When two auspicious occasions come together and you want to celebrate the best of both, what would you do? Now, that it has happened with us with the Republic day and the Vasant Panchami coming on same date, I was torn apart to do justice with both of them. One is the religious festival of worship of mother Goddess Saraswati, the epitome of knowledge, wisdom, art, music & aesthetics and another is the Indian Republic day, the day on which the Indian constitution came into effect, the commemoration of which is the celebration of our Indian nationality, our unity in diversity and the spirit of our tricolour. For me this time, it was the celebration of tricolour in my own way with this recipe. Check this out here 👇

RECIPE :

Ingredients :

A) For Saffron layer –

1. Carrot ( ground) – 4 medium sized.
2. Khoya – 2 tbs.
3. Cardamom (powdered) – 1/2 tsp.
4. Sugar – 2 tbs.

B) For White Layer –

1. Freshly made Cottage cheese (chhena) – 250 gms.
2. Coconut, scraped (optional) – 1 tbs.
3. Sugar – 2 tbs.
4. Cardamom (powdered) – 1/2 tsp.
5. Rose water – 1 tsp.

C) For Green Layer –

1. Green peas – 250 to 300 gms.
2. Khoya – 2 tbs.
3. Chhena – 2 tbs.
4. Cardamom (powdered) – 1/2 tsp.
5. Rose water – 1 tsp.
6. Sugar – 2 tbs.
7. Pistachio – 1 tbs.

Preparation :

A) For Saffron layer :

1. Grind the carrot into a paste & keep.
2. In a pan, melt the sugar with little water & stir over a low flame.
3. When the syrup turns slightly thicker, add the carrot paste & keep stirring to mix it well over low flame.
4. Add Khoya & mix.
5. Continue stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of your pan.
6. Add cardamom powder & mix well by stirring for another few minutes.
7. Switch off the flame & bring it down from the oven to let it cool.

B) For White layer :

1. Take chhena in a bowl & knead it slightly using your palms.
2. In a wok or kadai, melt sugar with some water & stir over a low flame.
3. When the syrup turns slightly thicker, add the kneaded chhena, stir & mix well over a low flame till the mixture leaves the sides of your pan.
4. Add cardamom powder & rose water and mix them all nicely by stirring in continously over low flame for 1 or 2 minutes more.
5. Bring down from the flame & let it cool.

C) For Green Layer :

1. Peel the green peas & keep for boiling them slightly.
2. In another bowl, take some ice cubes with water.
3. Now immerse the slightly boiled peas into it for 2-3 minutes and then take out. It will arrest the green colour of the peas.
4. Now in a grinder, grind the peas along with pistachio to make a smooth paste.
5. In a pan, melt sugar with little water and stir to thicken the sugar syrup.
6. Add green peas paste to the thickened syrup and stir to mix.
7. Add khoya & chhena to it and continue stirring until the mixture starts leaving the sides of your pan.
8. Add cardamom powder & rose water and mix well.
9. Switch off the flame & let it cool for sometime.

Now, all the three components for layering of your Shondesh are ready. Proceed now as given below :

1. Spread a cling film evenly and tightly over a tray, layer the saffron mixture over the film, and spread it uniformly with the help of spatula.
2. Over the saffron layer, spread the white layer of chhena uniformly with the help of spatula.
3. Take the green layer mixture of peas and mould it into a shape of rod using your hands.
4. Put the moulded rod at one end of the white chhena layer and fold the two layers around the green rod with the help of cling film by rolling along the edges.
5. Roll it tightly & refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight to set the shondesh.
6. Take out and cut the roll into slices of shondesh. Your tricolour shondesh is now ready to relish.

(Note : Do not wait for long for cutting the slices from the roll after taking out from the refrigerator, otherwise your roll may turn moist & may break away eventually while cutting.)