Tremendously popularly served in weddings and eaten on special occasions, ras malai is often considered a royal sweet. It originally belongs to west Bengal. A home-cooked ras malai often is a difficult task, but before getting into the making of the dish, a homemade ras malai can be challenging to master as they tend to come out hard. Therefore, many individuals prefer to purchase rasgulla from the market and use them to shorten the process. But, making ras malai at home is not difficult. To be able to get soft ras malai at home, the following recipe must be tried as it would not disappoint you. If the steps look too many then, two or more individuals can indulge in making this dish.
Ingredients
2 liter of Toned Milk (Generally Cow or Buffalo)
1 liter of the Full Fat Milk
Two tablespoons of lemon juice
Two tablespoons of Cornflour
1/8 tablespoon of Baking Powder
1 and 3/4 cup of White Sugar
5 cups of normal Water
2-3 pieces of Cardamom should be Crushed
Two tablespoons of Cashew Nuts
One tablespoon of Cardamom Powder
15-20 strands of Saffron
1/2 bowl of Rose Water
Method Of Cooking
- Take a heavy pan and pour in 4 cups of milk placed on high flame. Wait for the milk to come to a boil, after which, switch off the flame and add 1 cup of water to bring down the temperature of the boiled milk. After 5 – 10 minutes, add lemon juice till the milk curdles. Stick to the usage of only full cream/whole milk to get ras malai.
- After the milk curdles completely, strain the water and collect the chena. The chena needs to be rinsed under tap water to eliminate the trace of lemon juice in it. Give the straining process a few minutes for a successful result, and from thereon, take some chena in your hand and squeeze out the remaining water slowly and gently. Be careful to make sure that excessive squeezing does not take place otherwise;, it would make the chena dry. The product should be moist and soft despite the squeezing. If the mistake is committed, the ras malai would be hard.
- Add cornflour and start mashing the chena till it gets a smooth texture. Smash the chena for precisely 10 minutes using your palm and make small balls out of it.
- Leave the small balls and get back on the gas. Heat 1 cup sugar and 4 cups water in a wide pan and wait for it to come to an aggressive boil. Gently drop the ras malai balls in the sugar syrup formed and cook for 15 minutes. After enough exposure to the syrup, the ball must be placed in freshwater that should sink in the bottom. The ratio of the water to sugar is 4:1, which would help in getting the right sugar consistency.
- Keep the balls for cooling on one side and begin with making the thickened milk. Before beginning, soak a few strands of saffron in tablespoon warm milk and set aside
- Boil 500ml of milk in a heavy bottom pan. Once boiled, lower the flame and stir the milk at regular periods. After tentatively, 10 – 15 minutes, add sugar and shake for proper mixing.
- After 25 minutes, the milk consistency would have thickened and added in the saffron and crushed Cardamom to the milk. Take the milk off the flame.
- Afterward, take out the cooled ras malai balls from freshwater and squeeze them gently. Flatten slightly using your hands and put them in sugar syrup before putting them into the milk.
- After enough soaking of the syrup by the balls, add them to the thickened milk and freeze it in the refrigerator for 6 – 7 hours.
- Garnish it with nuts and serve cool ras malai.
Conclusion
There could be a possibility that you may have to try the recipe more than once to get it perfect as there could be mistakes committed to between steps. Many individuals have not been able to get it right the first time so; therefore, there should not be too much disappointment, however, and the corrections should be noted to avoid making the same mistake again.