Rasmalai

Full recipe for Ras malai

Rest time: 4 hours 
Prep time: 45 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves: 10

For flavoured milk
Ingredients:
• Milk 1.5 litre
• Almonds 2 tbsp (slivers)
• Pistachio 2 tbsp (slivers)
• Cardamom powder 1 tsp
• Sugar 1 cup
• Saffron strands 15-20 nos.
Methods:
• Set a heavy bottom deep pan on medium low heat, add milk and keep stirring in between with light hands bring it to a boil, add almonds, pistachio, cardamom powder, sugar and saffron strands, you can adjust the quantity of sugar according to your palate.
• Mix well and cook on low flame for 15-20 minutes while stirring in intervals.  The milk by now has been reduced a little bit, take it from the flame and cool down to room temperature.

For chena
Ingredients:
• Milk 2 litre (full fat)
• Vinegar 1 tsp
• Corn flour 1 tsp
Methods:
• Set a heavy bottom deep pan on medium heat and add milk, its recommended to use full fat milk for better results, bring the milk to a boil while keep stirring in intervals.
• Once the milk has boiled switch off the flame wait for few minutes and add vinegar, keep stirring as now the milk has start to curdle, add ice cubes to stop further cooking, immediately strain the excess whey.
• Pass the curdled milk through a muslin cloth and drain the excess whey, wash it with cold water thoroughly, and squeeze out the excess moisture, transfer this to a mixing bowl and knead the chena (curdled milk) until smooth consistency is achieved. Make sure you don’t squeeze it hard as the chena has to be little moist.
• Add cornflour and mix it again, make sure the chena is not dry, you can add little water if required.

For making rasmalai
Ingredients:
• Water 1.5 litre
• Sugar 1.5 cup
• Freshly prepared flavoured milk
• Freshly prepared chena
• Almonds (slivers)
• Pistachios (slivers)
• Saffron strands as required
Methods:
• Shape the freshly made chena into a big size dough ball and divide in two equal parts and further roll into cylindrical shape, further divide it in equal balls, shape those balls in to flat tikki.
• Set a deep pan on medium heat, add water and sugar and let the sugar dissolve completely and it starts boiling.
• Add the chena tikki to boiling sugar syrup, do not over crowd the pan, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes on high flame, the chena tikkis has now doubled in size, switch of the flame & further rest the tikkis in the sugar syrup for 10-15 minutes, squeeze out excess sugar syrup from chena tikki and immediately dip into freshly prepared flavoured milk.
• Set it the rasmalai into the fridge for at least 3-4 hours so that the chena absorbs all the milk till the centre. Garnish it few almonds, pistachios and saffron strands.
• Your rasmalais are ready to be served, this royal delicacy taste better when they are served chilled.