Chhena Pora (Baked Cottage Cheese)

Introduction : Chhena pora is a dessert from Odisha, a eastern state of India. Odisha is famous for Jaganath Temple and its Chhena pora. Chhena means cottage cheese, and pora means burnt out things. The story behind the invention of chena pora is like this...a confectionery one day mixed sugar with left over cottage cheese and kept it into an oven which was still warm from earlier use and next day he saw the magic and we got the unique dessert called CHHENA PORA.

Ingredients :

1) Chhena (cottage cheese) : 1 Cup.

2) Sugar :1/3 Cup. https://amzn.to/2R8objq

3) Semolina(suji) : 1/4 cup https://amzn.to/2R2EPk9

4) Green Cardamom seeds : seeds from 3 to 4 cardamoms https://amzn.to/2R5gVEA

5) Clarified Butter( ghee) : 1 Table spoon https://amzn.to/2R1i7Jf

6) Milk : 3 Table spoon

7) Chews nuts : 8 to 10

8) Raisins : 1/4 cup https://amzn.to/2RtTtQX

Miscellaneous items.
Milk boiler https://amzn.to/2BYpozo

Wooden Non-Stick Spoons https://amzn.to/2RqHrb2

Induction Cook top https://amzn.to/2RqI4RW

Measuring Plastic Spoon https://amzn.to/2SxFOpt

cake molds for oven https://amzn.to/2SvbNX3

Oven Toaster Grill (OTG) https://amzn.to/2RsFGdt

gas burner https://amzn.to/2Rpotl7

Cake Decoration Tools with Full Rotating Round Table and Accessories https://amzn.to/2RtUvMP

Method : In this recipe, cottage cheese must be fresh and home made. So first of all I will prepare cottage cheese.

Recipe of cottage cheese : Ingredient: Milk, preferable full cream milk.(any amount of milk)

Curd.(as required)

Method: At first, boil the milk. In an another bowl take 4 or 5 table spoons of curd and beat it well, then start adding hot milk to the beaten curd spoon by spoon . After some time, beaten curd starts curdling and cottage cheese and water start to separate from each other. Pour this curdle curd to the remaining hot milk and again stir very well. Gradually,whole milk would be turned into a mixture of cottage cheese and water. Now , strain the mixture through a muslin cloth and easily we can get fresh home made cottage cheese. Now keep the cottage cheese under a weight, so that excess water should drain out.

Recipe of chhena pora : Fresh, lukewarm cottage cheese is mashed by hand for long time, so that it turns into a dough. Then, granulated sugar is added in the dough, not powder or caster sugar. Because, sugar should be melted within the mashed cottage cheese by hand mashing only. When cottage cheese absorbs whole sugar it turns into semi liquid form.Then add semolina, milk ,cashew nuts and raisins and clarified butter. Don't forget to add seeds of cardamom as it gives the flavor. Mix very well by hand. Now the mixture is ready to bake. Grease the baking dish with clarified butter and pour the batter into the baking dish and garnish with cashew nuts and raisins. Bake the batter in a pre-heated oven for 35 to 40 minutes at 160 degree Celsius . Check the chhena pora with a tooth pick or knife whether it baked properly or not. Finally Chhena Pora is ready to serve. You can have it hot or at room temperature.