Homemade Indian sweets are superb way of making picky kids eat food. If you can control sugar content or make it using natural sugar sweets are fabulous. Milk based sweets are a delight. Be it Bengali sweets like rasmalai, rasagulla , halwa or kalakand. Mango Kalakand is a popular Indian sweet. Especially if you allergies. This helps you indulge in a sweet tooth without missing out too much in life. Mango burfi has a great yellow hue and is low in sugar as it derives its sweetness from pulp itself.
I find it a great way of having whole milk. Sometimes kids don't want to have milk. Having sweets in moderation helps. Of course, kids are super active. They burn the extra calories in a jiffy. It is we who need to worry. By making it at home, we can avoid extra sugar.
We can also use natural sugar instead of commercial one. Adding fruit pulp can also help us reduce sugar. Natural sugars from fruits are better. They are not processed and digest easily. Also, making it at home ensures no adulterated mawa is used. Learn to make it here.
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There are many mango based sweets you can make. Most common ones are mango payesh, mango sandesh, mango peda, aam doi/mango mishti doi. We also use mango to make mango lassi, mango kulfi, pudding and cake.
History of Kalakandh
Kalakand is a simple yet famous Indian recipe. It originated in Alwar, Rajasthan in 1940s.
Travel tip
You must try Thakurdas Kalakand whenever you visit Alwar. See the bhugal mawa recipe here.
In one of our visits to kutch in gujarat, we tasted another version of kalakand that is prepared by the local villagers in Bhirandiara. Ask your travel guide or the taxi driver to take you there.
Equipment
- frying pan
- tray
- mixing bowl
- blender
- spatula
Ingredients
Refer to recipe card below for details.
- mawa or khoya
- paneer or fresh cottage cheese obtained from 1.25 ltr full fat milk (you an use ricotta cheese as well )
- sugar
- mango pulp or mango puree
- strands of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp. milk
- green cardamoms crushed (or cardamom powder )
- Handful of sliced pistachios for garnish
How to prepare kalakand?
- Blend mango pieces to get smooth mango pulp.
- Add sugar and start cooking on low flame.
- Add khoya and paneer to mango pulp mixture with remaining ingredients.
- Continue cooking on low heat until it starts coming together.
- Cook for another 10 minutes till you get a barfi/fudge like consistency. Stop cooking once it stops being sticky.
- Line a tray with ghee and spread this mix to it. Press with a spatula and cut shapes using a knife.
- Cut in pieces, garnish with pistachios.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours and garnish with sliced pistachios and serve fresh.
Variations
- You can use any fruit puree to make this recipe. Strawberries are a good option to try out.The color of the red strawberries is surely going to give it a nice color.
- You can also use milk powder to make kalakand recipe.To use milk powder, you can make instant mawa using our recipe.
Substitutions
- You can also use frozen mango pulp to make this recipe if you do not have fresh mangoes.
- Instead of paneer, you can make mango kalakand with ricotta cheese .
- You can also use condensed milk , you will need approx 1 ½ cup condensed milk to replace 1 cup mawa/khoya. Also, do not add any extra sugar as the condensed milk already has sugar in it.
Storage
Store the mango kalakand in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days(not more than a week)
FAQs
mishri mawa, milk cake, qalaqand are other names for this mithai.
Rajasthan
Since this is a milk product, it does not have a long shelf life. once stored in a fridge it can last for a week.
Related links
Try more exciting recipes:
Mango Kalakand - Mango milkcake recipe
Equipment
- frying pan
- spatula
- Blender
- greased tray
Ingredients
- 250 gms/1 cup soft khoya
- 250 gms/1 cup paneer or fresh cottage cheese obtained from 1.25 ltr milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 cups mango pulp
- 8-10 strands of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp. milk
- 2-3 cardamoms crushed.
- Handful of sliced pistachios for garnish
Instructions
- Blend mango pieces to get smooth mango pulp.
- Add sugar and start cooking on low flame.
- Add khoya and paneer to mango pulp with remaining ingredients
- Mix well and cook for 15 minutes.
- Continue cooking on low flame until it starts coming together.
- Cook for another 10 minutes till you get a barfi/fudge like consistency.
- Stop cooking once it stops being sticky.
- place it in a greased tray to set for few hours.
- Cut in pieces,garnish with pistachios.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Food safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove.
Please share your inputs..