Rasmalai is a Bengali dessert consisting of cheese (paneer) balls immersed in creamy milk flavoured with cardamom powder. It is also made with home made cheese known as paneer. This delicious dessert tastes best after refrigerating and serve chilled.

Ingredients

For malai

Milk- 4 cups
Lemon juice dissolved in water- 2 tablespoon lemon juice dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water
All purpose flour (maida)- 1 tablespoon
Sugar- 1 1/2 cup
Water- 4 cups
Cardamom powder- 1/4 teaspoon

For ras ( syrup )

Milk- 3 cups or use 2 cups half and half milk ( for creamy rasmalai)
Sugar- 1 1/4 cup
Sliced almonds and pistachios- 1 tablespoon
Cardamom powder- 1 teaspoon
Cooking Method for malai: Recipe
1. Heat milk in a pan and bring it to boil for about 8-10 minutes.

2. When it starts boiling, add lemon juice and wait for the milk to curdle completely.

3. Remove from the heat and let it cool for about 3-5 minutes.

4. Pour over a thin muslin/cotton cloth and tie it with a tight knot. On straining this milk, the curd is obtained is called “paneer”. Wash paneer well using muslin cloth under cold running water to remove lemon juice flavor.

5. Knead paneer for about 5-7 minutes to make a smooth dough.

6. Make round shape flat balls of about 1 inch in size (8-10) of the dough and keep aside.

7. Next make sugar syrup. Mix sugar, water and cardamom powder in a saucepan and bring it to boil.

8. Add paneer balls to the hot syrup on a medium heat and cook for about 15-20 minutes with lid partially covered.

9. Remove the paneer malais from the sugar syrup carefully and let it cool.

Recipe for Ras (the rasmalai syrup)

1. Add milk in a saucepan and bring it to boil. Boil this on over low flame for about 10-12 minutes.

2. Now add sugar, cardamom powder and bring it to boil for about 3-5 minutes.

3. Keep on stirring continuously, until it is reduced to thick consistency.(It should be reduced to 2 cups of milk).

4. Let the milk cool down for about 3 minutes. Then add malais one by one to the milk mixture and garnish with almonds and pistachios.

5. Refrigerate for about 6-8 hours.

6. Serve chilled.

Rasmalai cooking tips:

Ras should always be cooked on a high flame.
The softness of the ras depends on how well you knead the paneer.The more you knead, the more spongy will be the ras.
While cooking, it should double their size.
The cooking time of the ras will vary depending on their size.