Chenna Payas (Cottage Cheese dumplings in thickened milk)

Preparation Time:  10 mins

Cooking Time:       2 hrs

Ingredients:

Milk:                            3 ½ lt

Lemon Juice:                3 tbsp

Sugar:                          500 gms

Water:                          1 lt

Powdered Cardamom: ¼ tbsp

Chopped Pistachios:    1 tbsp
Chopped Almonds:      1 tbsp
Saffron:                        Few Strands

 Preparation:

1. Take 1 ½ lt of milk, in a thick bottomed pan, and allow it come to boil.
2. When it starts boiling, reduce the flame to low, add the lemon juice, and keep stirring, until the milk curdles completely.
3. Drain it into muslin cloth and wash the cottage cheese well, under running water.
4. Drain every bit of water from the cottage cheese.
5. In a big vessel knead the cottage cheese, so that it becomes very soft, and feels light.
6. Make small round pellets of cottage cheese, and ensure that they have a very smooth surface. (The pellets should not be bigger than the size of pea-nuts)
7. Take 250ml of water in a wide mouthed pan and add 300gms of sugar, to make sugar syrup.
8. The syrup should be of a thread consistency. Smear the syrup on your thumb and press with forefinger, when you pull slowly you should see a thread.
9. Add the pellets in the sugar syrup, and let it cook on low flame, until it swells to twice the size.
10. Pour the remaining milk in a heavy bottomed pan and allow it boil on low flame of big burner.
11. Allow it to simmer until the quantity of milk is reduced to 2/3rd of its original quantity.
12. Keep stirring after every 5 minutes, so that it does not stick to the bottom.
13. Add the remaining sugar and powdered cardamom, mix well and allow it come to boil.
14. Remove the cottage cheese dumplings from the sugar syrup and put them in the thickened milk.
15. Ensure that you press it, so as to drain off the sugar syrup from it. This will help in absorbing the milk.
16. Allow it cook for another 15 minutes on low to medium flame. It will further swell and come to the surface as in "Pic 2".
17. Turn off the flame and allow it cool. 
18. Sprinkle chopped pistachios, almonds and saffron.
19. Serve cold...

Pic 1

Pic 2

 

Note:

Use full cream milk, rather than skimmed/toned milk.

The entire cooking should be done on low to medium flame.
After cooking it should be refrigerated for 4-5 hours, so that it absorbs the milk.