Chhena Poda

Chhena poda means burnt cheese in Odia, and it is meant literally. In Nayagarh, where the sweet was invented, the pan goes into the dying heat of a coal oven overnight and comes out with a top the colour of dark chocolate, almost black at the edges. You cut through that bitter-sweet crust and the inside is a different thing altogether, pale gold, warm, moist, grainy in the way only fresh chhena can be, smelling of cardamom and browned ghee. At the very bottom is a thin sheet of set caramel that pulls slightly as you lift a slice. Cuttack sweet shops keep it in a tray by the counter and cut it to order with a long knife.

Fat matters here because there is so little else in the recipe. Gir Cow's A2 Ghee is what greases the tin, and a spoon of it goes into the mix. As the sweet bakes, that ghee browns against the caramel at the base and gives chhena poda its particular smell, nutty and slightly toffee-like. Grease the tin properly, corners and sides included, because the caramel that forms there is the best part and you want it to come out whole.

We do not sell chhena or paneer, so buy fresh chhena from a good sweet shop or make it at home from two litres of full cream milk, which is easy and gives a much better result. The one thing to get right is the chhena itself. It must be freshly made, still slightly warm, drained but not squeezed dry, and then kneaded with the heel of your hand for a good eight minutes until it stops feeling like crumbs and turns into a smooth, sticky mass. Dry, hard chhena bakes into a rubber block.

How to make it

1. To make the chhena, bring the milk to a boil, lower the flame, and add the diluted lemon juice a spoon at a time, stirring, until the milk splits cleanly and the whey turns pale green. Switch off at once. Pour through a muslin cloth, rinse under cold water to wash off the sourness, and hang for 30 minutes. It should be drained but still moist.
2. Tip the chhena onto a plate and knead it with the heel of your hand for 8 to 10 minutes. It will go from crumbly to smooth and slightly sticky, and your palm will feel greasy. That is the sign it is ready.
3. Mix in the 3/4 cup sugar, the sooji, cardamom powder, salt and 2 tbsp ghee. Work it together for 2 minutes. The sugar will loosen the mixture as it dissolves. Add the cashews and raisins. If it still looks stiff, add the warm milk. Rest 15 minutes so the sooji swells.
4. Heat the oven to 180C. Grease a 7 inch round tin or a small loaf tin thickly with ghee, sides and corners as well.
5. Put the 3 tbsp sugar for the caramel into a small pan and melt it on medium heat without stirring, tilting the pan, until it turns the colour of dark honey. It takes 3 to 4 minutes. Pour it straight into the greased tin and tilt so it coats the base in a thin layer. It sets hard within seconds, which is correct.
6. Pour the chhena mix over the caramel and level the top with a spatula. Tap the tin on the counter twice to settle it. If you have banana leaf, line the tin with a lightly greased piece before the caramel for the traditional scent.
7. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. At the 40 minute mark the top should be deep brown. Let it go further, until the surface is very dark, cracked and firm to the touch. A skewer pushed into the middle should come out clean.
8. Cool completely in the tin, at least 2 hours. The caramel at the base needs this time to soften back into a sheet. Cutting it warm gives you a broken, weeping slice.
9. Run a knife around the edge, turn it out, and cut into thick squares or wedges. Serve at room temperature.

Tips

• The top is supposed to look burnt. Pale chhena poda is underbaked chhena poda. That dark, slightly bitter crust against the sweet inside is the whole idea of the dish.
• Do not squeeze the chhena dry. Hang it, let it drip, and stop while it is still moist. Over-drained chhena will not knead smooth and bakes hard.
• Sooji, in that amount, and no more. Three tablespoons binds it. Any more and you are eating a sooji cake with chhena in it.
• No oven? Use a heavy kadhai. Set the tin on a bed of salt or sand in a covered kadhai on the lowest flame for about 45 minutes. This is closer to the coal oven method anyway.
• For a gur version, swap the sugar in the chhena mix for the same weight of grated organic jaggery. The crumb turns darker and tastes of molasses. Keep the caramel base as plain sugar, since jaggery burns bitter quickly.