This week our featured blogger of Know your Blogger event hosted by Kolkata Food Bloggers is Indrani Dhar who has a jaw-dropping collection of recipes at Recipe Junction. I saw her in action while the shooting a recipe video… my, my, was she awesome!! She has stayed in different parts of the world and you can see the influence in her versatile collection of recipes. Mom of three adorable kids, she is a rock of a person and there are many things that I would want to learn from her.
While going through her blog I was immediately inspired to make some Kalakand and gave it a chocolaty twist.
Ingredients:
- Milk – 2 1/2 Cups
- Ricotta Cheese – 2 Cups (you can use chhena/homemade cottage cheese)
- Sugar – 1/2 Cup (or more if you like it more sweet)
- Cardamom Powder – 2 tsp
- Chocolate Chips – 1 Cup, or 8 oz of baking chocolate (I used semi-sweet)
- Milk or heavy cream – 2 or 3 tbs (depending on the consistency, should be easy to spread)
- Instant Coffee – A pinch
In a pan, heat the milk along with the sugar and powdered cardamom (I used a coffee grinder). Once the milk has reduced to almost half, add ricotta cheese to the pan. I used store-bought ricotta cheese, you can make your own (recipe here). Make sure to stir continuously till all the liquid disappears and it turns into a crumbly mix. Now if you want those perfect square kalakand, you can line a shallow square pan with parchment paper and pour out the mixture into it, then cut into perfect squares once cool. But I took the easier route and lined a muffin tin and poured the kalakand mixture into each cup. Refrigerated for an hour till it set.
Now using the double boiler or the microwave, melt the chocolate, pinch of coffee and milk (or heavy cream) together. Whisk the melted chocolate till smooth and shiny and pour it onto the chilled kalakand. Give it another hour or so to set and serve.
My 4 year old asked for seconds which makes me one happy Mommy!