Ricotta Cheese Bhapa Sandesh | Steamed Sandesh – A popular East Indian delicacy prepared with Ricotta Cheese. It is the steamed milk fudge traditionally prepared with chena/paneer. But here is my version with the ricotta cheese. Check out the detailed video recipe of this bhapa sandesh with ricotta cheese below.
As mentioned on Ricotta Cheese Kalakand post, here I am with the second ricotta cheese recipe, and it is the bhapa sandesh or the steamed sandesh. Vaandu loves milk-based sweets, and it is quite easy to prepare it with the store-bought ricotta cheese even during weekdays. Every time I make these sweets, it vanishes in no time.
My love for ricotta cheese-based milk sweets is growing exponentially. I have quite a few Odia and Bengali sweet recipes to try. I can’t wait to explore these milk sweets. :-) What’s best out ricotta cheese recipes are, when you crave for something sweet, you can prepare these simple sweets in the microwave in no time.
Part-Skim Ricotta Cheese or Whole Ricotta Cheese:
When it comes to bhapa sandesh, I highly recommend whole ricotta cheese. You can use part-skim as well, but whole milk ricotta adds that sweet flavor, richness, and creamier texture as well.
Bhapa Sandesh Cooking Time:
The cooking time and cooling time is long for bhapa sandesh, and that means you need to plan your cooking accordingly. The prep-work and mixing time is less than 15 minutes, but you need to steam this for at least 30 minutes and cool it for at least 2 hours.
When I was trying this recipe initially, I steamed the sandesh in a steel tiffin box. I made the mistake of closing the tiffin box tightly with this lid. While steaming, due to the pressure, the lid opened up, and the water droplets went in. So if you are using a tiffin-box, do not close the lid tightly. As long as the water droplets don’t get in, we are good to go. :-)
Now without any further ado, here is the video recipe and the detailed written recipe for you to print. I have both kalakand and bhapa sandesh recipe in this video. Please do subscribe to my channel and let me know your thoughts and feedback.
Ingredients:
- Ricotta Cheese – ½ cup
- Milk Powder – ¼ cup
- Sugar – 3 tbsps
- Cardamom Powder – ⅛ tsp
- Ghee for greasing
- Saffron Strands – ⅛ tsp
Prep-Work:
- Strain the water from the ricotta cheese with cheesecloth or tissue. Try to squeeze the water as much as you can. It is not mandatory but helps in getting firm sandesh.
Steps:
- In a mixing bowl, add the strained ricotta cheese, milk powder, sugar, and cardamom powder.
- Mix thoroughly. The cheese mix will be thick, but as the sugar melts, it will be in a semi-solid state. Do not add any milk or water while mixing.
- Transfer this ricotta cheese mix to a ghee-coated vessel. Add the saffron strands on top.
- Cover this tightly with an aluminium foil and steam this for about 30 minutes on the stove-top or instant pot. I went with the stove-top method.
- In a pot, add 2 cups of water and place a trivet. Keep the ricotta cheese mixture on top of the trivet and cover the vessel with a lid and steam for 30 minutes over medium heat. Around 15 minutes, check if there is sufficient water in the steaming pan, if not add one cup. Check the video for the details.
- After steaming, allow the sandesh to cool down to room temperature. And then refrigerate it for about 2 to 3 hours. I chilled it for about 2.5 hours.
- After 2.5 hours, remove the foil, and run a slicing knife around the edges of the sandesh vessel, lift it and carefully transfer it to a plate. Small cracks are perfectly fine as we are going to slice them.
- Now slice the sandesh into your desired shapes and serve chill.
Notes:
- I would recommend whole-milk ricotta cheese for this bhapa sandesh.
- Adjust the sugar as per your preference.
- If you are not able to strain the liquid from ricotta cheese, then increase the milk powder by one or two tbsp.
- You can steam this up to 40 to 45 minutes but not more than that. Also, steam it over medium to medium-low heat.
- Make sure you are covering the sandesh pan with aluminium foil thoroughly if not while steaming the water droplets might get in and make the sandesh soggy.
- You can skip saffron strands and garnish it with edible silver or nuts after slicing the sandesh.
📖 Recipe
Ricotta Cheese Bhapa Sandesh | Steamed Sandesh
Ingredients
- ½ cup Ricotta Cheese
- ¼ cup Milk Powder
- 3 tbsps Sugar
- ⅛ tsp Cardamom Powder
- 1 tsp Ghee for greasing
- ⅛ tsp Saffron Strands
Instructions
Prep-Work:
- Strain the water from the ricotta cheese with cheesecloth or tissue. Try to squeeze the water as much as you can. It is not mandatory but helps in getting firm sandesh.
Steps:
- In a mixing bowl, add the strained ricotta cheese, milk powder, sugar, and cardamom powder.
- Mix thoroughly. The cheese mix will be thick, but as the sugar melts, it will be in a semi-solid state. Do not add any milk or water while mixing.
- Transfer this ricotta cheese mix to a ghee-coated vessel. Add the saffron strands on top.
- Cover this tightly with an aluminium foil and steam this for about 30 minutes on stove-top or instant pot. I went with the stove-top method.
- In a pot, add 2 cups of water and place a trivet. Keep the ricotta cheese mixture on top of the trivet and cover the vessel with a lid and steam for 30 minutes over medium heat. Around 15 minutes, check if there is sufficient water in the steaming pan, if not add one cup. Check the video for the details.
- After steaming, allow the sandesh to cool down to room temperature. And then refrigerate it for about 2 to 3 hours. I chilled it for about 2.5 hours.
- After 2.5 hours, remove the foil, and run a slicing knife around the edges of the sandesh vessel, lift it and carefully transfer it to a plate. Small cracks are perfectly fine as we are going to slice them.
- Now slice the sandesh into your desired shapes and serve chill.
Video
Notes
- I would recommend whole-milk ricotta cheese for this bhapa sandesh.
- Adjust the sugar as per your preference. If you are not able to strain the liquid from ricotta cheese, then increase the milk powder by one or two tbsp. You can steam this up to 40 to 45 minutes but not more than that.
- Also, steam it over medium to medium-low heat.
- Make sure you are covering the sandesh pan with aluminium foil thoroughly if not while steaming the water droplets might get in and make the sandesh soggy.
- You can skip saffron strands and garnish it with edible silver or nuts after slicing the sandesh.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Looks awesome ! Will definitely try. Can we substitute mawa for milk powder?
Yes, you can. The texture might differ but it should be ok.