Pranhara or Kancha Golla is a variety of sandesh, a Bengali sweet dish that is widely popular for its simplicity and melt-in-mouth taste. Like most Bengali sweets, it is also made with fresh cottage cheese of cow’s milk or chenna, a bit of condensed milk, and a couple of drops of rose extract.
Just 3 ingredients and there you have it, a delicious small batch of pranhara sandesh for those sweet cravings. There are a few things to keep in mind while making this delicious melt-in-mouth sandesh. Below I have jotted down everything for you. If you want a bigger batch, simply double or triple the quantity of ingredients. That’s it!
With all year round festive season in India, there is no dearth of occasions to make these easy yet so delicious recipes for Pranhara sandesh. And, once you try them, you will be surprised to see how quickly they come together.
So, let’s check out the things we are going to need here.
Pranhara Sandesh Ingredients list
- Cow’s Milk
- Lemon juice or Vinegar
- Condensed Milk
- Rose Extract
- Milk Powder
Now, you must be thinking that I told you 3 ingredients, but why have I listed 5 here. The cow’s milk and vinegar or lemon juice will combine to give the chenna or cottage cheese. Combining this with condensed milk & rose flavor will give us the sandesh. Milk powder is used to roll the pranhara sweets in as a garnish.
One of the prime ingredients for this Bengali sweet is, no doubt, the chenna or the fresh cottage cheese. It has to be of cow’s milk only, as buffalo’s milk gives somewhat, chewy cottage cheese. So, use only the best quality cow milk for Bengali sweet recipes.
What is Sandesh – decoding the varieties of it.
Sandesh is basically sweetened chenna or cottage cheese, often flavored with a variety of ingredients like rose, cardamom, saffron, date palm jaggery, etc.
A literal translation of the word ‘sandesh‘ means news. So, anyone who had good (or even bad) news to offer would come bringing a box of sandesh. From offering it to a diety for a pujo to paying condolences at a funeral, this Bengali sweet has many roles to play.
Broadly they can be of two types, norompaak and kodapaak. The norompaak ones are those that have been cooked for a lesser time and are soft and juicy in texture. The kodapaak ones, on the other hand, are the ones that have been cooked for a much longer time and are hard in texture.
Another major difference is that the norompaak sandesh have a much shorter shelf-life due to high moisture content. The kodapaak ones can stay fresh for a much longer duration.
The Pranhara sandesh is somewhat norompaak variety and is best kept in a refrigerator and is to be consumed within the next couple of days of making.
Here, I have made a small batch of pranhara sandesh recipes with condensed milk and rose extract. This recipe gave me seven of these delicious Bengali sweets, just perfect to last for a couple of days.
Looking for more Bengali Sandesh recipes, here are a few from my Blog:
Here’s a quick list of some of the most popular Indian sweets recipes from my blog
- Kesar Peda
- Instant Gulab Jamun
- Instant Kalakand
- Sweet Boondi
- Rasbhari
- Khaja or Chiroti
- Chanar Jilipi or Paneer Jalebi
- Lobongo Lotika
Have you tried this recipe? I would love to hear about it.
Tag me on Instagram @priyankabhattacharya.sa or Facebook @hashdiaries and I will share it further.
Pranhara or Kancha Golla is a variety of sandesh, a Bengali sweet dish which is widely popular for its simplicity and melt-in-mouth taste. Like most Bengali sweets, it is also made with fresh cottage cheese of cow's milk or chenna, a bit of condensed milk and a couple of drops of rose extract.
- 500 ml Cow's Milk
- ½ Lemon
- White Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Condensed Milk
- 2 drops Rose Extract
- Milk Powder
Boil the milk and add lemon juice or vinegar till it separates. Go one tsp. at a time and stop when you can see the chenna/paneer/cottage cheese curdle leaving greening whey beneath.
Line a sieve with cheesecloth and drop the content of the pan in it. Collect the ends of the cloth and tie it. Allow this to sit so that extra water drips below.
After 30 minutes or so, take the cottage cheese or chenna in a mixing bowl and knead it with the heel of your palm to make it smooth. Divide it into two equal parts.
Take a non-stick pan and put it on low heat. Add half of the kneaded chenna or cheese with 2tbsp of condensed milk in it. Stir it nicely. It will loosen up first but then it will dry up. Turn off the heat.
Take the cooked chenna out into the same mixing bowl and mix with the rest of the cheese. Add the rose extract and knead till it becomes smooth.
Divide it into smaller portions. You should get 7 golf ball sized portions.
Roll them between your palms to make them into smooth sandesh
Take some milk powder in a plate and roll the sandesh in. Serve.
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