Make rasmalai from scratch

As long as I can remember, I studied in a boarding school. So coming home during vacations meant that I would be pampered with delicious food prepared by mom. The pampering was such that I didn’t even have to go to the kitchen.

My life changed when I got married and moved to Bengaluru from Madurai. I realised that I had to start cooking. Just before the big day, I spent time learning to make rasam and sambar; I took down the recipes in a small notebook too. When I finally shifted base, I followed those recipes and whenever I had a doubt, I would ring up my mother or sister to help me out.

My husband is a big seafood fan. When he first brought home fish to cook, we were quite excited. But that turned out to be a big flop show as I wasn’t sure how much tamarind or salt to add.

I think that my cooking started to get better after my husband’s friends started coming over on weekends. The first time they came home, I made rasam which was very bad. But they were nice about it and didn’t complain at all.

Since then, my cooking skills have improved a lot. I have my own blog called ‘Laksmi Cookbook’. My 16-year-old daughter, Tharini, helps me run it. She’s always there to click pictures and take care of the backend work. It’s a fun project that we both thoroughly enjoy doing.

As a homemaker, I’m always on the lookout to make good food for my children. My children love it when I make ‘Rasmalai’ at home. What makes my version special is that I make everything from scratch. It’s definitely a long process but the results are worth it.

Hope you enjoy making it at home too.

Rasmalaai

Recipe: Rasmalaai

For Rasgulla

Ingredients

- Milk, 1 litre

- Lemon juice from one full lemon

- Sugar, 1 cup

- Water, 1 cup

- Saffron, a pinch (for garnish)

- Pista, 5 to 6 (cut into small pieces, for garnish)

For Rasmalai

- Homemade rasgullas, 18 to 20

- Full cream milk, 1 litre

- Milkmaid, ½ tin (200 gms)

- Saffron, a pinch

- Cardamom powder, ¼ tsp

- Cashews, 6 to 8 (cut into small pieces)

- Pista, 6 to 8 (cut into small pieces)

- Almonds, 6 to 8 (cut into small pieces)

To make Rasgulla

Method

- Boil 1 litre of milk in a vessel.

- When it starts boiling start adding the lemon juice. Add a spoon first and see if the milk curdles. If not, add a little more.

- Keep boiling the milk in medium flame. Within three to four minutes the milk will fully curdle. Switch off the flame.

- Use a muslin cloth and strain the whey water. Keep the whey water aside.

- Pour a glass of cold water over the chena (paneer obtained from curdling the milk.), to remove the smell of lemon. Squeeze the muslin cloth and remove the excess water from the chena. Take care that some amount of moisture is still there in chena.

- Immediately, when the chena is still warm, transfer it to a plate. Use the edge of your palm and start pressing the chena. This will make it soft. You need to keep pressing for 10 minutes.

- Add a cup of sugar and a cup of water to a cooker pan. Let it boil in low flame until the sugar dissolves.

- In the meanwhile start making small balls with the chena. By the time you finish making the balls, the sugar would have dissolved.

- Add all the chena balls to the sugar syrup. Close the lid. Cook for one whistle. Switch off immediately.

- The rasgulla balls would have doubled in size. Transfer it to a container and garinsh with saffron and pistas.

To make Rasmalai

- Heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan or kadai. Let it boil in medium flame and take care that the milk doesn’t get burnt at the bottom.

- Soak saffron in a tablespoon of hot milk. Keep ready.

- Keep stirring the milk at regular intervals and let it reduce to half the quantity.

- Now add milkmaid and saffron soaked milk to the boiling milk. Stir well.

- Squeeze the sugar syrup from the rasgullas and add it to the boiling milk.

- Add all the chopped nuts and cardamom powder. Keep in low flame for two minutes.

- Switch off the flame. Let it cool down. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Lakshmipriya S