Chum Chum

Chum Chum the name itself makes me happy.  I don't know what exactly the meaning of the word is but it's traditional Bengali sweet.  Chum Chums are made with Indian Cottage Cheese( Paneer) which is cooked in sugar syrup .  This is something very similar to rasgullas, rasgullas are served with syrup  and this without syrup.  I know a typical Indian may not need these explanation for this well known popular sweet, I'm just saying these for those who doesn't know what is a chum chum.

   You can make these Chum Chum for any special occation, it can be made easily in minutes, that too if you want to make something in bulk, you can definitely go for this.  You can also make these as a special gift for your   better half instead of regular chocolate box.

  Any way this is a recipe which I adopted from  Manjula's Kitchen.  I have failed so many times making this rasgullas or rasmalai,  but Manjula's recipe was perfect the very first time I got this right.  Thank you Manjula for your clear instructions.
Also don't forget to check our bloggers in marathon  Priya Suresh,Jay, Gayathri, Monika, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Azeema, Reva,Veena, Usha , Srivalli; Soumya.

Ingredients:
Milk- 1 litre
Lemon juice- 2 tbsp mixed with 1 tbsp of water
Sugar- 2 cups
Water- 5 cups
Kalakand- 2 cups( Kalakand recipe here)
Few drops of food colouring
Coco powder- 1 tbsp
Dessicated coconut- 3 tbsp

Method:
Boil the milk and the add the lemon juice slowly.  You can see the curd separates from the water.  At this stage pour it in a clean muslin cloth and separate the curd from the water.  Squeeze the water gently, don't squueze too much, it will dry the paneer.  Place a heavy bottomed pan on top of the paneer for 1 hour.
After 1 hour take the paneer and pulse in a food processor until it forms a dough. If it doesn't come together add a few drops of water until it forms a dough.
  Take the dough and knead it again and roll it into small balls.  Boil the water and sugar together in a pressure cooker.  Add the balls leave enough space to spread.  Close the lid and cook in high until you steam on top, once you see steam on top, reduce the heat to medium and cook for further 7 minutes.  Switch off the flame and keep the pressure on cold tap water.  Let it sit for few minutes.  Then open the lid and see if the chum chum looks spongy and big in size.  Take it out from the water.
  Add  a few drops of food colouring to the dessicated coconut and coat the chum chum in it.
For kalakand coating, add few drops of food colouring or coco powder to the kalakand.  Grease your palms with ghee,  take a small size ball of kalakand,  flatten it.  Place a chum chum inside and cover with kalakand.
To make the flour shape and heart shape, I used a cookie cutter to cut those shapes. You can serve it just like this or coat the kalakand with dessicated coconut again. Chill the chum chum in the refrigerator for minimum 5 hours before you serve.