Ice Cream Sandesh - By Chef Sushanta Barui

Ice-Cream Sandesh is a soft, mildly sweet dessert hailing from the state of West Bengal in the Indian sub-continent. It's extremely delicious and is made from freshly made cottage cheese.

Ingredients:

- Whole milk - 1 Litre

- Juice of Limes – 2 Nos.

- Rich whipping cream - 100 ml

- Milkmaid (Condensed milk) - 75 ml

- Mango puree - 1 tbsp

- Rose syrup - 1 tbsp

- Green cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

- Ghee - 1 tsp

Instructions:

1. In a heavy-bottomed pan, bring the whole milk to a boil over medium-high heat. After the first boil, lower the heat and add the juice from 2 limes (add more if needed) and stir. The milk will start to curdle.

2. Strain the curdled milk in a clean muslin cloth and hang for 1-2 hours. After 1-2 hours, you will have lovely chenna or chanaa. Please note that the chenna should be completely dry, free of any water content. 1 litre of milk will yield 200 gm of chenna.

3. Next, blend the chenna together with milkmaid and rich whipping cream for about 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

4. Divide the chenna mixture into equal 3 portions. Mix mango puree into one part, rose syrup into the second part, and cardamom powder into the third part. Keep aside.

5. Take a rectangular cake pan or any other heatproof pan and line it with butter paper. Grease the butter paper well with ghee or clarified butter. Pour the Sandesh batter separately into the greased pan. Tap to set it well. Cover it with aluminium foil and set it aside.

6. In a large container, bring about 2 cups of water to a boil. Place an inverted plate, pressure cooker metal stand, or any kind of metal insert inside the boiling water. This will act as the stand for your container containing the Sandesh batter. Now, put the pan on the metal stand or inverted plate. Please note that the water level should not touch the bottom of the pan. Cover the large container and cook for 25 minutes.

7. After 25 minutes, take out the container containing the Sandesh batter and allow it to cool completely. Then, assemble the layers and put it in the freezer for 1-2 hours or in the fridge for 3-4 hours. Take it out, slice the Sandesh into square pieces, and serve it chilled.