Hi Chefs!!
'Mango Milk Cake' or 'Aam ka Kalakand' is a popular Indian sweet. Kalakand originated from a place called Alwar in Rajasthan. There are many shops that sell Kalakand in Alwar. It is believed that the pioneer behind this amazing sweet is Baba Thakur Das, who first brought Kalakand to Alwar and has been there since 1947. The story behind it is, Once Baba put the milk to boil and it curdled. He let it boil further till it thickened added some sugar to it and transferred it into a container. After sometime when he opened it was set and was darker in shade from the Centre. When people tasted it, they found it very tasty. They asked baba How did he do it? Baba answered ‘yeh to kala hai’. Since then, this sweet came to be known as Kalakand.
Originally Kalakand is plain but over the years it has emerged in various fruity flavors, Mango Kalakand being the top rated. Mango Kalakand is made with the fewest of ingredients; milk, sugar and mango pulp. The milk is curdled with vinegar or lime juice and then cooked till it is reduced to a solid form. Then the sugar and flavors are added to it. It is soft, moist and grainy in texture. So now let us learn how to make this yummy, age old traditional Indian sweet.
Mango Milk Cake
Ingredients:
· Milk – 1 & ½ litre
· Mango pulp – 400 gms or 1 cup
· Sugar – 120 gms or ¾ cup
· Cardamom Powder – ½ tsp
· Clarified butter/ Ghee – to grease the Pan
· Pistachios (chopped) – 10-12
· Lime juice / Vinegar – 2-3 tsp
How To Make Mango Milk Cake:
1. In a saucepan add 1 litre milk and let it boil.
2. When boiled switch off the gas.
3. Dilute lime juice or vinegar in equal amount of water and add little by little to the milk till it gets curdled.
4. Place muslin cloth on the strainer and pour curdled milk into it. Wash it with fresh water to remove the sourness.
5. Keep it aside.
6. In another pan boil ½ litre milk.
7. Add mango pulp to it and keep stirring.
8. After a while it will become grainy and whey will be separated.
9. Let it cook till all the whey evaporates and you get a semi solid mixture.
10. Add paneer / curdled milk to it.
11. Mix it well and cook till it reaches semi solid state.
12. Add sugar and cook it again till it thickens. Keep stirring.
13. Lastly add cardamom powder and mix well. Mango Kalakand is ready.
14. Grease a pan/container with ghee and transfer the mixture to it .
15. Tap a little with spatula to give shape to it.
16. Garnish it with chopped pistachios.
17. Let it set in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
18. Cut in desired shape and serve.
Enjoy!!
Some Pro Tips:
1.You may use either lime juice or vinegar to curdle the milk.
2. Wash curdled milk well to remove any sourness.
3. You may use any variety of mango according to your liking.
4. Adjust sugar according to your taste and sweetness of mango.
5. keep stirring during the whole process. Do not leave it unattended otherwise it may stick to the bottom of the pan.
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