Mishti (sweet) is an integral part of Bengal. You cannot be a Bengali and not love patali gur (jaggery) which is God’s gift to sweet lovers. It is seasonal, available for only three months – November to January. It is essentially palm date jaggery. Movies have been made extolling this gur. When in season, it is used in all kinds of desserts, from rosogolla to icecreams and payesh (rice pudding).
My husband and I love it so much that we freeze the entire year’s quota in our freezer, almost ten to twelve bricks of gur. Once taken out of the freezer, this gur will soften within 5 minutes and is ready to be used for mishti preparation without any hassle. A note of caution – do not preserve it under regular refrigeration. The liquid part of the gur will ooze out and it will lose its taste and flavour.
Bring the milk to a rolling boil. Add lemon juice to curdle the milk. Let the curdled milk cool completely. Once at room temperature, drain the whey and hang the resultant chena (cheese) in a muslin cloth. Let the whey drain off for half an hour.
Take out the chena and transfer it to a mixing bowl. Add the patali gur and knead it until the gur is completely mixed with the chena and is a smooth blend. It generally takes 15 minutes of kneading to reach the required smooth consistency.
Roll the mix into balls and make a small depression in the centre of the chena balls. Fill this depression with a bit of patali gur. IT IS READY! No additional cooking is required. That is why it is called Kacha (raw) golla. No additional sugar syrup needs to be added. It is good for weight-watchers and for people who cannot digest fried sweets.
Add 200 gm of khova along with ¼ cup milk in a thick-bottomed pan. Simmer, stirring continuously, till it becomes a thick paste.
Once the khova completely melts, add the gur and keep stirring continuously till the paste thickens. Take the pan off the heat and set aside to cool.
Take 1 cup of maida in a mixing bowl and keep adding cool milk to it and stirring until it becomes a smooth batter. It is advisable to strain the batter once to get rid of any lumps. The consistency of the batter should be such that it flows freely to form a thin layer in the hot pan (somewhat like dosa or pancake batter).
Heat a nonstick skillet and apply a thin layer of ghee. Put a ladleful of batter on the hot skillet and let it spread evenly. Once one side is golden, flip it and let the other side cook till slightly golden.
Once you are sure that it is cooked put a thick layer of the molten khova-and-gur mix in the centre of the wrap and fold it from both sides. It is ready to be served hot.
Refrigerate
For kachagolla, a tablespoon of vinegar can also be used in place of lemon for curdling the milk.
You can substitute patali gur with sugar of the same amount.
