[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":401},["ShallowReactive",2],{"recipe:chomchom":3,"recipe:country:bangladesh":182},{"slug":4,"title":5,"nativeName":6,"pronunciation":7,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"emoji":10,"summary":11,"intro":12,"story":13,"whyThis":14,"tips":19,"substitutions":26,"variations":39,"serveWith":49,"storage":51,"faq":52,"equipment":68,"baseServings":73,"prepMinutes":74,"cookMinutes":74,"restMinutes":75,"difficulty":76,"course":77,"diet":79,"mainIngredients":82,"ingredients":87,"instructions":127,"nutrition":157,"images":164,"keywords":174,"publishedAt":180,"updatedAt":180,"authorSlug":181},"chomchom","Chomchom (Porabari Syrup-Soaked Cheese Sweet)","চমচম","CHOM-chom","bangladesh","Porabari, Tangail","🍮","Oblong sweets of fresh chhana kneaded until smooth, poached in sugar syrup until they swell and turn spongy, then rolled in crumbs of dried milk.","Chomchom is a Bengali milk sweet: fresh curd cheese, made by splitting warm milk with lemon juice, kneaded by hand until it stops being grainy and starts behaving like dough, rolled into short ovals and simmered in thin sugar syrup until they double and go spongy all the way through. The finished sweet is pale amber, soaked but not soggy, and rolled in mawa crumbs so the outside is dry and powdery against the wet inside. It is milkier and denser than a roshogolla and holds a firmer shape. Everything about it depends on the chhana — how much whey you press out, how long you knead, and whether the syrup is thin enough to be absorbed rather than sit on the surface.","Bengal built an entire dessert culture on chhana, fresh acid-set curd cheese, and it is worth noting that this was not always so. For much of South Asia, deliberately curdling milk was considered wasteful or improper, and Bengali sweets based on chhana appear to have developed relatively late, with Portuguese cheese-making in the region often credited as an influence. Whatever the exact route, by the nineteenth century Bengal had a professional confectioner class, the moira, working chhana into a whole family of sweets — roshogolla, sandesh, pantua, kalo jam, rajbhog and chomchom among them.\n\nChomchom is particularly associated with Porabari, a village near Tangail in central Bangladesh, and Porabari chomchom is protected and marketed as a regional speciality. The local version is denser and darker than the pale kind, cooked longer so the syrup caramelises slightly, and often finished with a thick coat of mawa crumbs. Tangail sweet shops sell it in stacked clay pots, and boxes of it travel to Dhaka as gifts in the way boxes of chocolates travel elsewhere.\n\nThe technique is entirely about the curd. Milk is brought just to the boil, taken off, and split with lemon juice or vinegar added gradually until the whey runs clear and greenish. The curds are then rinsed in cold water to remove the acid taste and hung to drain — and this is the decision point. Too wet and the sweets disintegrate in the syrup; too dry and they stay hard in the centre. Then comes the kneading, ten minutes of pushing the curd across a work surface with the heel of the hand until the grain disappears and the mass turns smooth and slightly greasy from released fat. Bengali confectioners judge readiness by rolling a small ball and looking for cracks: any cracking means keep kneading.\n\nHomemade chomchom will rarely match a good sweet shop's, mainly because commercial makers use fresh unhomogenised milk with a much higher fat content. It will still be a genuinely good sweet, and it will taste distinctly of milk in a way that shop-bought versions in a foreign city usually do not.",[15,16,17,18],"Sets out the two decisions that actually determine success — whey content and kneading — instead of just giving timings.","A syrup at the right thin consistency, so the sweets absorb it and swell rather than sitting in glue.","A crack test for the kneaded chhana that tells you when to stop, no experience required.","Honest about how homemade compares to a Tangail sweet shop and why.",[20,21,22,23,24,25],"Use full-fat milk that is not ultra-pasteurised. UHT milk often refuses to curdle cleanly, and the curd it does produce is weak and rubbery.","Add the lemon juice gradually and stop the moment the whey turns clear and greenish. Excess acid makes the chhana tough and leaves a sour aftertaste.","Rinse the drained curds under cold running water for a minute. This washes out the acid and cools the curd so it does not keep firming.","Hang the chhana for 45 minutes, no more. It should feel like damp modelling clay — if you squeeze a handful and water runs out, hang it longer; if it crumbles, you have gone too far.","Knead until a test ball rolls completely smooth with no surface cracks, usually 8 to 12 minutes. Cracks in the raw ball become splits in the syrup.","Keep the syrup at a steady rolling simmer with the lid on. If it stops boiling the sweets stop expanding and turn dense in the middle.",[27,31,35],{"original":28,"swap":29,"note":30},"Lemon juice","White vinegar, or a few tablespoons of whey saved from a previous batch","Vinegar works identically and is cheaper. Saved whey gives the mildest flavour of all and is what many confectioners use.",{"original":32,"swap":33,"note":34},"Mawa (dried milk solids) for coating","Full-fat milk powder toasted very lightly in a dry pan","Toasting for two minutes brings out a cooked-milk flavour close to real mawa. Desiccated coconut is also traditional in some households.",{"original":36,"swap":37,"note":38},"Semolina in the dough","Plain flour or cornflour, same quantity","The small amount of starch binds the chhana and stops it splitting in the syrup. Cornflour keeps the sweet gluten-free.",[40,43,46],{"name":41,"description":42},"Malai chomchom","Split lengthwise once cool and filled with sweetened thickened cream, then coated in mawa or coconut. Common at weddings and considerably richer.",{"name":44,"description":45},"Dark Porabari style","The syrup is cooked longer to a deeper caramel colour before the sweets go in, giving a darker, denser chomchom with a faintly toffee edge.",{"name":47,"description":48},"Roshogolla","The same chhana dough rolled into balls rather than ovals and boiled in a thinner syrup, so the result is spongier, whiter and wetter.",[50],"Serve cool but not fridge-cold, two per person, after a rich meal — with strong milkless tea or nothing at all.","Chomchom keeps 4 days refrigerated, submerged in its syrup in a sealed container, and the texture improves after a few hours as the syrup finishes penetrating. Add the mawa coating only when serving, since it dissolves into sludge if stored on the wet sweets. Bring them back to cool room temperature before eating — straight from the fridge they taste firm and muted. They do not freeze; the chhana becomes grainy on thawing.",[53,56,59,62,65],{"question":54,"answer":55},"What is chhana and how is it different from paneer?","Chhana is fresh curd cheese made by splitting hot milk with an acid and draining the whey, and it is left soft and moist rather than pressed. Paneer is the same curd pressed under weight into a firm block that holds its shape when cooked. Bengali sweets need the soft, unpressed version because it must be kneaded smooth and absorb syrup.",{"question":57,"answer":58},"Why did my chomchom collapse in the syrup?","Almost always too much moisture left in the chhana, or not enough kneading. The drained curd should feel like damp clay with no water running out when squeezed, and it needs eight to twelve minutes of kneading until a test ball rolls with no visible cracks. A tablespoon of semolina or cornflour in the dough also helps bind it.",{"question":60,"answer":61},"Why are my chomchom hard in the middle?","Either the syrup was too thick, so it coated the outside instead of soaking in, or the pot stopped boiling during cooking. The syrup should be thin, barely thicker than water, and it must stay at a rolling simmer under a lid for the whole cooking time so the sweets expand and stay porous.",{"question":63,"answer":64},"Can I use ultra-pasteurised or UHT milk?","It is not recommended. High-heat processing changes the milk proteins so they curdle into a weak, rubbery curd that will not knead smooth, and some UHT milk barely splits at all. Use ordinary pasteurised full-fat milk, ideally not homogenised, and never skimmed — the fat is what makes the finished sweet tender.",{"question":66,"answer":67},"How far ahead can I make chomchom?","Make them up to three days ahead and keep them refrigerated in their syrup in a sealed container; they are arguably better on day two once the syrup has fully penetrated. Coat them in mawa only at the moment of serving, and let them come to cool room temperature first, since refrigeration firms them and mutes the milk flavour.",[69,70,71,72],"Heavy pan for boiling milk","Muslin or a clean thin kitchen towel","Wide lidded pot for the syrup","Slotted spoon",12,45,120,"hard",[78],"dessert",[80,81],"vegetarian","nut-free",[83,84,85,86],"milk","lemon","semolina","cardamom",[88,93,97,100,103,108,111,115,119,123],{"ref":83,"qty":89,"unit":90,"name":91,"group":92},2,"l","full-fat milk, not ultra-pasteurised","For the chhana",{"ref":84,"qty":94,"unit":95,"name":96,"group":92},3,"tbsp","lemon juice, mixed with 3 tbsp water",{"ref":85,"qty":98,"unit":95,"name":99,"group":92},1,"fine semolina",{"qty":98,"unit":101,"name":102,"group":92},"tsp","caster sugar, for the dough",{"qty":104,"unit":105,"name":106,"group":107},500,"g","sugar","For the syrup",{"qty":109,"unit":90,"name":110,"group":107},1.5,"water",{"ref":86,"qty":112,"unit":113,"name":114,"group":107},4,"piece","green cardamom pods, bruised",{"ref":116,"qty":98,"unit":101,"name":117,"optional":118,"group":107},"rose-water","rose water",true,{"qty":120,"unit":105,"name":121,"group":122},60,"mawa or full-fat milk powder, for coating","To finish",{"ref":124,"qty":98,"unit":125,"name":126,"optional":118,"group":122},"saffron","pinch","saffron threads",[128,132,137,142,145,150,154],{"title":129,"text":130,"tip":131},"Split the milk","Bring {qty:milk} of milk to a boil in a heavy pan, take it off the heat and wait one minute. Stir in the diluted lemon juice a spoonful at a time until the curds pull away in soft clouds and the remaining liquid turns clear and faintly green. Stop adding acid the moment that happens.","If the whey is still milky white after all the juice, add a teaspoon more. If it split immediately, you can stop early.",{"title":133,"text":134,"timerSeconds":135,"tip":136},"Rinse and drain the chhana","Pour the curds into a muslin-lined sieve and rinse them under cold running water for a full minute to wash out the acid and cool them. Gather the cloth, twist gently to expel the obvious water, and hang it for 45 minutes.",2700,"The finished chhana should feel like damp modelling clay. Squeeze a handful: no water should run, but it should not crumble either.",{"title":138,"text":139,"timerSeconds":140,"tip":141},"Knead to a smooth dough","Tip the chhana onto a clean work surface, add the semolina and caster sugar, and push it away from you repeatedly with the heel of your hand for 8–12 minutes. It will go from grainy and crumbly to smooth, slightly shiny and faintly greasy as the fat releases.",600,"Roll a small ball and look closely. Any hairline cracks on the surface mean it needs more kneading.",{"title":143,"text":144},"Shape the ovals","Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each between your palms into a smooth oval about 5 cm long, tapered slightly at the ends. Keep them covered with a damp cloth so the surfaces do not dry out while you work.",{"title":146,"text":147,"timerSeconds":148,"tip":149},"Boil the syrup and cook the sweets","Bring the sugar, water and cardamom to a rolling boil in a wide pot — the syrup should stay thin, barely thicker than water. Slide the ovals in, cover, and boil steadily for 25 minutes. They will roughly double and turn slightly translucent at the edges.",1500,"Do not lift the lid for the first 15 minutes. Losing the boil at this stage gives you dense centres.",{"title":151,"text":152,"timerSeconds":153},"Cool in the syrup","Take the pot off the heat, stir in the rose water and leave the sweets to cool in the syrup for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight in the fridge. They shrink slightly as they cool and draw syrup into the centre, which is what makes them spongy rather than dry.",7200,{"title":155,"text":156},"Coat and serve","Lift each chomchom out with a slotted spoon, let the syrup drip off for a few seconds, and roll it in the mawa or milk powder until evenly dusted. Press a thread of saffron onto the top and serve at cool room temperature.",{"calories":158,"protein":159,"carbs":160,"fat":161,"sugar":162,"sodium":163,"estimated":118},240,7,38,6,36,70,[165,168,170,172],{"src":166,"alt":167},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fchomchom\u002Fhero.jpg","Oval Bengali chomchom sweets dusted with milk crumbs, resting in a shallow pool of sugar syrup",{"src":169,"alt":167},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fchomchom\u002Fhero-16x9.jpg",{"src":171,"alt":167},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fchomchom\u002Fhero-4x3.jpg",{"src":173,"alt":167},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fchomchom\u002Fhero-1x1.jpg",[4,175,176,177,178,179],"bengali sweets","chhana","porabari","milk sweet","bangladeshi 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snack","muri",{"slug":337,"title":338,"nativeName":339,"countrySlug":8,"region":340,"baseServings":161,"prepMinutes":74,"cookMinutes":341,"restMinutes":342,"difficulty":76,"course":343,"diet":344,"mainIngredients":345,"images":349,"keywords":353,"publishedAt":180,"updatedAt":180,"authorSlug":181},"kacchi-biryani","Kacchi Biryani (Dhaka Wedding Mutton and Rice)","কাচ্চি বিরিয়ানি","Dhaka",100,360,[194],[198],[346,347,348,279,249],"goat","basmati-rice","yogurt",[350],{"src":351,"alt":352},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fkacchi-biryani\u002Fhero.jpg","Open pot of Dhaka kacchi biryani showing saffron-streaked rice, bone-in mutton and a whole yellow potato",[354,355,356,357,358,359],"kacchi biryani","bangladeshi biryani","dhaka","mutton biryani","dum cooking","wedding 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