from heat and let it stand for ten minutes.

5. Pour the whole thing into a cheesecloth;

6. Wash the Chana with cold water to remove acidity from it.

7. Then, wrap the cheesecloth tightly and hang it in the kitchen tap or a steamer for at least half an hour!

Your chana will be ready.

Preparing Chana

Is it necessary to wash Chana?

It depends on the dish you make with it. Personally, I don’t wash Chana if I am using it for curry or Sweets. The reasons are:

1. By washing, we can remove the acidity while it washes away some calcium as well.

2. When you pour cold water into hot Chana, it becomes firm or hard.

I only wash Chana if I am going to add it to the simmering milk. This process prevents the milk from curdling.

The difference between Chana and paneer-

The only difference between Chana and Paneer is in texture.

Chana - Chana’s texture is similar to that of ricotta. It has more moisture and is softer and creamier than Paneer.

Paneer - On the other hand, to make Paneer, you need to drain the curd for a longer time and add some weights to get a firm texture. Refer to Paneer recipes here.

Texture of Chana

What is Payesh?

Payesh is Bengali-style pudding; it is the ultimate homey dessert in the Bengali kitchen. Chal-er-Payesh, or Bengali-style rice pudding, is a must for a special birthday meal! There are two ways to sweeten Payesh: sugar and date jaggery! Especially during cold winter nights, the sweet aroma of simmering milk and date jaggery is magical! like this Chosir Payesh.

What goes on in Chanar Payesh

The ingredient list for Chanar Payesh

Full Cream, Milk, and Sugar are the main ingredients for any kind of Payesh. This Chanar Payesh recipe is a “pudding from your pantry” kind of recipe.

I often make a large amount of Chana at home because it’s pocket-friendly, and I can make a quick vegetarian lunch or breakfast if I have some extra chana in my refrigerator. However, I prefer to make Chanar Payesh from scratch!

Vinegar - I use vinegar to curdle the milk to make Chana.

Nuts and raisins — Crunchy nuts and plump raisins are the ornaments in your Chanar payesh or any payesh! Feel free to use whatever nuts you have in your pantry. I add cashews, pistachios, almonds, or sometimes walnuts.

Flavour- Green cardamom, saffron, and rosewater; you can add all of them or choose one!

Chanar Payesh

How to make Chanar Payesh?

Once you have prepared Chana, it’s super easy to make! All you need to do is simmer milk in a heavy-duty cooking pot over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes. Then, take 2 tbsp of milk in a small bowl and soak the saffron strands.

Meanwhile, take Chana on a plate, add about 2 tbsp sugar and crumble the Chana by your hand.

Next, in a frying pan, melt the ghee, add the nuts, fry for a minute, and then add Chana. Over medium heat, cook the chana for a few seconds.I do this extra step to make sure that when we add Chana to the simmering milk, the milk doesn’t curdle. Even if you wash the Chana before wrapping it in cheesecloth, it’s safe to walk this extra step, and I guarantee this will enhance the taste of the Payesh.

Add sugar, green cardamoms, and chana to the milk and simmer for another 10 minutes. Once you get the desired consistency, add the saffron milk, increase the heat to high, give a final stir, and turn off the heat. Add rosewater and cover with a lid!

Serve either chilled or at room temperature.