Kalakand using Xylitol and Wishes for a Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my readers and friends. Today is the first day, first month of the Tamil Solar calendar. The day is celebrated by making sweet and savory dishes and the most important dish of the day is Neem Flower pachidi, which has the sweet, sour, spicy, bitter and salty taste signifying that life is a combination of different tastes. While my pachidi is simmering in the stove and will take some time to get captured in my camera, I thought will post the recipe for this delicious Kalakand. Kalakand is a traditional Indian Sweet made with sweetened milk and cottage cheese. The fresh cottage cheese is made by curdling milk with lemon juice and then cooked in thickened milk along with the addition of sugar. Instead of sugar, I have used Xylitol to celebrate the occasion.



Preparation Time - 30 Minutes

Cooking Time - 30 Minutes

Serves





Ingredients



For the Paneer



Organic Raw milk - 4 Cups

Lemon Juice - 2 Tablespoon

Warm water - 1/ 4 Cup



For Kalakand



Organic Raw milk - 4 Cups

Xylitol - 1/3 to 1/2 Cup depending on your sweet preference

Powdered Cardamom powder - 1/2 Tsp

Saffron few strands

Sliced almonds for garnishing



To make Paneer(Cottage Cheese)





1) Mix the lemon juice with warm water and keep it aside, boil the 4 cups of milk in a thick bottomed pan and once it comes to the boiling point add the lemon juice and stir gradually till the milk curdles.



2) Once the milk fat has separated, drain the whey from the cheese by pouring this through a colander lined with a cheesecloth.



3) On the separated cheese pour generous amount of cold water to remove the sourness of the lemon. Squeeze out the excess water and set this aside in a colander to drain any excess liquid.



To make the Kalakand.



1) Boil the rest of the 4 cups of milk with few strands of saffron till it reduces into one third its quantity in a thick bottomed pan on slow to medium heat stirring frequently not to burn the bottom of the vessel.



2) Once the milk is reduced to one third of the original quantity, add the paneer(drained cheese) and cook for few minutes till the mixture thickens and becomes like a soft dough and starts leaving the pan from the sides.



3) Now add the xylitol and cardamom powder cook for few minutes so that the xylitol melts and is mixed evenly and pour this mixture to a greased plate (10 inches plate greased with little bit of ghee(clarified butter). Spread the sliced nuts on the top with a spoon.



4) Let this cool for an hour and then cut into squares.

Interestingly in most parts of India New year is celebrated in March - April which also signifies the beginning of the beautiful spring. Please enjoy few spring blossoms in my back yard.

  

Posted in: dessert, how to make kalakand, how to make sugar free kalakand, xylitol