Orange Cardamom Kalakand
Delicious and quick mithai that is this Kalakand. Indian mithais are notorious as most of them are made from milk or milk products. Kalakand is not different.
It’s a rich creamy cardamom spiced, dessert made from reducing milk with sugar, which turns out to be crumbly. The soft but crumbly structure is achieved after a lot stirring of milk to reduce the water content.
Traditional methods take hours of stirring and cooking. But there are some easy methods too. I have never tried Kalakand before I made it this time around. I was planning to make Barfi recipe with some 10,000 ideas that were flooding my brain. Finally, my overthinking led me to this. Infact, I made some barfi from Khoya. It tastes good but still not the best kind that I would have shared with you. So, I decided not to share the recipe. I feel as though the Khoya in US, is not so good. The khoya in India is so fresh. From Barfi I came to conclusion to make Kalakand.
I don’t like anything plain, so I decided to make my favorite flavor combo, i.e. orange and cardamom. If you ask me, what I would love to eat on my birthday. It would be any kind of citrus dessert or cake.
You will love this recipe. My recipe takes less hand-on time and makes delicious mithai with minimal efforts.
So, what are the ingredients?
Milk powder– As I mentioned earlier I do not like the quality of Mawa/Khoya. Milk powder was a better option. It is also readily available any stores. Use unsweetened pure milk powder without any additives.
Paneer – Either you can make some fresh one at home or use store-bought to cut down the time. I used store bought.
Sweetener– Instead of sugar I have used condensed milk. If you plan on using sugar, then you will have to stir longer. Also, you might have to add little extra sugar.
Orange– I have used real orange pulp and zest of orange.
Cardamom – Use freshly ground cardamom for maximum flavor.
There are also some other ingredients like milk, you can use any percentage of milk. If you do not have ghee, use butter. But you cannot use oil or anything else in this recipe.
Two other things to keep in mind-
1. I shaped them differently. If you do not want to shape them any other way, you can cut them in diamond or square shape.
2. I topped them with some condensed milk mixed in with some edible gel colors. You can also use saffron instead of edible food colors or just leave that out completely. It will still taste delicious. If you decide to do it. I have added the simple step to do so.
While we are discussing orange flavor, I thought of some other flavors you can make
Saffron, Mango, coffee etc.
Orange Cardamom Kalakand
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ghee or unsalted Butter
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup milk powder
- 1 cup paneer shredded
- 1/2 cup condensed milk for more sweetness use 1/4 cup more
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- ½ cup orange pulp
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- tiny pinch salt optional
Instructions
- Take the oranges, and zest them using a grater. Make sure to only grate the orange part of the skin not the white. Keep it aside.
- Carefully, remove the skin or white membrane of the oranges. You can do it by using a knife- a technique called supreme or remove the membranes by hand. You can use store-bought pulpy orange juice too. But I prefer oranges. Use the pulp and juice.
- Roughly blend the oranges if they are not pulpy enough. You want it to break down and mix well in the mixture.
- Grease an 8×8 inch tray. Line it with parchment paper. Leave it aside.
- Heat ghee in a pan on medium heat.
- Add the milk powder and milk. Mix it well for few minutes. After about 6-7 minutes, add the condensed milk and paneer. Mix well and keep stirring until the mixture looks dry, water has evaporated about 10 minutes.
- Add the orange pulp, zest, cardamom. Mix until the mixture comes together and starts leaving the sides. It will thicken up into a mass.
- Pour the mixture into the greased tray. Smooth out the top with spatula, garnish it with nuts and then let it cool down a little bit before cutting it into pieces. Once it completely cools down, put it in the refrigerator to cool down.
- Optional Step – If you want to add the top glaze. Then take 2-3 tbsp condensed milk, dilute it with 1 tbsp of cream or milk. Make it pourable consistency. You can drop edible gel colors. I used red, yellow and orange. I used a toothpick to dip into the colors and add droplets of color into the condensed milk. Do not mix it. It will create a design by itself while pouring.
- You can use saffron as well. Do the same. Keep some condensed milk as it is and dilute saffron in the rest of it. Pour the condensed milk with saffron in the plain one. Again, do not mix them both. Just let it create its own pattern.
- Once you have condensed milk ready. Line your kalakand on a cooling rack. Pour the condensed milk mixture. Let it create a pattern. Tilt the cooling rack a little bit if you need to do so. It will create waves. Use the rest of the condensed milk that dripped down the cooling rack.
- Garnish it with some edible gold leaf and nuts.
Enjoy and Happy Diwali !
XO, Devangi