Mawa Cham Cham
These Mawa Cham Cham are soft, chenna-based sweets, soaked in a light sugar syrup and filled with sweetened mawa, perfect for a festive treat.
Ingredients
- 1 liter full-fat milk
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 0.25 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 300 grams sugar
- 3 cups water
- 0.5 teaspoon saffron strands
- 0.5 cup crumbled mawa
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 10 almonds, blanched and slivered
- 10 pistachios, blanched and slivered
Instructions
- To make chenna: Bring 1 liter full-fat milk to a boil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Once it boils, reduce heat to low and slowly add 2 tablespoons lemon juice, stirring continuously until the milk curdles completely. Turn off the heat.
- Drain the curdled milk (chenna) through a muslin cloth or fine sieve, collecting the whey. Wash the chenna under cold running water for 2-3 minutes to remove any lemon flavor. Squeeze out excess water gently. Do not squeeze too hard, leave some moisture.
- Place the squeezed chenna on a clean plate. Add 0.25 teaspoon cardamom powder and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour. Knead the chenna mixture for about 8-10 minutes until it becomes smooth and free of granules. This is crucial for soft cham cham.
- Divide the kneaded chenna into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion into an oval or cylindrical shape, making them smooth without cracks.
- For the sugar syrup: In a large, wide pan, combine 300 grams sugar and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely.
- Once the syrup is boiling rapidly, gently slide the shaped chenna pieces into the syrup. Cover the pan and cook on medium-high heat for 12-15 minutes. The cham cham will swell and become spongy. Add 0.5 teaspoon saffron strands to the syrup during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- Turn off the heat and let the cham cham cool completely in the syrup, covered. This allows them to absorb the syrup and become juicy.
- Prepare the mawa filling: In a small bowl, crumble 0.5 cup mawa. Add 2 tablespoons powdered sugar and mix well until combined. You can warm the mawa slightly in a pan to soften it if it's too hard, then mix with sugar.
- Once the cham cham are cool, carefully remove them from the syrup. Make a slit lengthwise in each cham cham, being careful not to cut all the way through. Fill each cham cham with 1-2 teaspoons of the prepared mawa filling.
- Arrange the filled cham cham on a serving plate. Garnish generously with 10 blanched and slivered almonds and 10 blanched and slivered pistachios. Serve chilled or at room temperature.