Nikuti is one of the lesser-known Bengali sweets from India’s eastern state of West Bengal. Similar to the recipes of Pantua and Chanar Jilipi, the nikuti recipe also needs fresh cottage cheese of cow’s milk mixed with semolina and flour. Small oblong-shaped dumplings are made out of the dough which is deep-fried before soaking in a simple syrup.

Like most of the Bengali sweet recipes, Indian sweets recipes included, making nikuti at home requires simple ingredients which are usually available in an Indian pantry. With this, all you need is a little bit of time & patience to shape the dough balls in such shape.

In this article, I have shared step-by-step instructions on Nikuti sweet recipe. I have also included step-by-step instructions on how to make chena or chenna (Indian Cottage Cheese) easily with just 2 ingredients!

Nikuti tastes very similar to Bengali sweet known as Pantua and Chanar Jilipi, the only difference is the shape and the size. The dough is practically and the sugar syrup is almost the same. Here, in the case of Nikuti, we will be dividing the dough into much smaller portions and rolling them to shape them between our palms.

This is a small batch of Nikuti mishti recipe which would give you around 15-17 pieces. So, if you want to make a bigger batch of it, just double or triple the recipe. Indian sweets recipes like this are quite delicious, and I bet you can’t stop at one!

Ingredients to make Nikuti

• Cow’s Milk – alternate would be Buffalo Milk or any full-fat milk
• Lemon Juice – alternate would be White Vinegar
• All-purpose flour or Maida
• Semolina or Sooji
• Baking Soda
• Milk
• Ghee or Clarified Butter
• Sugar & Water to make the Sugar Syrup
• Green Cardamom pods add flavor to the Sugar Syrup

Recipe instructions for Nikhuti Mishti

How to make Chana at home?

1. All you need is some good quality full-fat milk and a milk curdling agent such as lemon juice or white vinegar.
2. Bring the milk to a rolling boil first and then add the juice of a lemon into the milk. Here, I used 600ml of Cow’s Milk, which required the juice of one golf ball-sized lemon. Add the juice gradually. Once you see that the cheese has curdled and the whey left underneath is pale green, stop adding the juice.
3. Then turn off the heat. Take a cheesecloth and lay it on top of a sieve or a colander. Pour the contents of the milk pan into it.
4. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth and let it sit on the sieve overnight to get rid of the moisture.

To make Sugar Syrup

1. Take sugar and water in a saucepan and gently bring it to a boil. Keep stirring so that the sugar is dissolved completely.
2. Switch off the heat when there are no more sugar crystals left. Drop the cardamom pods and stir.

To make Nikuti mishti

1. Take the chena or cottage cheese in a mixing bowl and knead it for 8-10 minutes to make it smooth and supple
2. Add the rest of the ingredients in it like All-Purpose Flour, Semolina, Milk Powder, and Baking Soda, and knead it again
3. Add Water to make the dough moist. It should be kind of a sticky dough as shown here. It took somewhere around 4 tablespoons of water to get the perfect dough.
4. Add a teaspoon of Ghee to help you work with the dough
5. Divide the dough into 18 equal portions. Take each portion and roll it between your greased palms to make smooth round balls. Then press them into a cylindrical shape. Press the ends more to make the shape shown here
6. Now, fry them in oil/ghee on very low heat. Once they turn brown, take them out and dunk them in Sugar Syrup. Let them soak for 30 minutes or so before serving.

More Bengali sweets or Mishti recipes

• Bengali Chanar Jilipi Recipe
• Bengali Gujiya Sandesh Recipe
• Pranhara Sandesh Recipe
• Bengali Sweet Pantua
• Bengali Khejur Gurer Payesh Recipe
• Gurer Narkel Naru Recipe | Jaggery Coconut Bliss Balls
• Easy Mango Sandesh Rolls
• Ice Cream Sandesh | Bhapa Sandesh Recipe
• Malpoa | Bengali Instant Malpua Recipe

Ready to cook? Pin this recipe, share it with friends, and explore more Bengali classics on our blog. Happy cooking!

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Nikuti Recipe

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

Nikuti is one of the lesser-known Bengali Sweet from India's eastern state of West Bengal. Similar to the recipes of Pantua and Chanar Jilipi, nikuti recipe also needs fresh cottage cheese of cow's milk mixed with semolina and flour. Small oblong-shaped dumplings are made out of the dough which is deep-fried before soaking in a simple syrup.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Bengali

Keyword: Bengali Food, Indian Sweets Recipes, Mishti Recipes, Mithai Recipes, Nikuti Recipes, Paneer Recipes

Servings: 18 pieces

Calories: 101 kcal

Author: Priyanka

Ingredients

• 600 ml Cow’s Milk
• 1 Lemon
• 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1 tbsp Semolina or Sooji
• 2 tbsp Milk Powder
• ½ tsp Baking Soda
• 4 tbsp Water
• 1 tsp Ghee
• Ghee or Oil to fry
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• 1 Green Cardamom Pod

Instructions

To make Chena or Chana

1. Bring the milk to a rolling boil first. Once it is there, add the juice of a lemon into the milk. Here, I have used 600ml of Cow’s Milk and that required the juice of one golf ball-sized lemon. Add the juice gradually. Once you see that the cheese has curdled and whey left underneath is pale green in colour, stop adding the juice.
2. Turn off the heat. Take a cheesecloth and lay it on top of a sieve. Now, pour the contents of the milk pan into it. I would suggest you collect the whey underneath the sieve, as it is rich in nutrients.
3. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth and let it sit on the sieve overnight to get rid of the moisture. If you live in a colder region, you may leave it on your kitchen counter, otherwise, keep it in the refrigerator.

To make Sugar Syrup

1. Take sugar and water in a sauce pan and gently bring it to a boil. Keep stirring so that the sugar is dissolved completely. Once you see that there are no more sugar crystals left, switch off the heat. Drop in the cardamom pods and stir.

To make Nikuti

1. Take the chena or cottage cheese in a mixing bowl and knead it for 8-10 minutes to make it smooth and supple
2. Add the rest of the ingredients in it like All-Purpose Flour, Semolina, Milk Powder and Baking Soda and knead it again
3. Add Water to make the dough moist. It should be kind of a sticky dough as shown here. It took somewhere around 4 tablespoons of water to get the perfect dough.
4. Add a teaspoon of Ghee to help you work with the dough

5. Divide the dough into 18 equal portions. Take each portion and roll it between your greased palms to make smooth round balls. Then press them into a cylindrical shape. Press the ends more to make the shape shown here

6. Now, fry them in oil/ghee on very low heat. Once they turn brown, take them out and dunk them in Sugar Syrup. Let them soak for 30 minutes or so before serving.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

This post was first published on June 5, 2020, and later republished on September 1, 2024, with a more elaborate description of the recipe.