Rasmalai/Indian Cottage Cheese In Saffron Infused Thickened Milk

As most Indians out there, me too enjoy my indian sweets. Being a sweet tooth, i always end up making desserts at home for family and friends.  Dessert is my favorite on a buffet table. Who can blame me? Born to a man who shares a same passion for dessert but, my dad loves indian sweets while his daughter gulp everything made with sugar from Indian to Western desserts. I always wanted to try my hands on making rasmalai at home but postponed it for quite sometimes, thanks to the awful experience of my first rasmalai serving in a local restaurant where i ended up making up my mind to try it at home. Their rasmalai tastes nothing than crumbled milk powder and corn flour thickened milk. Originally, rasmalai made of paneer or indian cottage cheese served with reduced milk infused with saffron and topped with nuts.  I'm making my rasmalai from scratch and believe me, the final product worth the effort


Ingredients

For Rasmalai Patties

4 cups whole milk
4 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar



For Milk

3 cups whole milk
3-4 cardamom pods, crushed
2 tablespoon  granulated white sugar
1 tbsp sliced almonds


Methods

For Rasmalai Patties

Boil the 4 cups milk in a large pot, once boil add lemon juice and stir. When the milk starts to curdle, switch off the flame and strain the curdled milk using a cheese cloth.

Hang the cheese cloth for 30 minutes or till all the liquid drains out. Knead the paneer by hand to smoothen it out. Divide the paneer into 12 equal patties.

Dissolve the sugar in the water and gently add the paneer patties.Cook for 1-2 minutes or till the patties floats at the surface. Switch off the flame and let the paneer in the sugar syrup for 5 minutes.

Remove the patties with spoon and cool them in a plate.


For Milk

On a low flame boil the milk, add the saffron strands and stir. The milk has to be reduced to half the quantity of its original. Add sugar and crushed cardamom pods and stir well.

Gently squeeze out the sugar syrup from the paneer. Drop the paneer patties into the reduced milk and garnish with chopped almonds and serve chilled