Recipe- How To Make Instant Kalakand

Instant Kalakand is a popular and traditional Indian sweet .The traditional way of making Kalakand is very time consuming, but using paneer/cottage cheese make it easy and quick. Since this is largely based on the milk solids (paneer) – I have described the paneer process as well for making this recipe in the video, as a lot of people do not have easy access to paneer, or good quality paneer. If you are lucky enough to have paneer available handily – you can make this recipe a lot faster by using the ready made paneer. Malai paneer works best for Kalakand.

Ingredients

2 liter Full fat Milk
400 ml Milkmaid /condensed milk
3 tbsp Milk Powder / Doodh Ka Powder
1/2 tsp Citric Acid/nimbu phool/taatri
1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder / Elaichi Powder
15 Pistachio / Pista
3 Silvar leaf/ Chaandi ka vark

Method

* In a heavy bottom pan add milk and let it come to a boil.Mix citric acid in 1.5 tbsp of water and mix well and keep aside.

* When milk start boiling add the dissolved citric acid in it.Cook on low flame till the milk curdle completely.

* Put a muslin cloth over a strainer and strain the curdled milk in it.Wash it well with fresh water to remove all the traces of citric acid .

* Tightly tie the cloth and put some weight over it to strain the whey.wait for around 15 minutes.

* In a nonstick pan or heavy bottom pan add the condensed milk and heat it for a minute.Add crumbled paneer(no need to mash the paneer,just crumble it) in it and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes .

* Keep stirring the mixture otherwise it may stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

* Now add milk powder and cook till the mixture started to thicken and started leaving the pan and looks lumpy like a dough.Add chopped pistachio and cardamom powder.

* Spread the mixture in a greased plate and level it with a greased spatula.The thickness of kalakand should be around 1/2 inch .

* Apply silvar vark or sprinkle some chopped nuts over it.Let it set for minimum 25- 30 minutes.

* Cut into pieces and serve.