Mango Kalakand - Pressure Cooker Version

This is a delicacy and usually requires several hours when made traditionally. You start with whole milk, separate it into whey and paneer, then add the paneer to whole milk and reduce this down till thickened and then add the sugar, stir it for a little longer till thick enough to set and then set it on a greased plate. There are several short cut recipes that I have seen by baking ricotta cheese or making it in the microwave, but I have always found that these fall short of the authentic taste, especially for me. I have a sensitive palate and am able to taste the ricotta cheese in these recipes which annoys me terribly. So, I end up spending long hours during Diwali time (the only time I make elaborate sweets) making this.

Since I have been on a pressure cooking experimentation spree, I broke down the basic components of the traditional recipe and decided substitute milk with milk powder and see if this would set in the cooker when cooked under pressure, similar to a caramel flan. Thus far, I have experimented with cake and waffle batter and they have cooked well under pressure in less than 20 minutes. So again with a motivation to simplify the recipe with respect to the length of time and effort, I set forth with my experiment. In addition, I decided to flavor it with mango as I hadn't made mango kalakand before. And the result was terrific! Absolutely delicious, soft and well set kalakand. I can now whip this up easily for any dinner party now and so can you.

Ingredients
1 cup freshly made crumbly paneer
1/2 cup milk powder
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp mango pulp, canned
1 tsp ghee plus more to grease the container
1 cup water for the cooker

Method
Take the crumbly paneer in a bowl and mash it a little to make it slightly smoother. We still need a little granular structure to give kalakand the right texture. Then add the milk powder and sugar. Mix these well and then add the mango pulp. Add 1 tsp ghee and mix well. This mixture should be quite thick. If the pulp is very watery, then add some more milk powder to thicken it.

Grease a cooker safe container with ghee. Pour this mixture into the container. Cover this container with foil or a lid. This is to prevent water from condensation falling into the kalakand.

Pressure Cooker
Pour a cup of water into the cooker and place the covered container into the cooker. Cook this on medium low heat (4 setting on my stove) for 15 minutes (you can steam it or pressure cook it, it does not matter). Take it off the heat. Let the pressure fall and then open the lid.

Instant Pot
Cook it in manual mode for 15 minutes with vent closed. Let the pressure fall and then open the lid.

Now carefully remove the covered container making sure to not disturb the lid of the container. Then wipe it down nicely and once assured that there is no water, open the lid. Check that it is well set by inserting a toothpick or a paring knife into the kalakand and if it comes out clean, it is done.

Then let this cool down completely, cut this into squares. Refrigerate for a few hours. Then separate out the squares and serve them.

Tips
Paneer was made from whole milk and I had non-fat milk powder on hand.
If using fresh mango pulp, thicken it a little by cooking it a couple of minutes and add sugar if needed.  If this makes the mixture runny, add milk powder. The mixture must be like a thick cake or idli batter to set well.
To make normal kalakand, instead of mango pulp, add 1-2 tbsp of yogurt to bring the ingredients together in thick batter/paste form. Add cardamom powder for flavoring.
If you use a mango pulp that is too watery or if you haven't drained all the water from the paneer and it is too soft after refrigeration and you cannot make pieces out of it, pour the mixture into an open pan and heat it up for a couple of minutes till thickened and put it back in the greased plate to set it.

Mango Barfi/ Mango Vadi

A very popular sweet in Maharashtra, it is a combination of two rich ingredients viz. mango pulp and mava. This was one of the first sweets that I had tried making at home once I figured out how to make mava. The result was so tasty, and my family loved it. The next year, I taught another friend how to make it and we made it together for her Diwali party. However, I didn't cook it to the right consistency and it turned out a little soft. It set into a semi-soft barfi in the fridge and I got several compliments on it. In fact, this softer version was compared to the one made by a famous Mithai house in Pune. Hence, this is a very forgiving recipe. Whether you cook it to the right consistency or make it a bit softer, the taste doesn't get affected, and is delicious.

Ingredients

2 cups mango pulp

1.5 cup mava/khoya/khava

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar (not icing sugar)

Method

Mix the sugar and mango pulp in a microwave safe bowl, and cook it in the microwave for 10 minutes, till the mixture thickens and changes color and darkens. Cook it in 2 minute increments and stir.

In a separate bowl, heat the mava in the microwave for 1 minute and then add this sugar and mango pulp mixture to the mava. Mix this well.

Grease a pan with some clarified butter and keep aside. 

Now, transfer this mixture to a thick bottomed pan and reduce the mixture till it starts to thicken. Make sure you are doing this on low-medium heat, so that the mixture doesn't burn. Keep stirring often. Let the  mixture thicken, till it is so thick, that when you stir it, you can see the bottom of the pan and the mixture doesn't flow back to cover the base of the pan easily. You can also try and take a small drop of the mixture onto a plate, let it cool slightly, and try to roll it into a ball. If you can roll it into a soft ball without it being very sticky, then the mixture is at the right thickness.

Take this mixture off the heat and let it cool down a bit till it is easy to touch without burning your fingers, but still warm. Then add the powdered sugar to it and mix well.

Pour this into the greased pan and using the base of a measuring cup or a steel cup, flatten it out into the pan. The thickness of this should be about 1/2 -3/4 inch. Let the mixture cool down a little more till luke warm and then cut it into squares about 1X1 inch in size.

As you can see from the pictures, I prefer making the softer version. It is great, irrespective of the consistency. 

Tips 

You can use any canned pulp. If you use fresh mango pulp, remember that it may be more watery than the canned one and you may need to use more pulp, else the taste of mango may not be very strong. Also, canned pulp already has some sugar added to it. If you use fresh pulp, you may need to increase the amount of sugar being used, based on how sweet the mango is.

If the mixture is too thick and you are unable to flatten it, add a little milk and cook it till it softens. If it is too soft, that you are unable to cut it without it sticking to the knife, then cook the mixture for a few more minutes. You can also let it set in the fridge over a couple of days. This easily lasts in the fridge for about 10 days to 2 weeks.

Don't use icing sugar, because it is a mixture of powdered sugar and cornstarch.