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!

Comments

  1. Well we can thank the disaster with youghurt.Because of it we are seeing one delicious Rasmalai

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  2. oh wow!!rasmalai my favorite -however have tried one or two recipes and was a disaster.
    Thanks for this wonderful recipe will give it a try....have something on my blog for you, do check out :)

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  3. Wow! U managed to come up with something as good as rasmalai!
    See, now I would have just thrown the whole thing away! :D

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  4. BTW, I like the new blog updates thingie on the side. That is so cool!

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  5. Great idea to turn that in to Rasmalai, tastes great anyway and love the color too.
    You know sometimes adding milk powder to milk when yogurt helps to get a firm texture!:)

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  6. so the oven disaster did turn out all yummy.....the rasmalai looks inviting

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  7. Great idea Lavanya.Rasamalai looks delicious!!!

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  8. Rasmalai is one of my favourite sweets...good job, Laavanya :-)

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  9. Wow! You created that out of a disaster ! Too good !

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  10. what a neat idea to make rasmalai with the yogurt disaster! Thanks for this delicious idea Laavanya! BTW, the blog updates at the side bar looks cool! Do you change them manually or is it a widget?

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  11. Disaster become a delectable dish Laavanya :) Looks pretty and delicious

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  12. wow Rasmalai my Fav ..Lovely colour ..Did you add colur or it is from safron ..asking coz i Love your rasmalai colour and when i tried it once it was not very bright colour

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  13. When life gives you disasters, make rasamalai :)

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  14. me and my hubbies fav too....v make through rasmalai mix...but never tried doing homamade malai....this looks the same v make from instant mix....delicious and looks coulourful with cute cute panner balls..

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  15. Wow,Rasmalai looks so delicious,nice recipe.

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  16. kill me..kill me NOW!!...waaaaahhh (that is me crying and howling )

    Rajitha...

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  17. rasmalai looks so beautiful...i want to have one now..i have also been meaning to try these beauties once...now got to try them soon..

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  18. You are a brave girl Laavanya and look what a thing of beauty you came up with. I would not even dream of making something with 'disasters' other than crying maybe :-)
    Hey, also loved the aggregator type that you have. Very cool and thanks for including me there.

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  19. An award waiting for u on my blog..check it out

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  20. wow..great idea. Lovely recipe. rasmalai is my fav sweetdish.

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  21. laavanya...that bowl looks delicious...how wonderful that you changed a disaster into sweet success!...nice the new side bar...good to see the updates!

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  22. Great idea Lavanya.Rasamalai looks delicious and love the color too!!!!!

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  23. When I read ur earlier post, I thought of some bengali sweet and here u are with it...nice idea and congrats on the award

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  24. looks delicious!

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  25. Rasmalai.. yuuummmyyy. Looks delicious. Nice blog updates

    Check My blog there is surprise for you.

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  26. wow rasmalai really came out well... i will try it someday...

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  27. hey thatz a great idea .. looks really yum :)

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  28. Rasmalai looks awesome, keep rocking!!!

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  29. Hi There........
    Finally u made something as sweet as Rasmalai from a missed attempt of making paneer....now thats what I call as finding something better than expected.....
    I guess you deserve for Yummy Blog Award....
    Congrats and keep posting yummy recipes...

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  30. Great idea to turn your "disaster" into a sweet success! The rasmalai look delicious, Laavanya! :)

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  31. Laavanya- ur rasmalai looks so tasty, a nice yellow too.

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  32. Something out of disaster is a nice idea Laavanya. Congrats on award. Viji

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  33. Hi Lavanya...
    Thanks for visiting my blog...
    Keep visiting and keep posting...
    Have a great weekend ahead!

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  34. Thank you Happy Cook. It was a long evening but worth it :)

    Vandana, this is the first time I'm making this... you should give it a try.. it wasn't all that daunting as I had assumed it would be.

    TBC, throwing it away was one of the options in my mind but the least favoured one... so thought I should try this because if it turns out bad, i will still be throwing it away then. :)

    Asha, thanks will try that next time. Thx.

    It sure did Bhags, Thanks!

    Thank you Kamala, Sunita & Delhibelle.

    Uma, Thank you... no I don't update it, it's done automatically by a widget.

    Thank you Cham.

    Divya, I added saffron as soon as I put the milk to boil, so by the time it reduced to half, it got this colour.

    Of course Suganya. Thankfully it turned out good because I spent a lot of time.

    Suma, thanks. I saw the ad for the rasmalai mix. Is it very easy?

    Thank you Jayashree & Hetal.

    Rajitha, I'm so sorry for tempting you so... :)

    Sowmya, do give it a shot sometime.

    Thank you RC. I did feel awful about doing something so stupid but didn't want to just throw it away. It seemed salvageable.

    Thank you Pooja, Srivalli & Sireesha.

    EC, good guess! :)

    Thank you Roma & Trupti. Trupti, I'm having trouble leaving a comment on your blog. I will try again soon.

    Thank you Vanamala, Veg platter, Madhavi, Sagari, Foodiefriend, Kalai, Mitr_bayarea & Viji for your kind words.

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  35. It is the mark of a great chef to turn a disaster into something so wonderful... I don't have that much patience, if something doesn't turn out the way I hoped, it ends up in the trashcan most of the time... :( I need to take some inspiration from you...

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  36. Lovely rasmalai. Are you sending it to click for Bri

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  37. Looks good Laavi, and I'm glad you didn't let the 'unmade' yoghurt go to waste! Good thinking :)

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  38. Wow... Laavanya. You have created a beautiful rasamalai from the disaster. If it would have been me I would have just thrown it out. Just awesome. Rasmalai is my fav too but never attempted to make it from scratch. Very nice picture and thanks for the recipe.

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  39. Hi tried this dish but unfortunately since I used vinegar it gave rasgullas brown color!! Not very inviting!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sheela, I'm sorry to hear that... what kind of vinegar did you use? Is it a flavored kind? I have used distilled white vinegar when making paneer and never had any discoloration. Also, lemon juice/lime juice is a good alternative.

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