Angoori Rasmalai / Mini Rasmalai

 

Rasmalai is one of the popular Indian sweet from Bengal. Rasmalai is basically, a soft and spongy cottage cheese balls dunked in saffron flavoured milk and garnished with dry fruits. The word Angoori derives from the name Angoor which means grape in Hindi, is significant here for its shape and size.

Rasmalai always reminds me of two things, one – my aunts delicious Rasmalai & second – my first attempt on it. I am very fond of Rasmalai and when we moved to Bangalore there were hardly any good Indian sweet shops. One day i came across Gits Rasmalai pack, where i just had to follow the instructions, and since i had no experience making them it sounded like a great option for me. And, gooshhh it was a disaster. Ras was the easy part to make, but my rasgullas / cottage cheese balls few broke and rest turned out hard. But my family praised the Ras and said the balls are bit hard and i can do better next time. Believe me the balls were not worth eating. : P I feel so thankful to my family, not because they finished those Rasmalai that day ha-ha :P, but because they have always stood by me, encouraged and supported me.

For making Rasmalai we need to follow 3 steps – prepare Paneer, prepare rasgulla and finally prepare the saffron flavoured milk. If you are looking for the recipe to make Paneer at home – click at the link here, Homemade Paneer Recipe.

 

Ingredients:

For the Paneer:

• 1 Litre Milk
• 2-4 tbsp Yogurt
• 10-12 Ice cubes

For the Sugar Syrup:

• 5 cup Water
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Cardamom

For the Saffron Flavoured Thick Milk:

• 1 Litre Milk
• 1 cup Thick cream (optional)
• 5-6 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Cardamom powder
• a good pinch of Saffron Strands
• 2 tbsp Almond/Pistachio slivers, for garnishing

Method:

For the Paneer:

1. Heat milk in a sauce pan and bring it to boil.
2. While you keep stirring, add 1 tbsp of beaten yogurt gradually at a time.
3. Continue heating until the milk completely curdles and you could see the whey water getting separated completely. Switch off the stove and add ice cubes immediately. We don’t want it to cook any further as it would make the Paneer hard/grainy.
4. Strain in a colander lined with muslin cloth. Wash it thoroughly with cold water to remove any sour smell or flavour.
5. Squeeze the excess water. Tie the cloth holding the corners and hang it in the sink tap for 1 hour to drain away any excess whey.
6. Now place the Paneer in a flat plate and knead it gently by rubbing it with your fingers and heels of the palm for 8 to 10 mins, until the Paneer becomes soft and smooth, and leaves out some fat. It should form a dough now.
7. Start the process for sugar syrup.
8. Take some of the mixture and make small balls without any cracks in it. You should get around 20 mini balls through this. Remember the balls will double in size when cooked, so shape accordingly.

 

For the Sugar Syrup:

1. While you are rolling the balls take a heavy saucepan or pressure cooker. Add 5 cups of water, 1 cup sugar and cardamom. Bring it to boil, sugar should dissolve completely now.
2. Now add the chenna balls slowly and bring it to a boil. Do not over crowd the vessel or the balls will break. You can instead make it in two batches. Cover the lid and cook for 8 to 10 mins or pressure cook it for 2 whistles on medium high.
3. Let Rasgullas cool down naturally and refrigerate it until the flavoured saffron milk is ready. 🙂

For the Saffron Flavoured Thick Milk:

1. Bring the milk to boil in a saucepan, reduce the heat and keep stirring for a good 15-20 mins until the milk reduces by 1/3rd quantity.
2. Now add the thick cream, sugar and cardamom. Cook for further 5-10 mins.
3. Add dissolved saffron strands and remove the saucepan from the heat. Let it cool down completely.

For Final Assembling:

1. Squeeze out any excess sugar syrup from the Rasgullas gently. To do that keep it between 2 flat ladles and press it gently.
2. Add it to the above prepared saffron milk. Garnish with Pistachio slivers.
3. Once the Rasmalai is completely cool, refrigerate it and serve chilled with some extra garnish of dry fruits ;).

 

Notes:

1. While making paneer for a sweet dish, i always prefer to use only yogurt for the curdling effect. Try not to use lemon or vinegar. And always clean under tap water well.
2. While kneading, work on the paneer on small batches by rubbing the chenna with your fingers and the heels of the palms until it becomes greasy and leaves some fat. The dough should come together easily, and should not be too soft or too hard.
3. Remember the balls will double up on cooking so accordingly size them.
4. You can follow the same recipe and make Rasmalai where the chenna balls are kept bigger in size, and you can also shape them into round balls or flat discs.
5. If you have readymade rasgullas at home then just prepare the ras/flavoured milk. And when the ras has come to room temperature, squeeze out the syrup from the rasgullas and add it to the kesar flavoured milk.
6. You can make your ras/kesar milk with different flavours such as Sitaphal, Mango, Rose etc.
7. I always prefer to test my chenna balls by just boiling 1 or 2 at first in the sugar syrup to check if it breaks while cooking or not.
8. You can add a tsp of plain flour to the dough if you think its not binding properly or the balls have cracks or if they are breaking while cooking. I never get to use them though.
9. To check if the chenna balls have cooked or not, take a bowl filled with drinking water and drop one of the cooked chenna balls in it. If it sinks in, its done. And if it’s floating, then boil for another couple of minutes.
10.  Avoid nuts if you are allergic to it.

 

Enjoy this wonderful Indian sweet. And Thank you for stopping by.

 

Love,

Priti