Everyone Loves Rasmalai

Rasmalai
Everyone Loves Rasmalai
Rasmalai
Everyone Loves Rasmalai

My early memories of rasmalai are of my mother in our kitchen challenging the notion that  rasmalai is not rasgullas added to malai.  In her opinion, pressing rasgullas and draining water out doesn’t lead to exactly the kind of chenna balls you would like in your  rasmalai.  Somehow, she was always of the view that the excess sugar which goes inside the rasgullas makes them unsuitable when mixed with malai.

A lot of people would argue that this is the way to make quick rasmalai at home. My take is that rasgullas are anyway a great dish, and if in a hurry, should be served by themselves.  Rasmalai tastes very well when the chenna is tweaked with saffron at the stage of making the base for rasmalai.  In this case, the rasmalai retains the softness and airy feel and is still dominated by the saffron’s flavor and color.  When you do this, you don’t get a rasmalai where the ras ( liquid or juice) has a saffron base but the chenna balls are white from inside.

Rasmalai tastes awesome when not too many ingredients are added to it.  Keep the ingredients limited to good quality cheena, malai (the thin variety), green cardamom powder, chopped pistachio slices, sugar powder and a hint of cinnamon.

The best way to serve rasmalai is to put it in the freezer for 1/2 an hour to ensure that the cheena balls as well as the juice are chilled.  The problem with this dish is that it can taste horrible if not served cold and is totally spoiled if  frozen.  Once frozen, any attempt to defrost it and get it back to its normal, juicy self is a bad idea.

Pick up any recipe on the net and keep the above points in mind.  Enjoy!