Bengali ChumChum Recipe

Cham Cham is a traditional Bengali sweet that is popular in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It comes in a variety of colors, like light pink, light yellow, and white. It is also coated with coconut flakes as a garnish. It is prepared with chena and stuffed with meva and dry fruits.

Ingredients for Bengali Chamcham

Milk - 1 liter (5 cup)

Lemon juice - 2-3 tbsp (2 lemons)

Sugar - 2 cup (450 grams)

Ararot - 1 tbsp

For Stuffing:

Mawa - ¼ cup (60 gram)

Cardamoms - 3-4 (peel and make powder)

Powdered sugar - 2-3 tbsp (30 grams)

Pistachios - 7-8 (thinly sliced)

Kewada essence - 2-3 drops

Yellow color - less then 1 pinch

How to make Bengali Chum Chum

Prepare Chena for Chumchum:

Take milk in any utensil and place it on flame for boiling. When milk starts boiling turn off the gas and let it cool down (it should be 80% hot).

Add water in lemon juice. Add little amount of lemon juice at a time in warm milk. Milk will start to coagulate. Stop adding lemon juice when milk coagulates completely. Now strain the coagulated milk in any muslin cloth, (place the cloth on top of sieve and pour milk on the cloth).

All water will get collected in the utensil kept beneath and chena will be collected on the top. Pour some cold water on the chena and wash it nicely. With this chena will become cool and lemon flavor will get washed.

How to boil Chamcham:

Mix 2 cup sugar and 4 cup water in a pressure cooker and place it on flame for heating.  Meanwhile make Chamcham from chena.

Divide chena in 8 equal parts, take one part and bind it nicely like a ladoo. Now give Chamcham an oval shape and place it on a plate. Like wise prepare all Chamcham balls.

Sugar-water has started boiling in pressure cooker (Note: Don’t make thread sugar syrup, just boil it so that sugar melts). Add all prepared Chamcham one by one in boiling water. Cover the pressure cooker with lid. When it whistles for once, reduce the flame and cook Chamcham for 7-8 minutes. Now turn off the gas and place the cooker in any utensil carrying cold water so that it becomes cooled quickly or place it under water tap Open the pressure cooker and take out Chamcham in any big bowl along with sugar syrup. Stuff Chamcham when it cools down completely.

Preparing Chumchum Stuffing:

Peel cardamom and make powder. Mash mawa very finely with help of a spoon. Add powdered sugar and cardamom and really well. Stuffing is ready.

After soaking Chamcham for 3-4 hours and cooling it down, take it out from sugar syrup. Chamcham has become cold, sweet and hard. Take when Chamcham and slit it from center keeping it joint from one side. Keep Chamcham in one hand and stuffing it with other hand. Garnish with 5-6 pistachios pieces. Like wise stuff all Chamcham.

Mouth watering Chamcham is ready. Place them in freezer and then. Chamchum can be stored in freezer for 7 days.

Suggestion:

You can also prepare stuffing with a fine paste of cashew nuts, malai, rabdi, anjir or dates and make a dry fruits stuffing.

OR 

For making mawa stuffing, roast the mawa or microwave it as this increases the shelf life and taste of mawa.