“Hridoy Amar Nache Re Ajike”
“Moyurer Moto Nache re…”
“Naaache re”
‘Today my heart is dancing like a peacock’ – This is the literal meaning of these lines from the famous Tagore Song. Yes Yes Yes, I’m extremely happy today. Finally I prepared something which made me proud. And this something is called Shor Bhaja.
Yes, it is true that Bengalis are inseparable from sweets. Bengali sweets are famous for its unforgettable taste and innovativeness. In spite of having such a wide variety of sweets we treasure a special love for the traditional sweets which are not easily available these days. Shor Bhaja or Sar Bhaja is definitely one of the leading items in that list. Even in proper Kolkata you can find handful of shops that actually make Shor Bhaja regularly. Many renowned sweet confectionaries in Kolkata make these Shor Bhaja during festival times only.
It is no secret that I share an immense love for any fried items and deep fried sweets are not an exception. Each year during Durga Puja it was almost a routine for me and my father to have Shor Bhaja after each meal. And they had to be from Nadia Sweets (a sweet shop from North Kolkata). The best shor bhaja I ever had in Kolkata is from them.
Krishna Nagar (Nadia, West Bengal, India) is the birth place of Shor Bhaja. It is purely made of cream of the milk. Sometimes khoya and chenna are also mixed with it. It follows one of the most difficult and tedious processes of making sweets. It needs extreme patience and expert skills.
There is a similar kind of sweet named Shorpuria or sarpuria. The only difference is that for sarpuriya the cakes made of milk cream(shor) are baked instead of deep frying.
I never ever imagined that I would dare to try preparing Sorbhaja at home. But I finally did it. Durga Puja was just knocking the door. Only few days were left and this year I could not manage to go to my hometown Kolkata; famous for it’s grand Durga Puja celebration. And I was craving for all those kolkata street foods and sweets more than ever. So I wanted to make this puja special in my own way by having all those special foods at home. And without Shor Bhaja my Durga Puja would be incomplete. So I thought why not give it a try.
I followed the recipe of Nadia and without much trouble I landed in the safe yet tasty zone. Hope this recipe will help you all like me. If you don’t want to deep fry it, you can bake or stir fry it and enjoy the taste of Sarpuria.
Ingredients:
Full cream milk: 3 liters
Sugar: 3 cups
Water: 4 cups
Cardamom powder: 1 tbsp
Rose essence: 1 drop
Vegetable oil: 1½ – 2 cups
Caster sugar: 1 tbsp (I couldn’t find them handy so I used normal sugar)
All-purpose flour: ½ tsp (if required)
Lemon: 1/6thof a regular lemon
Pistachio: slivers for decoration
Khoya/ milk powder: 1 tsp for decoration (use whichever is available at home)
Preparation:
Boil the milk on high flame.
Turn the flame to simmer once cream starts forming on top of the milk. Wait for few minutes. Let the cream settle on the top of the milk. Then again turn the flame to high. (See Tips)
Don’t stir the milk while boiling as our aim is to collect the cream form the top of the milk.
Continue the process until the cream is thick enough to scoop out.
Take a long spatula and start from one side of the pan and start pushing the thick layer of cream towards the exact opposite direction.
Make it real slow so that the cream layer doesn’t get disturbed.
Push it further when you reach the body of the pan.
Now push it upwards and try to stick it to the body of the pan. This step is extremely difficult and hectic too. If you break the cream it will melt in the milk and will turn it thicker. And you need to start from scratch again. (See Tips)
 |
| Yes, it was a complete mess and I had to start from the scratch again 🙁 |
When entire milk will be done, you will find your pan full of cream on the body with very little milk left at the bottom. Scoop out the layers of cream from the body of the pan and place them on a flat palate.
If you are not comfortable with the process, take another option. Scoop off the cream when it is atleast ¼th inch. thick. And place it on a large flat palate. Continue the process until you are done with the entire milk. ( I opted for this one later.)
Now arrange the layers of the cream on the palate evenly. Make sure there is no milk at all in the cream. If there is any milk squeeze it out by pressing the layers gently. The layer of cream should be dry but moist.
Sprinkle some caster sugar on the top or between the layers. ( I choose to sprinkle few crystals between the layers; it is more effective in my opinion.)
If you find your cream layer is still a bit watery sprinkle some all-purpose flour on the top of the layer and distribute it evenly.
Leave it for few minutes to absorb the liquid.
By pressing the top make the layer even and as smoother as possible.
Now run a knife roughly to make square pieces out of it.
Now heat oil in a nonstick wok on medium flame. (See Tips)
Take a square at a time. Reshape it with the flat knife or spatula and add them in the oil slowly. (See Tips)
Add 3-4 pieces at a time. (Or as much your wok can handle at a time. But don’t make a crowd in the wok.)
Make sure all pieces are separated.
Fry them on medium-high flame until they are golden brown in color.
Turn the cakes upside down once to fry the reverse side as well. Fry them until they are brown in color on the both sides.
In mean while add water in a deep bottomed vessel and let it boil on high flame. Once bubbles start appearing add sugar and stir continuously until sugar is dissolved.
Add cardamom powder and essence and give it a light stir. Keep boiling.
Squeeze 1/6thof a lemon to extract the juice. Add 3-4 drops of this juice into the syrup. (See Tips)
Once you are done with the frying, remove them with a slotted spoon and dunk them directly into the sugar syrup. Let it boil on medium flame.
Keep the syrup boiling for 10- 15 mins more or until you notice the sugar syrup getting thicker.
Now use the back of a spatula to poke a shor bhaja. If it gets back to its shape you are done.
Remove the pan from fire and let it cool.
Decorate with some sliver of pistachio and sprinkle some khoya on the top. (As I couldn’t reserve any energy to make khoya, I used milk powder and it went well.)
Serve it hot or cold: both ways they are extremely delicious.
Tips:
1. Don’t be over confident about boiling the milk. When it is on high flame, within a fraction of seconds milk can split on your kitchen counter and spoil your kitchen.
2. Thicker milk will form Khoya. It will give neither the taste or the texture of Shor or sar (cream).
3. Don’t be impatient while scooping off the cream from the milk. It will take hell lot time.
4. Make sure the oil is neither too hot nor too cold when you are dropping the cakes in the oil. If it is too hot, the surface of the cake will form cracks and will be parted in no time. If the oil is cold, it will take too long to fry them and it will result in a stiff greasy final product.
5. Be patient and handle it very gently while dropping the cakes in the oil. Remember it is very soft and fragile. If it breaks apart or any crack appears on the surface all your efforts will be in vein.
6. The Lemon juice will prevent the syrup from crystalizing.
Really needs lot of time and patience. Still I will try.
During my teenage I was fond of eating KHURCHAN a type of cental India sweet prepared by stacking layers of shor od malai with thick syrup, now i find sarbhaja is little different stuff but also very good & I can only recite the tagore song as stated by the author of this wonderful recipe
হৃদয় আমার নাচে রে আজিকে ময়ূরের মতো নাচে রে।
শত বরনের ভাব-উচ্ছ্বাস কলাপের মতো করেছে বিকাশ,
আকুল পরান আকাশে চাহিয়া উল্লাসে কারে যাচে রে॥
ওগো, নির্জনে বকুলশাখায় দোলায় কে আজি দুলিছে, দোদুল দুলিছে॥
ঝরকে ঝরকে ঝরিছে বকুল, আঁচল আকাশে হতেছে আকুল,
উড়িয়া অলক ঢাকিছে পলক– কবরী খসিয়া খুলিছে।
ঝরে ঘনধারা নবপল্লবে, কাঁপিছে কানন ঝিল্লির রবে–
তীর ছাপি নদী কলকল্লোলে এল পল্লির কাছে রে॥
Tasty post. Your steps are easy to make Bhaja. Sweets are yummy and delicious.
sweets shop in coimbatore
Hats off to you!!What a recipe and you did the mammoth task of making the shor bhaja and explaining the process in so nicely.