Chena-Pice Ready-to-EatThis is a desert dish and takes an hour to prepare.

The ingredients for 5 persons

Firstly
2 litres non fat milk
1/2 cup sugar
4 green cardamom in powdered form
10 strands of saffron
12 full rasins
1 Lemon

Method:

Chena-PiceIt is made from Paneer which can best be translated as Indian Cheese. So, first one makes the Paneeer. The Paneer is made from one litre of milk which is brought to a boil and curdled by adding a few drops of lemon juice. The curdled milk is strained to remove the whey and tied to muslin cloth and squeezed by setting a heavy weight on it (the heavy pastel from the mortar-pastel can be used). This is the paneer or chena. Cut the chena into small nugget shaped pieces.

Take the other one litre of milk, add sugar and bring to a boil. Let it now simmer till its volume is halved. Add cardomom.. raisin and saffron.

Add the chena nuggets to the milk and let it simmer for an additional five minutes.

Cool the dish, refrigerate and have it for desert.

Note: The smallest unit of currency in the pre-Independence period was a coin called the pice. A hundred pices was a rupee. This may seem like a insignificant amount but in those pre-inflation days a kid could buy a toffee or a piece of jaggery with it. Hence the name chena pice.

Three photographs: Chena Pice ingredients, Sweetened Milk on Boil,
Chena Pice Ready to Eat..Chena-Pice Ingredients