Sandesh ( bn, সন্দেশ ''Shôndesh'') is a dessert, originating from the

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

region in the eastern part of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

, created with milk and sugar. Some recipes of ''sandesh'' call for the use of

chhena Chhena () or chhana () are a style of cheese, originating from the Indian subcontinent, made from water buffaloDalby, A 2009, ''Cheese: A Global History'', Reaktion Books, p. 73, Kapoor, S & Kapoor, A 2006, ''Sanjeev Kapoor's No-oil Vegetarian C ...

paneer Paneer (), also known as ponir () is a fresh acid-set cheese common in the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) made from full-fat buffalo milk or cow milk. It is a non-aged, non-melting sof ...

(which is made by curdling the milk and separating the whey from it) instead of milk itself. Some people in the region of

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest ...

make a form of ''sandesh'' called ''pranahara'' (literally 'heart stealer') which is softer and made with ''mawa'' and

yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bac ...

. The Gupo/Gufo style of ''sandesh'' from Guptipara is considered by some to be the "first branded sweet of Bengal".

History

A sweet dish by the name ''sandesh'' is mentioned in

medieval Bengali literature {{unreferenced, date=August 2015 The Middle Bengali Literature is a period in the history of Bengali literature dated from 15th to 18th centuries. Following the Turkic Muslim conquest of Bengal in the 13th century, literature in vernacular Beng ...

, including Krittibas' Ramayana and lyrics of Chaitanya. However, the ingredients of this original dish are not known. This dish was most likely different from the modern chhena-based sandesh, which is made of solidified

kheer Kheer, also known as payasam, is a sweet dish and a type of wet pudding popular in the Indian subcontinent, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice, although rice may be substituted with one of the following: daals, bulgur wh ...

Bhim Chandra Nag sweet shop at Bowbazar, Kolkata, WB

It is hard to determine when exactly ''sandesh'' started referring mainly to the chhena-based sweet instead of the kheer-based sweet. However, it is known that by the second half of the 19th century, sandesh commonly referred to the chhena-based sweet.

Preparation

Sweets at a shop in Salkia Chourasta in Howrah

''Sandesh'' can be made with the use of

or paneer. The simplest kind of ''sandesh'' in Bengal is the ''makha sandesh'' (makha, meaning 'kneaded'). It is prepared by tossing the chhena lightly with sugar over low heat. When shaped into balls, it is called ''Kanchagolla'' (''kancha'', meaning 'raw' and ''golla'', meaning 'ball'). For more complex and elaborately prepared ''sandesh'', the chhena is dried and pressed, flavored with fruit, and sometimes even colored, and cooked to many different consistencies. Sometimes it is filled with syrup, blended with coconut or kheer, and molded into a variety of shapes such as conch shells, elephants, and fish. Another variant is ''nolen gurer sandesh'', which is made with gur or

jaggery Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Africa. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap without separation of the molasses and crystals, and ...

. It is known for its brown or caramel colour that comes from ''nolen gur''.

References

External links

Sweetmeats
in Banglapedia {{Cheese dishes Bengali cuisine Indian desserts Sweets of West Bengal Bangladeshi desserts