Chenna is nothing but soft, moist and crumbly cottage cheese that is made in the eastern parts of India. It is made with milk that is curdled with an acidic ingredients like lemon juice or vinegar and later strained. Chenna is often used to make a variety of sweets and desserts.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: Not specified
- Total time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 350 · 350 grams Chenna
- Category: Sweets
- Cuisine: Bengali
Ingredients
- 1 litre whole milk
- 1 tablespoon vinegar (or 1 tablespoon lemon juice or 2 to 3 tablespoon yogurt (curd or dahi) - add more if required)
- 1 saucepan (- medium-sized)
- 1 clean cotton cloth (or cheese cloth or muslin)
- a heavy weight like a pestle (or a heavy bowl or plate)
Method
- First bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan.
- Reduce heat to medium or medium-low.
- Next add lemon juice or vinegar or yogurt. Stir and mix thoroughly and you will see the milk getting curdled.
- Ideally the milk should get curdled at once after you stir the lime juice or vinegar. Just keep extra lime juice ready with you, in case the milk does not curdle.
- When you see the greenish whey, pour the curdled milk in to pan lined with a thin cotton napkin or muslin. You can also use cheese cloth.
- Once you are done adding all the curdled milk, then bring together the edges of the cotton napkin or muslin and gently squeeze out the remaining whey from it.
- The greenish whey is rich in nutrients and can be added to gravies or to make rotis/chapatis and even pulaos, bread doughs.
- Rinse the collected bundle of chenna in water. This will get rid of the after taste and smell of either the lemon juice or vinegar.
- Keep a heavy weight like a mortar or a plate on the chenna bundle for 6 to 7 minutes.
- Later remove the chenna and then use it accordingly to make sweets like sandesh, cham cham, rasmalai and rasgulla.
Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note
Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.