Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Chocolate Sandesh (With Cocoa Powder) is a gluten-free, vegetarian Bengali, Indian sweets made with simple everyday ingredients in about 36 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 30 minutes
  • Cook time: 6 minutes
  • Total time: 36 minutes
  • Yield: 9 · 9 Sandesh
  • Category: Sweets
  • Cuisine: Bengali, Indian

Ingredients

  • 300 to 350 grams Chenna (or chenna made from 1 litre of milk)
  • 1 tablespoon dark cocoa (or regular cocoa powder)
  • 4 to 5 tablespoons raw sugar (or unrefined organic cane or regular sugar; or add according to taste)

Method

  1. You will need fresh chenna to make the sandesh. Please refer to this Chenna Recipe here to make it.
  2. Once the chenna is ready. Then you just crumble it and blitz in a blender or mixer-grinder with cocoa powder and sugar, till the mixture becomes smooth.
  3. Add this mixture to a thick bottomed non-stick pan or a well seasoned frying pan. With continuous stirring begin to cook on a low heat.
  4. After a few minutes, the mixture will come to have a smooth and molten consistency.
  5. Continue to stir and cook. You will see, that the color will darken and the mixture will lost its moisture and start to come together.
  6. The chenna should have some moistness and must not have a dense rubbery texture. Also no oil or fat should be released from the chocolate sandesh mixture.It will take about 5 to 6 minutes to get this texture on a low heat. The timing may vary depending on the intensity of the heat, the size and quality of the pan and the quality of chenna.
  7. Take all of the sandesh mixture on a small tray or plate. Let it become warm or cool down completely. Gently knead the mixture.
  8. Make small or medium sized balls from the sandesh. You can make designs on top by pressing with your thumb or with a fork or toothpick.
  9. You can also garnish chocolate sandesh with blanched & sliced almonds or pistachios, raisins or cashews and even small-sized chocolate chips.
  10. Serve Chocolate Sandesh immediately. If not serving, then refrigerate and serve them later.

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.