I had made three batches of Rasgullas for a party which gave me about 72 Rasgullas. I purposely made extra Rasgullas thinking that I will make Rasmalai from the left over Rasgullas, so I can post this recipe on the blog.
Here it is, my recipe for Rasmalai. Rasmalai is much high in calorie count than that of Rasgullas, as you will see while following the recipe. You can always substitute whole milk with 1 or 2% and whipping cream with half and half, and cut down on nuts, but the calorie count still remains high as compared to rasgullas.
However, once in while it is worth to indulge in this unforgettable taste where the balls of cooked paneer (cheese) just melts in your mouth with it creamy rich base.
Ingredients:
• 30-34 Rasgullas (recipe on this blog) (can make this out of 1 ½ gallon of milk)
• 4 cups of whole milk (I used 1% as I was going to use whipping cream)
• 4 cups of fresh heavy whipping cream
• 2 cans (14 oz each) of evaporated milk
• 1 can of condensed milk
• ¼ cup of granulated sugar
• ¼ cup of raw pistachios (unsalted)
• ¼ cup of raw cashew halves (unsalted)
• ¼ cup of slivered almonds + some additional for garnish
• 1 teaspoon of freshly grounded cardamom + additional ¼ teaspoon for garnish
• ¼ Tsp Saffron strands
• Few drops of Kewra Essence (available at local Indian Grocers)
Method:
* Squeeze all the syrup out of Rasgullas and keep them aside.
* Boil the milk in a wide mouth stainless steel vessel.
* Add evaporated milk, and sugar, stir well.
* Add whipping cream and condensed milk.
* Stir intermittently and simmer the milk for 30 - 40 min until reduces to 3/4, let it simmer on medium heat, stir intermittently so it does not stick to bottom or burn.
* In the mean time, roast raw pistachios and cashew in a small frying pan on stove on medium heat until the nut emit roasting aroma. (stir constantly so they don't burn)
* Turn the heat off and let them cool.
* In a mortal and pastel crush cardamom seeds to powder.
* Take 2 table spoon of boiling milk in a bowl and add saffron strand to this small amount of milk and let them sit.
* Grind roasted nuts in food processor coarsely. Keep some pistachio aside and slice them for garnishing.
* Add all the nuts and cardamom powder to boiling milk.
* Add saffron milk to all the milk.
* Final step of the rasmalai recipe is adding the rasgullas into the cream base that you just prepared.
* Take the rasgullas that you kept aside after squeezing all the syrup out. Now add it into the hot reduced milk.
* Slowly add all rasgullas. Turn the heat off. Cover the pan/ vessel with a lid to prevent skin formation on boiled milk.
* Let it cool completely. Garnish with sliced pistachios, remaining cardamom powder and slivered almonds.
* When cool add few drops of Kewra Essence.
* Chill in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
* Serve Chilled.
Please note that the liquid with thicken a little after it is chilled, so if you like Rasmalai with more liquid you can lessen the amount of Rasgullas.
Variations and Hints:
* You may reduce the amount of nuts or completely omit all the nuts and just add cardamom and saffron to boiled milk for simple flavor of Rasmalai.
* You may boil milk longer to give little thicker consistency like Rabdi before adding Rasgullas, if you prefer the Rabdi like taste.
* One of my favorite variation is fancy fruit Rasmalai which I did not make this time. It is made by adding small quantity of finely chopped fruits (fresh apple, canned chopped peaches, canned pineapples tidbits , fresh grapes, canned mandarin wedges, pomegranate seeds, chopped strawberries and of course mango if in season.
Only thing is you would add the fruit instead of nuts, cardamom and saffron . Also you would completely chill the boiled milk and rasgullas and then add these fruits last.
Remember NOT to overload the rasmalai with fruits, because you still may want to enjoy the taste of rasgullas in milk base. Instead of using Kewra essence you may want to use mixed fruit or ice cream essence to enhance the fruity flavors.
* You can make Orange Rasmalai by only adding mandarin wedges to the milk base and omitting all the other fruit, nuts, cardamom and saffron.
* You can make Mango Rasmalai by adding some mango pulp to the cooked cooled milk and fiber-less mango chunks.
* The variations and endless, if you like figs, you can boil finely chopped pieces of (soaked dried) figs with milk and just have that as base for Anjeer Rasmalai.
* Just use your imagination and you can do so many variation of this sweet dish for example: Rose Rasmalai (by adding rose syrup to the prepared milk, Saffron Rasmalai (you would add more saffron in this case, but be cautious, overload of saffron may result in bitter taste).
* Again to cut calories, you may substitute 1 or 2% milk for whole milk and may use half and half instead of using heavy cream, but I would still use the evaporated and condensed milk to give the rich flavor of milk.
Having said that, my favorite still remains the original one that I posted here and fruit Rasmalai with all the good stuff (cream, whole milk and the works)
Enjoy!!
Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.
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