Rasmalai

Rasmalai

Why am I so chuffed about writing this recipe? Well it must indeed be because of the magic number 100. I am so pleased with myself and also surprised that I have brought this blog this far. Ever since I started this blog it has become such a part of my life. It has provided me with an opportunity to spend some time for myself; helped me enjoy cooking even more than I did; is helping me get to know more people in this big wide world; helping me share what I learn and I think is very important to share. In some ways it also continuously challenges my imagination and creativity. Ofcourse none of this would have happened without support from my family. My husband encouraged me to blog and my mom was my first follower on my blog. My brother and his wife keep giving me good feedback which is encouraging. I get ideas for traditional recipes from my granny and my dad makes sure my mom regularly reads my blog. This recipe is dedicated to my family and all you readers. I really hope you get a chance to make this and please your folks. This was one recipe that I did not have to google much for. I bumped into Vah Chef’s recipe and he had some very useful tips which I have shared here as well. It is actually a very simple recipe if the tips are followed well. Here is how I did it…

For the rasmalai:
5 cups milk
Juice from half a lime (1 teaspoon juice)
1 cup sugar
6 cups water
2 cardamom pods crushed

For the syrup:
4 cups milk
3 tablespoon sugar
Handful of crushed nuts (I put almond, pistachios and cashewnuts)
Few strands of saffron

To make the syrup, heat the 4 cups of milk in low heat until it reduces to about 3 cups. Add sugar and saffron strands and heat for further ten minutes.

To make the rasmalai, heat the 5 cups of milk in a broad pan until it starts to boil. Add the lime juice and stir at low flame.

The milk will begin to curdle. Do not keep long on the stove as it will harden the paneer formed.

Drain the liquid (it is called whey) from the milk and retain the paneer in a muslin cloth or any clean cloth. Wrap the paneer in the cloth to form a small bag of paneer and run this under water to cool it a bit and also get rid of lemony taste. Wring the cloth so that you get all the water out. Allow the paneer to cool.

Mix the sugar and water and add some crushed cardamom and allow this to boil at high flame.

Keep the paneer in its cloth ‘bag’ and knead it to form a dough.

Take the paneer dough out and divide them into about 7-8 balls. Roll each ball in your hand and press gently to form a fat disc like shape.

Put each disc slowly in the boiling sugar water. Make sure the flame is as high as possible else the paneer discs will break. Cook it for about 10 minutes and carefully take them from the sugar water. They will almost double in size so make sure the dish is big enough to allow this.

Put the rasmalais into the milk and garnish with the nuts and serve!

I first put the milk for the syrup on the stove so it can take the time it needs to reduce. I then got started with the rasmalais.