Rasmalai

As a result of the disaster I had while setting my yogurt, I had a mass which was in between paneer and curd states. Not having the heart to throw it away, I wondered what to do with it and the first thought was Rasamalai. I have been meaning to give it a try for sometime now and this presented itself as a perfect opportunity. So, I put the entire milk + yoghurt mixture into a colander, lined with a muslin cloth and let it drain for an hour or so to get the soft paneer (it was a lot more softer than usual paneer but still workable).

RASMALAI

Ingredients:

For Chenna/Soft Paneer
Milk - 3 to 4 cups (about 1 litre)
Vinegar/Lime Juice - quarter cup

For Sugar Syrup:
Water - 3 to 4 cups
Sugar - 1 cup

For the Flavoured Milk:
Milk - 600 ml
Saffron - 2 pinches
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Nuts (Cashew, almond, pistachios) - 1 to 2 tbsp, powdered or minced finely


Method:

1) I skipped this step for my rasamalais... but if I were to make this from scratch, I would've followed my method of making paneer: Boil the milk in a heavy pan and when boiling add the vinegar or lime juice and stir until the whey and paneer separate. Switch off the flame and once slightly cooled, pour into a colander lined with a thin muslin cloth and allow to stand until all the whey has drained out. Tie this up and let it dry out well.

2) Pat this chenna (while still in the muslin cloth) with another absorbent kitchen towel in a mashing kind of motion. This will ensure that it gets kneaded and is as dry as possible. I had to do quite a bit of it since i had a pasty mixture.

3) Once kneaded, make tiny (1 inch diameter) balls and roll them as smoothly as possible. Flatten lightly.

4) Meanwhile, heat the water and sugar and let it come to a rolling boil. Drop the chenna balls in (without overcrowding them - do them in batches if you have too many) and cover with a tight fitting lid. Let this boil for about 10 minutes or so till they float and have increased in size. Ladle them out into a pan along with some of the sugar syrup. Keep aside and let rest for atleast a few hours, preferably longer. You can stop here if you want rasagullas.

5) I then let the remaining sugar syrup boil vigorously once the chenna was cooked and reduced it to a thick, sugary syrup. Keep this aside.

6) For the flavoured milk, boil the milk with saffron strands and allow to simmer stirring constantly until it reduces to slightly less then half. Now sweeten with the reduced sugar syrup above to taste. Boil more if it's diluted. Finally add the cardamom and the powdered nuts, reserving some pieces for garnish.

7) Take the rasagullas and press lightly to squeeze out the sugar syrup in them, add to the flavoured milk and allow to boil for about 4-5 minutes.

8) Allow this to cool completely and refrigerate overnight or for atleast 5 hours so the flavours come together. Serve with chopped nuts on top as a garnish and enjoy.

Seema has given me the Yummy Blog Award - Thank you !

"Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with most yummy recipes/photos". This award has been started by Roopa of My Kitchen treats.

Four Desserts/Sweets that I like are:
1) Tiramisu
2) Most Bengali sweets but rasmalai does kind of top the list amongst them.
3) Cheesecake
4) Paal Payasam / Chakka Pradhaman

I think almost everyone has already received this award.. so not sure who I can pass this onto specifically... so am sending this onto all you wonderful bloggers out there who tempt me with your beautiful recipes every single day - Thank you!