5 Vijaya Dashami sweets you need to try
What's the story
Vijaya Dashami, also called Dussehra marks the end of Navratri and the five-day festival of Durga Puja.
After bidding adieu to Maa Durga, Bengalis wait for next year's celebrations and prepare and distribute sweets.
Check out these Bengali sweet recipes post-Durga Puja, and enjoy them to keep the festivities alive until Diwali comes knocking on the door.
Classic Bengali sweet
Rosogolla
Boil milk, add lemon juice gradually, and mix well until the milk curdles.
Let the mixture rest, drain the water, and leave the paneer in a colander for a few hours.
Mash the paneer smoothly with semolina and shape it into small balls. Add the balls to boiling water and cook for 20 minutes.
Transfer the rosogollas to cardamom-flavored sugar syrup, and serve fresh.
Soft barfi
Kalakand
Cook whole milk and ricotta cheese together until the excess liquid dries up.
Add powdered sugar and cook well for some time. Add rose water and cardamom and transfer the mixture to a mold to let it set.
Place an upturned plate on top of the mold and turn it upside down.
cut into cubes, garnish the kalakand with roasted shredded almonds and serve.
Traditional dessert
Malpua
Combine together rice flour, all-purpose flour, milk, and fennel seeds, to form a lump-free batter and set aside.
Heat one cup of sugar in one cup of water with three-four green cardamom to prepare the syrup.
Now heat a pan and add ghee. Pour a ladle-full of the batter and fry until golden brown.
Take it out and soak it in the syrup
Bengali sweet curd
Mishti doi
Boil milk while stirring occasionally. Add sugar and stir well until the milk thickens and is reduced to half.
In another pan, mix together brown sugar and water and stir until the sugar caramelizes.
Add the caramelized sugar to the boiled milk and cook again.
Add hung curd and stir well. Cover and let it set overnight.
Refrigerate for two hours and serve chilled.
Stuffed sweet
Cham cham
Prepare the chenna by curdling milk. Drain, wash, and hang it for 30 minutes.
Knead it for some time, then add all-purpose flour, semolina, a pinch of baking powder, ghee, and cardamom powder, and knead again.
Make cylinders from the dough and boil them in sugar syrup, until they turn slightly brown.
Take them out, let them cool, and roll them in grated mawa.