Chena pada that is easy to make, and very delicious..
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| Chena pada or cottage cheese cake of Odisha |
In the run up of the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, I got the
opportunity to travel with the country’s seniormost politician, Mr Lal Krishan
Advani, as he addressed rallies in Odisha (then it was Orissa) where his Bharatiya Janata
Party’s relations with the ruling Biju Janata Dal, had turned bitter, very
bitter.
But for me that tour will be one of the sweetest—not in
terms of memories, but literally sweet, in terms of food, or dessert or
mithai…call it what you will.
We were staying at Mayfair, a beautiful resort in
Bhuvaneshwar, and Mr Advani was to address a rally at Cuttack, a little short
of an hour’s drive. The rally had caused enough traffic jam on the highway, it was
getting dark, and I restless because I did not want to miss a minute of it all.
It was the BJP’s first foray in Odisha after the bitterness of the relationship
gone sour.
At one particular stretch, the traffic seemed much more than
what one would estimate between two small towns, never mind the rally factor.
The Mahila BJP member who accompanied, rather escorted, me to Cuttack stopped
the car, and insisted I get off. What did I see? On both sides of the roads,
under thatched roof, huge log-wood fires, with something very sugary cooking !
And as I got near one of those shops, I saw huge thaals/paraats/plates, of
rosagullas and gulab jamuns, and massive cubes of what seed to be caramel
custard. I was wrong. It was chena poda… a cheese cake that is Odisha’s very
own. The village was Pahala, and my hostess insisted it was world famous, and I
could not go back without sampling the fare. I was so, so full that evening, I
went to bed without dinner, and at the
rally I did not want even a glass of water.
But from the very next day, I had this craving for the
sweet. I figured it was called chena pada, and made of paneer/cottage cheese.
And imagine my delight when I found the Odisha stall at Dilli Hat, making and
serving it on a regular basis !
Here goes my version of the recipe that the attendant at
that stall shared with me. And it turned out remarkably well, though it did it
not have that wonderfully smoked, and very malty taste of what I had eaten
–overeaten—at Pahala.
It was easy to make, great to look at, and left us all
wanting more.
Ingredients:
Full cream milk-1 litre
Semolina/sooji/rawa-1 tablespoon
Sugar-2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon
Seeds of 3 cardamoms, crushed, powdered
Almonds- 10 or 12, blanched and slivered
Saffron strands—a few, soaked in a teaspoon of cold milk
Ghee- Less than a teaspoon, to grease the mould
Process:
Boil and split the milk to make fresh cottage
cheese. I used yoghurt to do this, because I find the cottage cheese made this
way soft, gentle, compared to using lime juice, citric acid etc.
Pour the split milk through a muslin cloth, to
separate the cottage cheese from the whey
S Squeeze the cloth tight to ensure the whey has drained away completely, and
cool for a few minutes in a large bowl.
Add the semolina, 2 tablespoons sugar, cardamom
powder, saffron with the milk, and knead till smooth yet crumbly. Now add the almond
slivers and knead again.
Grease the mould with ghee, sprinkle the teaspoon of sugar, and hold it over the
gas flame to gently caramalise till a beautiful amber color.
Fill the mould with the cottage
cheese-semolina-sugar “dough”, and bake in the centre of an oven preheated at
180 degrees, for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 160 degrees and bake
for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Ensure that the crust has turned somewhat golden,
and test with a knife/tooth pick that should come out clean
After it rests in the oven for a few minutes,
invert on a plate, and serve warm or cold.
I
I
I
It will keep well in an airtight container in
the fridge for a week, I was told.
But we finished it in a day !
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