No Fuss Rasmalai !!
Its Diwali time.. Its Festival time.. and Its a very very SWEET(s) time..
This recipe comes in handy for working moms like me, its real quick nevertheless tastes absolutely delicious at the same time. No compromise in taste, Trust me !
Rasmalai is a bengali sweet made from home made paneer (cottage cheese) and when it has got all its flavors in place, there's always a 'Party in your mouth' when you eat it. Yes, that is how much I love it..
But when you dont have time to break your milk and let it transform in to paneer, Ricotta cheese comes to your rescue. So here's the recipe
RECIPE :
Serving : makes 9 big dumplings.
Preparation Time : 10 min
Cooking Time : 30 min
Cooling Time : 45 min to 1 hour
Ingredients :
For the Dumplings :
1. Part Skim / Whole Ricotta Cheese** - 16 oz. (Refer Notes)
2. Sugar - 1/2 Cup
3. Cardamom pods - 3
4. All purpose Flour - 3 tsp.
For the Sweetened milk :
1. Milk - 2 and 1/2 Cups.
2. Sugar - 1/4 Cup
3. Saffron - few strands.
4. Cardamom pods / Elaichi - 3
5. Dry Fruits - few (Optional) (For Garninshing)
Method :
Take Milk in a heavy bottomed vessel / Non-stick pan and bring it to a boil, Once it boils, lower the flame and let it condense to half of its initial quantity. This could take 25 minutes to half an hour.
Keep stirring every 5 min to make sure the milk doesnt stick to the bottom of the vessel.
When the milk is almost done (appr. in 20 mts) , add the 1/4 cup Sugar and Saffron, slightly crush the saffron to enhance its flavor. Crush the Cardamom with a Mortar and pestle and add it to the milk. In about 25-30 mts, your milk will be thickened and will be all set to take in the dumplings.
Once they turn slightly warm , refrigerate them.
Parallelly, mix the Ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup Sugar, Crushed cardamom and 3 tsp flour in a bowl, mix it well. Pre-heat your oven to 350deg F.
Once the ingredients blend well, transfer them on to a 8 inch baking tray. Even the surface and make sure the thickness is no more than half an inch approx.
Once the oven is pre-heated, place the tray on the top rack for about 25 minutes. When it is cooked, You can see it turn pale yellow and the corners slightly browned. This means its perfectly done.
At this point, just make lines to cut them in to 9 equal portions when they are hot, but don't cut them yet. Refrigerate them for an hour, take them out and now the cut pieces will separate like 'a piece of cake' ;)
Drop these delicious dumplings delicately in to the thickened milk that we prepared. Immerse all the dumplings in to the milk and refrigerate for an additional half an hour at this point.
And you're all done ! The absolutely delicious Rasmalai is ready to be served.
Tips:
If you would like to shape the rasmalai round, use the muffin tray , divide the ricotta cheese mixture in to 9 equal portions and bake them in a muffin tray.
The trays need not be greased before baking.
You could add pistachios and other dry fruits while serving.
Rasmalai is best served chilled.
If you see that the edges are browned, and you dont want your rasmalai to look brown just rip them off the edges.
I had to make 108 of this yummy rasmalais and I decided to use whole Ricotta cheese instead of Part Skim and it turned out even better.
Using aluminium foil while baking , made the separating the dumplings in to pieces much easier.
