Rasmalai

Happy New year to all!
Here is a famous and delicious Indian dessert to welcome the New year.  Usually rasmalai is prepared from scratch.  But  I have used Gits ready made rasmalai mix here and explained the authentic method too.

The pack contains two sachets. One is for the chenna and the other contains nuts / thickeners to add to milk. Prepare chenna as per directions and make flat balls. Cook them in hot water (in LOW HEAT and kept open). In the same time prepare sugar syrup and immerse the cheese balls in it for 10 minutes.

Now start boiling the required quantity of milk in a broad vessel and add the contents of next sachet. Add the soaked rasgullas to the milk mixture and let it cool.Yields 16 rasmalai. Keep refrigerated overnight and serve chilled.

                    Authentic method:

Below is the traditional procedure I follow. The readymade version will not call for much effort, whereas this authentic procedure will yield more stiff and delicious rasmalais:)

                         Step 1

Ingredients:

Milk (full fat) - 1 litre (5 cups)
AP flour (maida) - 2 tsp
Lemon - 1
(or)vinegar - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Water - 1 cup
Rose essence - 3 drops
(or)cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Boil milk in a vessel.
Squeeze the lemon and mix 1/2 cup water to the juice.
Add the lemon juice / vinegar to the boiling milk and stir slowly.
Put off heat.
Now the milk gets curdled to form paneer (a cheese variety).

Place a cheese cloth / new white cloth over the strainer and pour the curdled milk.
Pour some cold water to remove the lemon's sourness.
Squeeze out all the water and make a bundle using the cloth. Place it on the strainer or hang over a kitchen sink to loose all the water content.
Let it remain in this position for 45 mins to 2 hours , depending upon the quantity.

The hard cheese we get is called chenna. We can buy it in Indian grocery stores also.

Now knead the chenna to make a smooth dough. Add flour and knead again.

Make small balls of equal size of 1.5 cm diameter approximately, flatten it slightly and keep aside.

In another vessel mix sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to boil.

Once it starts boiling add the chenna balls and cook covered for 30 minutes (with lid partially open and in LOW HEAT).

The rasagulla will become double the size.

Drop one ball in cold water and if it sinks to the bottom , then it is cooked well.
If not so , then cook for another 5 minutes.

Switch off flame.

                    Step 2
Whole Milk - 1/2 liter
condensed milk - 4 tbsp
sugar - 6 tbsp
cardamom (powdered)- 5
pistachio - 5
Almond - 10
saffron - few strands

Soak the almond overnight and remove the skin. Grind it to a fine paste.
Bring the milk to a boil, add the almond paste. Switch off and add the cardamom powder, sugar, chopped pistachio and saffron.

Take the rasgulla from sugar syrup and immerse them in this milk sauce. Refrigerate overnight and serve chilled.

Serving suggestions:

Makes 20 rasmalai (approximately).
Place one rasmalai in a bowl along with a generous helping of milk sauce.
Serve as dessert.



*** world4art.com - Orkut New Year scraps, graphic and comments ! ***

Rasgulla

Rasgulla / Rosgulla is a famous Indian Bengali sweet. It is usually served as dessert along with some jeera (syrup).
It is my hubby's top pick whenever we visit some Bengali sweet shop. So I prepare this often in small batches before he starts craving :)

There are two ways to make the rasgulla. The authentic version is to slow cook in a half closed pan and the modern type is to pressure cook it.
I am used to the authentic one, which my mom taught. I feel it as more safer to make soft rasgullas. My mom's recipe note book would emphasize the usage of lemon instead of vinegar and rose essence instead of cardamom. I followed her way completely and got the best result.

Here comes the well known recipe.

Chenna after straining:


Rasagulla soaked in sugar syrup:


Ingredients:
Milk (full fat) - 1 litre (5 cups)
AP flour (maida) - 2 tsp
Lemon - 1
(or)vinegar - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Water - 1 cup
Rose essence - 3 drops
(or)cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:
Boil milk in a vessel.
Squeeze the lemon and mix 1/2 cup water to the juice.
Add the lemon juice / vinegar to the boiling milk and stir slowly.
Put off heat.
Now the milk gets curdled to form paneer (a cheese variety).

(Chenna preparation is beautifully explained by Vinolia. So just click to see if you need more clarity.)

Place a cheese cloth / new white cloth over the strainer and pour the curdled milk.
Pour some cold water to remove the lemon's sourness.
Squeeze out all the water and make a bundle using the cloth. Place it on the strainer or hang over a kitchen sink to loose all the water content.
Let it remain in this position for 45 mins to 2 hours , depending upon the quantity.

The hard cheese we get is called chenna. We can buy it in Indian grocery stores also.

Now knead the chenna to make a smooth dough. Add flour and knead again.

Make small balls of equal size of 1.5 cm diameter approximately and keep aside.

In another vessel mix sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to boil.

Once it starts boiling add the chenna balls and cook covered for 30 minutes (with lid partially open).

The rasagulla will become double the size.

Drop one ball in cold water and if it sinks to the bottom , then it is cooked well.
If not so , then cook for another 5 minutes.

Switch off flame and add rose essence / cardamom powder.

Rasgulla is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve chilled as dessert.
The above said quantity is enough to make 15 - 20 rasgullas.

Tips:
Apply some ghee and roll the rasgulla balls , as the cracked ones may disintegrate quickly.
some people prefer pressure cooking the rasgulla instead of my pan method.
We can add 1/2 the quantity of sugar and some Zero calorie sweetener to get a more healthier version too.