It's the quintessential cheese dessert from the state of Odisha in eastern India. Chhena poda literally means burnt cheese in Oriya. It is made of well-kneaded homemade cottage cheese aka chhena or paneer, jaggery, cardamom, clarified butter(ghee), cashew nuts and raisins & is baked for several hours until it browns.
It is a soft and pillowy dessert loaded with the goodness of chenna, which is a rich source of protein too.
🍽 S E R V I N G S
1 medium size loaf
⏰ T I M E
prep time - 10 minutes
cook time - 45-50 minutes
total time - 55-60 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups cottage cheese/paneer
4 tablespoons jaggery powder
2 tbsp clarified butter/ghee
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp rice flour
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 tbsp broken cashew nuts
1 tbsp raisins
1 pics salt
3-4 drops rose water
few saffron strands
WORKING THE MAGIC:
In a large mixing bowl, mash cottage cheese very well to make smooth paste. Add powdered sugar, rice flour, ghee, salt, rose water, saffron strands, milk and cardamom powder to it and mix all together properly till everything incorporates well.
In a separate pan, roast broken cashew nuts and raisins and add it to the chhena mix as well.
In a baking pan or a tin, add 1 tablespoon of ghee and spread all over the base.
Tap the pan to settle the mix well and bake the cake in a pre-heated oven at 350F/180C for 40-45 mins or till the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Take out the baked chenna poda and cool it on a wire wrack for 2 hours approximately.
Hold the pan upside down on a serving tray and remove the chenna poda carefully.
Cut into slices and serve!
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