Gur Kalakand | How to make Kalakand | Kalakand recipe with Date Palm Jaggery

Gur Kalakand | How to make Kalakand | Kalakand recipe with Date Palm Jaggery

Author: Rumki Paul
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 Persons

Gur Kalakand or Kalakand recipe with Date Palm Jaggery is a seasonal sweet which is mostly prepared in winter. It is a super easy dessert recipe which is the amalgamation of Indian cottage cheese, evaporated milk and date palm jaggery. This salivating dessert can be a great option for any special occasion or ceremony to make it sweeter and happier.

Indian sweet recipes play a vital role in Indian culture. For Indians, any festival or ceremony is incomplete without sweets. In fact, if someone is successful on something or has any good news then they celebrate their joy by sharing sweets with their close ones. When all these occasions are celebrated with homemade sweets, every occasion becomes more special and emotional.

Since my childhood, I have seen my mom and aunts to prepare different ranges of sweets for various occasions. From Sankranti to Diwali, they are always on to prepare sweets in their kitchen. Till now, I have eaten more than hundreds of varieties of sweets prepared by my mom. Each year, during Sankranti or Laxmi Puja, I have seen her to prepare at least fifteen different varieties of sweets. She used to start preparing sweets from early morning and completed her job at evening.

Recipe for Kalakand is perfect dessert for any occasion. Kalakand recipe is a complete life saviour for all the house wives who encourage home cooking. Gur Kalakand is a simple and super easy recipe. It requires minimal ingredients to get prepared. The best part is that though it is an easy recipe but still it tastes extraordinary.

As a Bong, I always have nostalgia for Nolen Gur sweets like Nolen Gurer Sandesh, Nolen Gurer Rasgulla etc. Nolen Gurer Payesh is prepared in every Bong house during winters and is like a ritual which we are following happily, blindly and crazily to devour the stunning seasonal dessert.

What is Nolen Gur?

Nolen Gur is known by many different names. It is also known as “Khejurer Gur” in few other parts of Bengal. It is also called Date Palm Jaggery which has a sweet and soothing aroma and can make any jaggery-sweet taste extraordinary.

In our childhood days, Date Palm jaggery was available only during winters but now it is available throughout the year in many cities. While in many small towns, they still have to wait until winters to get the Date Palm Jaggery.

Kalakand recipe

Recipe for Kalakand is prepared in different ranges all over the country. Elaichi Kalakand, Gur Kalakand, Rose Kalakand, Gajar Kalakand are the few most popular versions of the classic Indian dessert.

On this Holi, I have decided to give a throwback to this amazing flavour and winter days by preparing Gur Kalakand. I am always ready to prepare this instant dessert for any occasion because it gives me immense joy in exchange of minimal effort.

Gur Kalakand with step by step photos and instructions have been provided in the ‘Instructions’ section of the recipe.

Shall we use readymade Paneer for Kalakand?

The answer is yes you can. But you need to grate the paneer nicely before use.

So, I have called it a life saviour recipe. If you are running out of time, nothing can be a better option of dessert than kalakand.

How to make Kalakand?

For Kalakand recipe, first I have curdled the milk to prepare Chenna. I have used lemon juice to curdle the milk. You can also use yogurt or vinegar too for the same. After preparing Chenna, I have hung it for half an hour to filter out the excess water. Then, I have crumbled the Chenna nicely before cooking.

In the recipe for Kalakand, I have used unsweetened evaporated milk to cook the Chenna in it. Sweet condensed milk can spoil the taste and flavour of the dessert.

Instead of evaporated milk, you can also use full fat milk too. You need to boil the milk and reduce its volume to one third and prepare the evaporated milk at home. Though it would be a bit time consuming but would give you the same result.

First, I have added the evaporated milk into the pan and then added Date palm jaggery into it. When the jaggery got dissolved in the evaporated milk, I have added the crumbed Chenna into the pan. I have then cooked the mixture slowly until it becomes thick and heavy.

In the Kalakand recipe, I have not used any flavouring agent like Saffron Strands or Cardamoms. According to me, it destructs the exact and pure flavour of Date palm jaggery from the dessert. If you are using high quality Date palm jaggery then I would always suggest to skip the use of any external flavouring agents.

For the Kalakand recipe, I have only used Date palm jaggery as a sweetener. I have not used sugar for the recipe. It makes the dessert healthier too.

The recipe for Kalakand, I have sprinkled finely chopped Pistachios and Cashews as topping. You can add any of your preferable dry nuts like Almonds, Walnut etc. into the dish.

Ingredients:

• Full cream Milk, 1 Litre
• 1 Lemon
• 100 Gram unsweetened Evaporated Milk
• ½ Cup Date Palm Jaggery, Grated
• 4-5 Cashews, finely chopped
• 5-6 Pistachios, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Ghee, to grease the tray

1. Take the 1 litre milk in a heavy bottom pan.
   

2. Put the flame in medium high and let the milk boil.
   Tip: While boiling the milk, put the flame in medium and stir occasionally. Otherwise the milk will stick to the bottom of the pan and a burning smell may get induced into the milk.
   
3. Put the flame in lowest.
4. On the other side, cut the Lemon into two pieces.
5. Squeeze out the Lemon juice in a bowl.
6. Make sure no pulps and seeds are there in the juice.
7. Add the Lemon juice slowly into the milk (Step 3).
8. Stir it slowly and let the milk curdle.
   

9. Stir for 1-2 minutes in lowest flame.
10. On the other hand, place a colander in the sink of kitchen and put a Muslin cloth on the colander.
    
    

11. While the water gets separated from the curdled milk, switch off the flame.
12. Pour the curdled milk immediately to the Muslin cloth. With the help of a spatula, stir the Chenna gently for a minute to cool it off.
    
    
    

13. Gather the corners of the cloth.
14. Put the Chenna into the running water. Wash the Chenna carefully. This helps to remove the flavour of Lemon off the Chenna and allow the Chenna to cool down.
    

15. Squeeze the excess water and then tie a tight knot of the cloth.
16. Hang the Chenna for 30 minutes.
17. Crumble the Chenna nicely.
    
    

18. On the other hand, grease a tray or plate with Ghee and keep it aside.
19. Now put a non-stick pan on a flame and put the flame in low.
    

20. Pour evaporated milk into the pan and let it become warm.
    

21. Add the grated Date Palm Jaggery into the pan and give a nice stir.
    
    

22. Cook it in medium low flame until the jaggery gets dissolved completely. Stir in between.
    
    

23. Add the crumbled Chenna into the pan and give a nice mix.
    

24. Cook it in medium low flame and stir the mixture frequently with the help of a spatula or else the Chenna may stick to the pan.
25. The Kalakand mixture gets thick gradually.
    

26. Cook it for 15-18 minutes until the mixture converts into a thick mass.
27. Switch off the flame and put the pan down.
28. Pour the mixture into the greased tray (Step 18).
    

29. Spread the mixture evenly by tapping and shaking the tray.
30. Sprinkle the finely chopped nuts over the kalakand mixture.
31. Keep the tray aside for an hour and allow it to reach to the room temperature.
32. Keep it refrigerated for couple of hours so that it sets properly.
33. Slice the Kalakand with the help of a knife.