Chomchom and Malai Sandwitch Chomchom (Famous Bengali Sweet )A oval shaped paneer or ricotta cheese dumpling soaked in thick sugar syrup.

Happy Diwali or  Deepawali to all..,"Diwali .."the festival of lights"  is an ancent Hindu  festival. It signifies the victory of good over evil".
Without light,firecrackers  and  sweets diwali is incomoplete. To celebrate  this auspicious  occasion  today I am going  to share a very popular sweet in India...Chomchom .

Chomchom is a very popular  traditional  Bengali sweet,Bengal is popular  for its wonderful  sweets..like Rasgulla,Rasmalai,Chomchom and many more .It is very delicious  and tasty..almost similar to the rasgullas except  the shape and sugar syrup consistency.
It comes in a variety of colors, mainly light pink, light yellow, and white. It is made with paneer or chena or cottage cheese. .you can make it using store bought paneer or cottage cheese or chena  but it taste good when it would be made with homemade  chena or paneer ..It is very easy to make..though it is a time  consuming  dish...once in a year we can give some time to make theese delicious  chomchoms at home to treat our loved ones.
you can serve the chomchoms sprinkled with some grated khoya or coconut. ..here  I used grated khoya..or you  can serve it stuffed  with mewa and  chopped nuts which I also did with some chomchoms...or it can be served with  thick milk or rabdi..as you wish.


INGREDIENTS 
Cow Milk- 2 Liters
Lemon Juice-1 full lemon or Vinegar -2tsp (if required add more lemon juice or vinegar )
Sooji or Semolina -1tsp (optional )
Rose water - 1 teaspoon
Sugar -2cups +1cup
Water-4cups
Yellow food colour-1 pinch  (optional )
Cardamom Powder - 1/2teaspoon
Cherries-cut into thin  round shaped.


METHOD OF MAKING CHENA OR PANEER OR COTTAGE CHEESE 

Take a heavy bottomed vessel, add milk

Bring it to  boil and keep stirring to avoid burning of milk..

Once the milk comes to boil, simmer the gas, start adding the lemon juice and keep stirring( if required,add more lemon juice) cook for few seconds until the milk solids gets separates from the whey. Switch off the heat.

Pour this curdled milk to the already lined muslin cloth over a strainer,squeeze out all the whey water then  rinse   chena under the tap water  as much as possible....if you do not rinse the chena or paneer  proper. .you will  get the smell  of lemon while having it.

Now hang the cloth covered  chena or paneer tap for 30 minutes. Then remove it from tap and place a heavy weight on chena for another 30 minutes. It will help to squeeze  more water from chena or paneer .


After that, remove the cheesecloth from the chenna or paneer.

The chena or paneer should not have too much moisture nor be dry.

METHOD OF MAKING CHOMCHOM PATTIES 

Take the paneer in a wider plate

Add 1 tsp sooji or rava or semolina, adding sooji or semolina helps to bind the mixture.

 First mix the sooji with chenna and then begin to knead for 5 minutes


Knead it well  with your palms for 5 to 6 minutes  to get smooth texture.


This kneading process is very important and it decides the texture of chomchom.

Divide  the chena or paneer or cottage cheese into equal portions and rolling the  balls into oval shapes and then press lightly to make a proper oval shaped  chomchom...taking care that there are no cracks.

Prepare all the chomchoms  in  this way.

METHOD OF MAKING SUGAR SYRUP 
In the mean while making  sugar syrup
Take a  large pan, take 2  cups sugar and 4cups water....and bring it to boil.

You have to use a large pot or pan so that there is enough space for the chomchom to cook and increase double in size.

Mix and continue  stir the sugar syrup  until it will be dissolved....do this process on medium  flame.

FINAL STEP OF MAKING CHOMCHOM
When  the  sugar syrup will start to boiling. ..drop chomchom gently to the sugar syrup ...drop chomchom according  to the size of your pan. ..as I told earlier  chomchoms  need more space to be cooked...the size of the chomchoms   will be doubled  on cooking  on sugar syrup

Cover the vessel with  lid......cook 10 minutes on high flame ..then reduce the flame to medium...and cook on medium flame for next 30 minutes.Open the lid and gently stir every 5 minutes to ensure  even cooking and  puffing.

After that, take out all the chomchoms  in a large bowl..keep aside....

Add 1 cup more sugar in the remaining  sugar syrup... mix well and bring to a boil...cook for 4-5 minutes on medium flame.Turn the heat down until it is just bubbling. Cook the syrup until  be thickened  .Watch the syrup carefully to make sure it doesn't burn.Switch off the heat. Pour this thick sugar syrup on chomchoms....

cover the vessel with lid. Let them be cool..after cooling down, keep it in refrigerator  for 5-6 hours. After 5-6 hours, you take out   these chochoms from refrigerator  and serve sprinkled  with some grated khoya or mewa...and garnish  with round shaped thin cherry.

Or you can make some   Malai  Sandwitch Chomchom...slit the chomchoms  into  two halves and then stuff with grated mewa or khoya mixed with chopped different  types of nuts..


INGREDIENTS OF MAKING MALAI CHOMCHOM OR STUFFED OVAL SHAPED PANEER  OR RICOTTA CHEESE DUMPLINGS SOAKED IN THICKENED SUGAR SYRUP. 

Grated Mewa or Khoya-1cup
Powdered sugar - 1 / 4cup
Pistachios, cashews and almonds-3 teaspoons ( each)[soaked in water..peeled except cashews..then chopped )
Cherries-5(cut into thin round shaped )

METHOD OF MAKING MALAI CHOMCHOM OR STUFFED OVAL SHAPED RICOTTA CHEESE DUMPLINGS  SOAKED IN THICK SUGAR SYRUP. 

Mix Mewa or khoya with powdered sugar and chopped nuts well..
Slice the chomchoms  into two halves..andstuff with this khoya or mewa mixture..then close  it . Garnish with silver varak, a piece of pistachios and a piece of cherry.