Ras Malai

My mother-in-law has perfected the recipe for making amazing ras malai. So, with her around, I was determined to learn the nuances of making good ras malais. It has been great fun to have my in-laws who are equally (if not more) excited and enthusiastic about experimenting and creating new dishes in the kitchen! I had a really good time making this impossibly delicious dessert with my mother-in-law who patiently walked me through each step, as I assaulted her with my stream of questions :).

Now, for the uninitiated, here is a brief introduction to ras malai. Freshly prepared Indian cottage cheese (Paneer) is formed into discs (or spheres) and cooked in rich sugar syup and then soaked in thick, flavorful milk that's infused with the our unique floral spices - cardamom and saffron. As the paneer soaks into the milk it draws all the richness and plumps into a delicacy that's both delicate and rich.

Ingredients (makes 30-40 small ras malais to comfortably serve 10)

1. Whole milk
1. 3 litres of milk (12 cups of milk) to make the paneer
2. 1.25 litres of milk (5 cups of milk) to reduce and soak the paneer
2. Juice of 3 lemons (or 3-4 cups whey extracted from a previous paneer preparation. The whey must be at least 36 hours old)
3. Sugar
1. 1.5 cups of sugar for the sugar syrup
2. ½ cup of sugar to add to the reduced milk
4. pinch of saffron (diluted in warm milk for better absorption of flavors)
5. ½ teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
6. a handful of chopped almonds and pistachios

Preparation:

1. In a large, heavy bottomed vessel, bring to boil 12 cups of whole milk. Take care to stir the milk regularly to avoid it from scalding and sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the milk begins to froth and rise, turn down the heat, and add the juice of 3 lemons (or 3-4 cups whey water if you have some)
2. Keep stirring on low heat until the milk curdles (this will take just a few seconds. If the milk doesn’t curdle, add some more lemon juice). The curdled milk will have solid milk fats separating from the whey.
3. Strain the curdled milk through a cheese cloth to collect the paneer (cheese) at the top. The whey will collect at the bottom. Tie the cheese cloth containing the paneer into a tight knot and let it hang over a colander, or sit atop the colander until all/most of the whey drips down.
4. The paneer has to retain a little bit of moisture. So, after 15-20 minutes of straining, remove all the paneer and knead well until the fat in it oozes and coats your palm. Make small/medium-sized discs from the paneer and keep separately.
5. Heat/boil 5 cups of whole milk until it is thick and almost half its volume. I heated the milk on medium-high heat for about 50 minutes, stirring constantly until it reduced. When the milk thickens, add ½ - ¾ cup of sugar depending on your love for sugar (I would advise ½ cup). Stir the sugar well and continue to heat for an additional 5 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Then, remove from heat, add saffron and cardamom and stir well.
6. As the milk takes it time to boil and reduce, simultaneously prepare the sugar syrup. Dissolve 1.5 cups of sugar in 3.5 cups of water taken in a wide and fairly deep skillet. When the sugar is dissolved, start heating on medium-high heat until the sugar syrup begins to bubble and boil.
7. When the syrup boils, reduce the heat to medium, and add the prepared paneer discs. Boil and cook the paneer discs in the sugar syrup for 30-35 minutes on medium heat. Do not stir or agitate the paneer discs for they may break. The paneer discs will swell and absorb the sugar syrup during the cooking. When the paneer is cooked, turn off the heat and add a splash of room temperature water to the syrup to make sure the cooked paneer regains some moisture and doesn’t become hard.
8. After cooking the paneer in the syrup, remove them from the syrup and add to the reduced milk. Do not add the sugar syrup. Reserve the syrup for any other sweet or pudding. Garnish the rasmalai with chopped nuts.
9. Let the ras malai soak for 5-8 hours in the milk before serving. I realized that it makes a pretty discernible difference if the ras malai is allowed to soak. The longer it soaks, the tastier it is! It's well worth the wait.

And it was well worth the time in the kitchen! An indulgent treat :)