What is Rasmalai

Rasmalai is a Classic Indian dessert consisting of juicy cheese discs served with thickened milk. The term Rasmalai consists of 2 words – Ras & Malai. In Hindi Ras means “Juice” and Malai translates to “Cream”. So it is something that’s juicy and creamy. This popular festive delicacy is popular all over the South Asian Countries & you will commonly find them in the Sweet shops/ Halwai shops. Making Rasmalai is similar to making rasgulla, but this is a 3 step process. The first step is to curdle the full fat milk with an acidic ingredient to make chenna (Indian cheese) & this forms the main component of the sweet. Chenna is later drained of its whey, then it is kneaded and shaped to discs. These discs are cooked in boiling hot sugar syrup so they puff up and get a porous and spongy texture. On the other side (second step), full fat milk is simmered until thick & then sweetened to make rabri (sweet thickened milk). It is flavoured with cardamoms and saffron. This tastes super delicious with bursting flavours. The last part involves assembling. The spongy cooked chenna discs are drained of the sugar syrup and added to the thickened milk/ rabri. Lastly garnished with nuts and served.

My Recipe

My time tested recipe will help you make soft and juicy rasmalai that literally melts in your mouth. I share the 3 key pointers to make them the softest, which is the characteristic of a well-made rasmalai. 3 key pointers to make soft rasmalai

Making soft chena Proper kneading Boiling the rasmalai dics for the right amount of time on a right flame or heat.

You can also check this Collection of 100 diwali recipes for the festive season. For more Indian sweets recipes, do checkRasgullaGulab jamunKalakandMalpua with RabriPeda recipeKaju katliBesan ladoo

Method 1

How to Make Rasmalai (Stepwise Photos)

Make Rabri

  1. Making rabri. Pour 3 cups milk to a heavy bottom pot. Bring it to a boil on a medium flame. Add saffron/ kesar and keep stirring every few minutes to prevent burning.
  2. Next pour sugar. I used organic sugar. You can use white sugar as well.
  3. Adjust the flame as desired to suit your convenience. Do not use high flame milk may overflow the pot. Keep stirring every 2 to 3 minutes, moving aside the malai/cream that comes on top. Turn off when it gets condensed to half the quantity. Chill half of this in the fridge. Keep the rest in the same pot.

Make Chenna

  1. While the rabri is getting done, bring 5 cups milk to a boil in another pot for making chenna/paneer. If you are using non-homogenized milk then take off the milk from the stove and allow to rest for 5 mins. Then add the vinegar. If using homogenized milk, add the curd or lemon juice or vinegar once the milk comes to a boil.
  2. Keep stirring until the milk curdles completely. If needed add more lemon juice or vinegar. Switch off the stove.
  3. When you see it has curdled completely, immediately add ice cubes or ice cold water. This is very important to keep the chenna soft.
  4. Drain it up in a thin clean muslin cloth.
  5. Wrap up the paneer in the cloth bringing together all the edges. Put the cloth under running water, making sure the paneer is wrapped well in the cloth. Rinse it well under the running water to remove the smell of lemon or vinegar. Tie up the paneer in the cloth like shown in the picture. Squeeze off the excess water. Hang it up on a hook for 45 minutes to 1 hour for the whey to completely drain.
  6. At this step you must have chenna that is just moist with no dripping water and not sticky. Knead it well until you get smooth, grain free and non-sticky chena. You must not knead to the extent that chenna begins to release grease or fats. Please check the pictures I have shared in the intro to know the right texture.

Make Rasmalai

  1. Divide it to 12 equal portions. Make balls and flatten them gently. You can also make rasgulla or chum chum. If you find the edges cracked up, gently smoothen them. Cover and set them aside.
  2. Bring 3 1/2 cups water to a boil with 1 cup sugar. Use refined white sugar.
  3. When the syrup begins to boil, add cardamom powder.
  4. Next when the syrup begins to boil rapidly, add flattened discs of chenna. Cover immediately and cook on a moderately high flame for exactly 9 minutes.
  5. The discs would have doubled in size. Keep it covered and take off the pot from the stove. Rest for atleast 20 mins.
  6. Take out one by one and cool. Gently squeeze them in between your palms to remove the absorbed sugar syrup. You can also do it with a spatula and spoon.
  7. Add them to the warm rabri.
  8. Add chopped pistachios, almonds and cashews. You can also simmer for just one to 2 minutes on a low flame for the milk to be absorbed by the discs. Do not overcook at this stage, they may break. Pour the chilled rabri to this and serve rasmalai chilled.

Method 2 – Easy Rasmalai in 10 minutes

Using ready made rasgulla and milkmaid. Ingredients

12 rasgullas1 tin milk maid condensed milk (392 grams)2 cups milk⅛ Tsp. Green cardamom powder / elaichiFew saffron strandsChopped Pistachios and almonds for garnish

Instructions

  1. You can use any ready made rasgulla. Squeeze the syrup out of the balls. Do not press them too hard, they will break. Make sure that the syrup is extracted from the balls else they will not absorb the milk. Set these aside.
  2. Pour milk and condensed milk in a pan and bring it to a boil.
  3. Add saffron and cardamom powder. Simmer it for around 5 to 6 mins so that the milk blends well with milkmaid. Alternately, You can melt the saffron in little hot milk and add too.
  4. Reduce the flame to medium. Add the rasgulla to the condensed milk.
  5. Cover with a lid and simmer for a min or two. Overcooking can break them.
  6. Easy rasmalai using rasgulla is ready in less than 10 minutes.Garnish with nuts. You could add the chopped nuts at step 4 too. Note: It will be sufficient even if you use ¾ th can of condensed milk (392 gms) and 1.5 cups of milk. We have a sweet tooth, so I use up the entire can and we enjoy the creamy milk too. So adjust to suit your need.

How to make super soft chena?

Boiling & curdling milk correctly will give to the super soft chena. If the chena is not soft then rasmalai will not turn soft but instead will turn hard. The first step is to bring the milk to a boil & then curdle it to make soft chena. Well there are 2 methods to curdle milk to make soft chena. Method 1 – Using homogenized &/or pasteurized milk: This first method is to curdle the milk immediately after the milk comes to a boil whilst milk is still on the stove. Curdle first by adding the acidic ingredient & then turn off the stove. Immediately pour ice cold water or add ice cubes to stop it from cooking further. This ice cold water or ice cubes will keep your chena super soft as it stops further cooking. This method is best if you are using pasteurized or/& homogenized milk. This method has consistently yielded me soft chena. Do not follow this method if you are using non-homogenized milk or buffalo milk. If you follow this method using non-homogenized milk then you will end up with rubbery & hard chena. Method 2 – Using non-homogenized milk (not packet milk, but fresh from milkman): This method is to bring the milk to a boil. Turn off the stove and rest for about 5 to 10 minutes to cool down the milk slightly. Then curdle the milk by adding the acidic ingredient. This method will work if your milk is unprocessed & is pure without any additives. This method will not work if you are using pasteurized & homogenized milk. Infact the milk will not curdle at all unless you continue to boil the milk. But back in India this is the method most people follow as they use non-homogenized milk. I have seen my mum following this method to make the softest paneer.

Tips

Now my tip is to bring the milk to a boil, then turn off the stove and try adding the acidic ingredient. If the milk doesn’t curdle then put it back on the stove and continue to boil until the milk curdles. But remember to use ice cold water or ice cubes to stop the cooking further after the entire milk has curdled. This will give you the soft chena.

Faqs

  1. Why does my rasmalai turn hard? Hard chena, over kneading the chena, boiling the chena discs for too long will result in hard & dense rasmalai.
  2. Why do my rasmalai or chena discs break or dissolve in sugar syrup? Too much whey in the chena will dissolve them in the syrup while boiling.
  3. How long do I need to hang the chena to drain whey? This depends of the kind of milk used. If using non-homogenized milk 45 to 60 mins is just good enough. If using homogenized then it depends again on the kind of milk. Some may take up to 6 hours. So do not go by the time go by the texture which I have explained below.
  4. What is the right texture of chena after draining? When the chena is still moist yet has no dripping whey in it then it is good for kneading. Here is a picture with details.
    I consider chena to be perfect if it passes this test. Take a small portion of the chena and smear it to a smooth surface like your kitchen countertop or chopping board. Chena must be non-sticky & grainy or crumbly. Very sticky chena indicates too much moisture . So hang it for longer. Too grainy, dry or very crumbly chena indicates over drained. In this case you can knead with a moist hand. You can also dip your hand in whey as many times as required and knead.
  5. How long to knead chena for soft rasmalai? The main purpose of kneading chena is to make it smooth and soft without being grainy. So do not go by the clock, knead it until you get a soft, crumb free and smooth texture. Over all the time it takes to knead depends on how grainy your paneer is. More acidic ingredient can make your chena more grainy. So just knead until your chena is crumb free and soft. Related Recipes

Recipe Card

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