Monday, July 21, 2008

Simple and quick Rasmalai ( Milk based Indian sweet )

Rasmalai is one of many famous sweets that originated from Bengal a state in the eastern region of India.Like a lot of sweets from that region it is milk based and is normally mildly sweet.
Normally this sweet is made by an elaborate process of boiling milk,pouring lemon or vinegar in it and when the cheese separates to roll it and put this in sugar syrup and then finally removing from sugar syrup and putting it into milk syrup. Whew...just listing the steps makes me tired :)

Anyway this recipe of mine is an adaptation of two different recipes I got,one each from an aunt and a cousin.I have made this numerous times and it always turns out well.This is a good dessert to make while entertaining as it can be made ahead of time and it is always such a success.


Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make the easy rasamalai recipe

1 Fat free Ricotta cheese 15 oz container
1/4 cup dry non fat milk powder
1/2 cup Sugar
3/4 tsp cardamom powder

For the syrup
2 cup fat free half and half
5-6 tsp sugar
3 pinches of saffron strands
1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Preheat oven at 350 deg F

Mix the first four ingredients ( the cheese, milk powder, sugar and cardamom powder) well and put this in an oven proof glass dish and bake for about 40 mins.Take care not to spread the mixture too thin as it may brown

(To check the mixture to see if done ,take a small part of the cheese in a spoon,cool slightly and try to roll this between your fingers,if you are able to roll this it means the mixture is ready.)(The mixture will look creamy at this point)

Remove from the oven and cool slightly.

Simultaneously in a heavy bottomed pan heat the fat free half and half on a low/medium heat and add the sugar,the cardamom powder and the saffron strands stirring continuously.

When the half and half is heated,does not have to boil,take off from the stove and keep aside.

Roll the cheese into small lemon sized balls and flatten it.

Place this in a deep serving dish and pour the half and half milk on top of this.The milk should cover the balls completely.

Cool and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Serve chilled

This recipe yields about 16 pieces of rasmalai.

Notes:I used a glass dish that is about 10 X 14 inches in size and I needed about 40 minutes to bake the rasmalai. If you use a smaller dish you may need to bake longer.Baking times vary depending on size and material of baking dish so do keep that in mind while baking the rasmalai and check frequently on your first attempt.

While on the subject of sweets,what can be sweeter than an acknowledgement of friendship.Sowmya of Creative Saga has given a Friendship award to me.



Thank you so much Sowmya,I am truly honored.I would like to pass this award on to Trupti, Diksha, The Taste tinkerer, Karuna , Rashmi, Madhavi, Mitr and Mahimaa

24 comments :

karuna said...

awwww, that is sooo sweet of u. thank u sooo very much. that is indeed a very warm gesture. thanks once again

Unknown said...

wow..rasmalai looks delicious...lot of bloggers have made this..most of hem with chenna/paneer..want to try them..

Unknown said...

Rasmalai looks yummy....I didn't try it yet ...will try this one!
hey thanks for the award again :)

Jaishree Iyer said...

Rasmalai looks delicious...I tried once..

ST said...

Rasmalai looks delicious and yummy..... didn't try it yet ...will try this one!

Anonymous said...

Thanx for your lovely comment Usha!
Rasmalai recipe is just mouth watering. And its the favorite of everyone.

mitr_bayarea said...

Usha-

Thanks very much for the award, it has been great to expand the blog network by getting to know more folks like you.

Sagari said...

nice recipe usha,pic looks yummm

Usha said...

Thanks a lot for all your comments,
Karuna,Sowmya,Diksha,Myviews and Sireesha

Usha said...

Thanks for dropping by and your comments,Lothi,Mitr and Sagari :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Usha,

Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving such a warm and inspiring comment! It’s amazing how much of our lives our mothers tend to touch even when they can’t be with us physically, isn’t it?!
You have a very creative and inspiring blog yourself; I look forward to being a regular visitor there! Mor Upma sounds equally fascinating; and even better, healthier! I shall be sue to try it out.

Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

So sweet of you, Usha- thanks! I am flattered an honored!

Interesting that you posted a recipe for Rasmalai- I'm in the process of doing the same...I took the difficult route though (you're smart!!) and decided to make it from scratch- watch out for mine..

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

hey usha , thanks a lot for the award..iam glad. i will put it in my blog sometime..now iam in india.. i dont get to access net much here.

EC said...

Wow...shortcut to a tasty dessert...great

Usha said...

Hi Anu,I agree, our mothers do tend to be a strong influence on us even when they are not physically present with us.

I enjoyed my visit to your blog too.

Thanks so much for your comments,I am looking forward to you being a regular visitor too,do try the mor upma,it tastes very yummy :)

Usha said...

Hi Taste tinkerer,we seem to think similarly often, remember what I said about the masala vadai,
looking forward to checking out your made from scratch rasmalai.Thanks

Usha said...

Thanks Mahimaa,hope you are having fun in India

Usha said...

Thanks EC

Madhavi said...

WOW awesome ras malai, mouthdrooling entry!!!

Congratulations on ur award and thank you so much for passin' on to me :))

FewMinute Wonders said...

Hi Usha,

Thank you for all the comments in my blog. Its nice to see healthy food being prepared. Could you please time the baking next time so that I can take it out at the right time. Thank you so much. I have never heard of half and half that is non-fat.wow! i would love to see how that would taste.

Usha said...

Thanks for dropping by Srimathi,as I mention in the recipe it took me about 40 mins to bake this mixture,I have not used the regular half and half only the non fat one so I am not able to compare the tastes of the two,but this one is nice seems creamy enough and does the job well in this dish.

Usha said...

Thanks Madhavi :)

Priya Suresh said...

Lovely work Usha...fortunately i hav ricotta cheese rite now..will try it soon..

Anonymous said...

nice post. thanks.

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