To begin making the Dark Chocolate Sandesh (Shondesh) Dipped In Chocolate Recipe, first prepare the chenna or fresh cottage cheese, which is the base for many Bengali sweets

To do this, place the full fat milk in a saucepan or heavy bottomed pan and bring it to a boil

Once the milk is bubbling away, add the lemon juice and turn off the heat

The milk will curdle and coagulate within seconds

Once the entire milk has coagulated and you see the cheese floating on top and a clear whey separated from it

Prepare the chenna and rinse it under running water thoroughly

Tie it in a cheese cloth and hang it to drain out the excess water

This process takes at least for a couple of hours

In the meantime, chop the dark chocolate into small chunks to make it easier to melt

Place a sauce pan with water over a medium heat

In a heatproof bowl which is slightly larger than the saucepan, add the chopped chocolate and place this bowl over the saucepan, ensuring that the boiling water doesn’t touch the surface of the heatproof bowl

The heat generated by the boiling water will melt the chocolate gently

Lower the heat and begin to melt the chocolate with a spatula, till it is smooth and glossy

Add the cocoa powder and vanilla essence to the melted chocolate and keep it aside

Time to check on the chenna once again

Once most of the water is drained out, tip the cheese on a flat surface and begin kneading it, pressing it down and forward with the heel of your palm

Working it on the surface like you would dough for chapatis or puris

The kneading is most important as it makes the chenna smooth, and almost like a fine paste by the end of the process

Note: If kneading the sondesh takes too much time and effort, you could also use a food processor

However the result will be a finer paste-like sondesh, while this recipe tastes good when the chenna mix is well-kneaded, but slightly grainy

Reserving about 3 tablespoons of the melted chocolate in a smaller bowl, add the rest of the melted chocolate to the kneaded chenna

Add the condensed milk and once again mix until it is well combined

Heat a heavy bottomed pan and tip the chenna mixture into it

Cook on medium heat until the mixture begins to leave the sides of the pan and come together as a ball

Remove the mixture from the heat, add the raisins and mix well

Once it is cool enough to work with, divide the chenna into 12 equal parts

Shape them into round balls and lightly flatten each by patting them softly with your fingers

Dip half the balls in melted chocolate reserved separately earlier and top it off with roasted slivered almonds

Place the balls chocolate side up, to set a little

Serve the Dark Chocolate Sandesh on Angoori Rasmalai