Rasmalai step-by-step recipe with photos.
About this recipe
Rasmalai is a Bengali sweet dish that is very popular in India. The creamy cousin of rasgulla, rasmalai is a delight for anyone with a sweet tooth. Ras means juice and malai means cream. The marriage of cottage cheese balls (also called chana) cooked in sugar syrup and thickened creamy milk is heavenly. The juicy chana balls dunked in the chilled creamy milk, the aroma of saffron, the textures of nuts – it will take you to a dreamland.
The first step to make rasmalai is to make the rasgulla – freshly prepared cottage cheese cooked in sugar syrup. I curdle the milk using lemon juice to get chana, blitz it, shape it, and cook in thin sugar syrup. I then boil some more milk and simmer it until it gets thick. And finally, bring the two together to make this delicious dish called rasmalai. Do try it and let me know how you like it.
Check the recipe to make rasgulla here.
Step by step instructions
1. Boil milk and curdle it using lemon juice.
2. Drain the whey to get 'chana'.
3. Process it lightly in a mixie.
4. Shape it into small flat discs.
5. Simmer the discs in sugar syrup until done.
6. Gently squeeze out excess syrup from discs.
7. Boil milk and simmer to reduce it. Add sugar and saffron strands.
8. Add to the thickened milk and simmer for a few minutes
9. Let it chill in the refrigerator before serving
Recipe card
Rasmalai
Ingredients
FOR THE RASMALAI BALLS:
- 1 liter milk
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 cups water
- 1 teaspoon plain flour
FOR THE RAS:
- 500 mL milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
- A few strands saffron
- 3-4 pistachio chopped, for garnish
- 3-4 almonds chopped, for garnish
Instructions
TO MAKE THE RASMALAI BALLS:
- Place the milk in a thick bottom pan and bring to boil
- Pour in the lemon juice stirring continuously and turn off the heat. Let it sit for a minute. At this stage, the milk curdles and whey separates from it
- Take a muslin cloth or cheesecloth into a colander and pour the curdled milk into it
- Squeeze out excess water and let the cottage cheese/chana cool completely. At this stage, the cottage cheese will be very crumbly
- Put the cottage cheese into a food processor or mixie along with 1 teaspoon plain flour. Process until it comes together and is soft, about a minute (the flour is just to bind the cottage cheese together. Don’t add more than mentioned flour else the rasgullas will lose the taste)
- Make small flat balls with this chana
- In a thick bottom pan, add water and sugar together and bring to boil. Let the sugar dissolve completely
- Add the cottage cheese balls into the syrup and cover the pan. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until completely cooked and almost double in size
TO MAKE THE RAS:
- Place the milk in a thick bottom pan and bring to boil
- Reduce the flame and let it simmer until it becomes thick and reduces to almost half. Keep stirring occasionally
- Add sugar and saffron strands. Simmer until the sugar dissolves completely
TO MAKE RASMALAI:
- Take the rasmalai balls out of the sugar syrup and gently squeeze it to remove excess syrup (don’t squeeze too hard, else they will lose their softness)
- Slowly drop them into the simmering milk
- Simmer for 2-3 minutes
- Turn off the flame and let it cool
- Refrigerate and serve chilled
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