CHUM CHUM RECIPE – Bengali Cham Cham recipe

CHUM CHUM RECIPE / BENGALI CHAM CHAM RECIPE / BENGALI SWEETS / BENGALI CHUM CHUM  RECIPE / DIWALI SWEETS / DEEPAVALI SWEETS / EASY DIWALI RECIPES / PANEER RECIPES / CHENA RECIPES / MALAI STUFFED CHUM CHUM / STUFFED BENGALI SWEET / NORTH INDIAN SWEETS / FESTIVE RECIPE / HOW TO MAKE BENGALI CHUM CHUM / CHUM CHUM RECIPE WITH STEP BY STEP PICTURES

Chum Chum or Cham-Cham is a Bengali based sweet made with chenna / fresh paneer. These are similar to rasgulla but a little more delicious with extra flavoring, color, stuffing and garnishes…. 😆 This was on my list ever since i saw them on Piyali’s space, made a big batch of this diwali season to share with family & friends. A big thanks to Piyali for tempting me with her pink chum chum rolled in coconuts which were a delight to eyes and after trying definitely a treat to our taste buds. Do visit her blog Mytrystwithfoodandtravel for more exciting recipe collection.

Wishing all my readers a very Happy Diwali!

Traditionally these chum chums are prepared like oval shape rasgullas stuffed with malai / khoya / mawa topped with nuts or rolled in dry coconut flakes served with scoop of rabdi over top… my recipe is all about plain bengali chum chum stuffed with sweetened khoya topped with nuts. You may choose any of the above to serve.

For fresh Paneer / chena – 

Heat milk in a sauce pan and let it come to a full boil.

When it starts to boil, add in the lemon juice and stir gently until the curd separates. Here milk literally spits into 2 forms 1. a transparent liquid (whey) and 2. soft lumps of curd which is nothing but cheese/ chenna / paneer

Keep heating or under simmer until all the curd separates. Do not keep boiling for a long time it may over cook the chena. To stop the cooking you may add few ice cubes if you want. Switch off the flame.

Wrap a cheese cloth over a colander and place a bowl underneath. Immediately pour the curled milk and strain.

Collect the curd, run it under cold water for a couple of times, to give it quick rinse in order to get rid of the lemonly smell.

Twist the gathered curd in the cheese cloth to strain and squeeze out, as much liquid as possible. After this stage you can either tie a knot and suspend the cheese, from a sturdy kitchen cabinet knob/ water faucet, placing a bowl underneath to collect all the extra liquid by squeezing gently. Let it hang for 30- 45 minutes to drain all the excess water. Collected paneer/ chena will still look slightly moist but with a crumbled texture.

Transfer that crumbled paneer to a plate, add in the food color and start kneading. Knead knead knead for the next 10 minutes to make it a soft smooth dough. (You may add little corn starch at this stage may be a  teaspoon to hold them together and avoid cracks, this is  purely optional)

Divide the dough into 12 equal portion and roll them like a ball.

Now press the ball and make like a log shaped / oval shaped pieces as shown above. Repeat the same for the rest of the dough balls and keep them ready.

For the sugar syrup – 

Heat sugar with the given measure of water. Let it come to a rolling boil, bring down the flame to medium high.

Gently drop the shaped chum chum into the boiling sugar syrup. Immediately cover with a sturdy firm lid and cook for 10 minutes. Do not open the lid for the first 10 minutes, the syrup will the boiling vigorously with the chum chum jumping up and down knocking on the lid – do not panic…give them some privacy… let it cook undisturbed.

After 10 minutes reduce the flame to low setting- carefully remove the lid, by this time your chums chums must have puffed up, almost doubled in size.

You may do a little test to check whether they have cooked fully… drop one of the cooked chum chum in bowl filled with room temperature water. It should immediately sink to the bottom of the bowl, if it for some reason it floats , then cook them for another 5 minutes. But I’m pretty sure they should be done by this time!

Once it cools, add few drops of rose essence and a pinch of powdered cardamom . Mix gently and let it rest for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile work on the stuffing and garnishes. Powder some sugar with 1 cardamom pod.

To make the stuffing-  

Warm up some soft khoya or malai and mix powdered sugar. Mash well to make a soft paste and keep aside. You may add coarsely powdered nuts too.

Once the chum chum have cooked and soaked get them out of the sugar syrup, place them in a muffin liner paper or even a plate would work.  Make a small slit in the center with a knife or you can also cut out a small portion off the center as shown.

Fill it with some sweetened khoya and top it with some more chopped nuts.  Line them up in a tray and refrigerate. Serve chilled topped with malai or basundi!

Notes

• One liter of milk can yield 12 medium size chum chum.
• Always use full fat milk, low fat or skim milk will not work.
• Make sure you use a heavy bottom, sturdy deep pot/ pan for boiling the syrup.
• Sturdy lid is a must when the sugar syrup boils.
• Sugar syrup should be boiling for the first 10 minutes – do not simmer.
• Do not attempt to open the lid for the first 10 minutes., it needs to cook evenly undisturbed.
• Add lemon juice when the milk is boiling, adding before it boil will not yield proper results.
• You may use plain curd or citric acid in the place of lemon juice.
• Washing the chenna under cold running water may remove all the lemon smell from it.
• Choose the right pan, do not over crowd the chenna balls, they may double in size and puff up -make sure there is enough room in there for them to float around.
• If your chenna is too dry then chum chum may turn rubbery and chewy. To much moist will break them. So make sure it is not too dry or too moist.
• Kneading the fresh paneer for atleast 15 minutes is a must. Crumbly paneer should turn into soft smooth dough. ( i mean baby butt soft 😉 )  If the paneer dough is crumbly with cracks then it may break the chum chum while cooking.
• You may add little rava or corn flour while kneading the paneer to avoid cracks but not really necessary.
• Do not squueze the paneer too long to drain all the water, a gently squeeze then tie and hang to get the excess moisture. We still knead some moisture while kneading, too dry apneer can make your chum chum turn hard.
• Boiling sugar syrup for longer time may crystallize, so switch off after 15 minutes.
• It can stay good at room temperature for 2 days and refrigeration will keep them good for a week.