It’s the time of the year, when there are celebrations everywhere and everyone is in the joyful mood. Festivals bring positivity in our lives and Diwali is one such Indian festival which we celebrate. It brings in enlightenment with it. Diwali means the complete celebration and welcoming the good omen in our lives, which starts with cleaning of the house, removing old things and buying something new as replacement. It is about decorating our houses with multi-hued lights. It is about decadent sweets and food which we exchange with our loved ones. It is about following the rituals and being traditional. And that is what we’ve done here on The White Ramekins too. We’ve always celebrated our Diwali with making some homemade delicacies every year. While we were contemplating about what to be cooked this time, we thought to go traditional. We wanted to make something Indian, something we know would be loved by our family and friends ones too. Rasmalai is one such decadent sweet which everyone in our family enjoys to the bits. For the uninitiated, Rasmalai is Bengali Indian traditional sweet which is basically cottage cheese (traditionally called Chenna) dumplings cooked and soaked in reduced milk, which is made fragrant with Saffron and mix of nuts. Milk, saffron and nuts are quintessential ingredients of Indian sweets which make them so amazing, that you just can’t resist having them. The good thing about making sweets at home is that you can keep a check on the purity of ingredients and also keep them as sweet as you like, still maintaining the deliciousness. If you haven’t yet thought about what are you going to make, we would definitely recommend you to try this. And we bet, you’d love it too, the way we do. With this sweet note and recipe, we wish you a very happy and prosperous Diwali to you and your loved ones. Stay blessed!
- 3 liter full fat milk
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 + 1/3 cups sugar
- 5 cups water
- 3 tsp all purpose flour
- a pinch of baking soda
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- 1 tsp saffron threads
- 1/4 cup cashews
- 1/4 cup blanched almonds, flaked or slivered
- 1/4 cup blanched pistachio kernels, unsalted
- Take one liter milk in a heavy bottomed pan and bring it to boil. Add saffron threads, cardamom powder and let it simmer on a very low heat, until milk is reduced to half. Keep stirring every now and then till the milk is getting reduced.
- Once milk is reduced to half, pulse 1/3 cup sugar and cashew nuts in a food processor to make a fine powder. Add to the reduced milk and let it simmer for another five minutes. Turn off the flame.
- While the milk is getting reduced, make chenna by boiling remaining 2 liter milk in another heavy bottomed saucepan. Turn off the heat, once milk starts to boil. Add lemon juice and stir. Let it sit for five minutes. Milk will coagulate and separate from the whey.
- Strain the milk curdles (chenna) in a big strainer lined with muslin cloth. Run the chenna under cold water thoroughly, so that it gets cooled and any lemony flavor gets removed. Hang the muslin cloth tied to the kitchen tap for 30 minutes, or until the extra whey drains out. Remove the chenna from the muslin cloth into a bowl, keeping a note that it should not be too dry nor should have excessive moisture.
- Add baking soda and all purpose flour to the chenna and mix well to combine. Start kneading the chenna with the help of heels of your palm, giving enough pressure, so that it starts turning into a pliable dough. Knead the chenna, until it is easily rollable into small round dumplings.
- Taking about one tbsp of dough, roll into small round dumplings, ensuring a smooth surface on the balls.
- In a large vessel with lid, boil 5 cups water with 1 cup sugar.
- Once the sugar is dissolved and the water starts to boil, add the dumplings. Cover with lid and cook on high heat. While adding chenna dumplings to the boiling syrup, ensure that vessel is not overly filled. There should be enough gap between the chenna dumplings, as they would expand once cooked. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove the cooked chenna dumplings from the syrup. Squeeze them gently with the help of a spoon and add them to the reduced milk cooked previously. Add 2-3 tbsp plain water to the boiling syrup, before adding the next batch of dumplings. Repeat until entire batch is done.
- Garnish with slivered almonds and pistachios and let chill in fridge for 5-6 hours before serving.