Shondesh is one of the popular and most loved sweets after rosogollas, among all other Bengali sweets and desserts. Myself being a dessert person, fall for this yummiest sweet that can be made in innumerable ways and I just love them in their every form, as every shondesh has its own attributes & uniqueness that impart it its distinctive flavour. They are usually made from thickened milk (kheer/khoya/mawa) or from chhena, mixed with sugar and other flavouring agents. This is one of those sweets with which you can let your imaginations go berserk.

To create something healthy to eat in this lockdown special Nobo Borsho (Bengali New Year) without compromising on taste, I prepared these sweet potato Shondesh and tried to compensate for the unavailability of sweets outside. Also, sweet potato is an excellent immunity booster that will definitely make you ready to fight the current Corona menace. In my home, it is customary to prepare something with coconut in every Poila Boishakh, so I included coconut in my recipe, that my mom had preserved so dearly for our Nobo Borsho sweet platter.

Though it sounds not so interesting to make Shondesh with sweet potato, but it will surely not disappoint you in any way. It is true that the taste of chhena or khirer shondesh can never be replaced with any other shondesh though, but this sweet potato shondesh can easily be in the queue with other Bengali shondesh. So, try out this whenever you have the ingredients and please let me know your experience with this shondesh.

( Hey! Sweet potatoes are nowhere to be seen in the pics, OK?? as they were all used up 😀😀😀 )

You may want to see the recipe below:👇

RECIPE

Ingredients :

1. Sweet Potato (boiled) – 1 large
2. Coconut (grated) – 3/4^th cup
3. Cashewnuts (powdered) – 1/4^th cup
4. Coconut milk – ½ cup
5. Sugar – 6 to 8 tsp.
6. Cardamom (powdered) – ½ tsp.
7. Rose water – 1 tsp.

Preparation :

1. In a bowl, mash your sweet potato nicely using a masher or with your hand so that no lumps or granules are left, and keep aside.
2. Add cashew powder and mix them together thoroughly.
3. Melt sugar with little water in a pan into a syrup, over a low flame.
4. Add grated coconut to the molten sugar syrup and stir to mix. Continue stirring until the coconut turns little sticky.
5. Add sweet potato mash and mix them together.
6. Continue stirring over a low flame or you may bring it down from the flame and keep stirring for sometime and bring it back over the flame, if you find it getting little dry while stirring.
7. Add little coconut milk and keep stirring, so that the mixture remains moist. Add cardamom powder and rose water and mix. Keep on adding coconut milk intermittently whenever you find it getting more dry.
8. When the mixture turns sticky enough (approximately after 15-20 minutes), switch off the flame.
9. Take small portions of your mixture and mould them into shapes of your choice using moulds or simply by using your hands. Your Sweet Potato Shondesh is ready to serve.😊