Rasmalai

Rasmalai has been my favorite sweet since childhood and it came out very well in my first attempt which was about two years back. I tried it again after a long craving and it dint let me down. Came out as yummy as it looks.

Makes 20


Ingredients for Rasmalai Patties:

6 cups milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cups sugar
5 cups water
Pressure cooker

Ingredients for Milk mixture:

4 cups of milk
2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar (adjust to your taste)
1/8 teaspoon crush cardamom
1 tablespoon sliced almonds and pistachios to garnish

Method:

Paneer:

-Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed over medium-high heat, stirring frequently making sure milk do not burn on the bottom of the pan.
-As the milk comes to a boil, add the lemon juice slowly and stir the milk gently. The curd will start separting from the whey, turn off the heat.
-Once the milk fat has separated from the whey, drain the whey using a strainer line with cheesecloth or muslin cloth.
-Wrap the curd in a muslin cloth, rince under cold water, and squeeze well.
This process takes out the sourness from the lemon.
-To take out the excess water squeeze the cloth. Taking the right amount of water out of the paneer is the most important part of this recipe.
-To check if enough water is out of the paneer, take a little piece of paneer on your palm and rub with your fingers. After rubbing the paneer for about 15-20 seconds, you should be able to make a firm but smooth ball.
-If the paneer is too dry, add a few drops of water, using the water squeezed from the paneer.
-Once the paneer is drained, knead the paneer for 3-4 minutes until the paneer is almost rolls into smooth soft dough.
-Knead the paneer by dragging the palm of your hand hard on the paneer.

Making the Rasmalai:

-Divide the dough into equal parts and roll them in smooth balls and flatten them a little.
-Mix the sugar and water in a pressure cooker on medium high heat and bring to a boil.
-Add the paneer balls and close the pressure cooker. After the pressure cooker starts steaming, turn the heat to medium and cook for about seven minutes.
-Make sure the cooker is large enough to accommodate the finished patties, as they will expand to about double in the volume while cooking in the syrup!
-Close the heat and wait a few minutes befor opening the pressure cooker.
-Take out the patties from the syrup and squeeze them lightly,and keep aside.
-Boil the milk in a frying pan on medium heat until the milk reduce to about 2 cups.
-Make sure to frequently stir the milk as the milk burns easily in bottom of the pan.
- Add the sugar and the Rasmalai patties in milk. Let it cook for few minutes.
-Add the cardamom and mix in. Garnish with sliced almonds and pistachios.

Serve the Rasmalai chilled.