Ras Malai

Make fresh paneer (chenna) using 1-litre milk and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Take a clean muslin cloth or cheesecloth and tie chenna in it. Squeeze it gently to remove excess water and hang it over the hook (or tap) for around 30-45 minutes to drain the excess water.

After 10-15 minutes untie muslin cloth and transfer chenna to a plate.

Crumble the chenna with hand. It should be crumbly yet little moist. If it has too much moisture, rasmalai may break while cooking. To remove excess moisture, press chenna gently between paper napkins.

Mash and knead crumbled chenna with hand until it comes together and turns into dough. Stop kneading when your palm starts to turn greasy.

Divide it into equal portions. Make a small ball from each portion, press it gently between your palms to flatten it and turn into round pattie as shown it the photo. Pattie should be thick; do not press it too much otherwise it may turn thin from sides and it will break from sides while cooking.

Take 4 cups water and 1½ cups sugar in a deep pan or in a pressure cooker and start to heat over medium flame. Stir water with spatula to dissolve the sugar completely. When it comes to rolling boil, gently slide all patties (one piece at a time) from the side.

Cover pan with a lid (if using pressure cooker, remove whistle and rubber ring from the lid and then cover it) and boil for 5-minutes over medium flame. After about 5-minutes, open the lid and flip each pattie gently with a spatula.

Size of the pattie increases to almost double after cooking in sugar syrup. 

Transfer it gently to a large bowl and let it cool to room temperature for 1-2 hours. After that drain each pattie and press gently between two spoons to remove excess sugar syrup.

Lets start to make Rabri – pour 1-litre milk in a heavy based pan, boil it and add saffron strands.

Cook until its quantity reduces to half; Mix 1-teaspoon of corn flour with 1 tablespoon water and make sure that it doesn’t have any lumps. Add 3-tablespoons sugar, corn flour-water mixture and 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder.

Add drained patties and chopped pistachio. Cook for 4-5 minutes. This helps pattie absorb the milk and get the flavor from inside as well.

Cool to room temperature and then place it in refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours. Serve chilled ras malai as a dessert.