Spoon and Chopsticks: Homemade Ras Malai: Sweet Indian Dessert

Homemade Ras Malai: Sweet Indian Dessert

Saturday, July 16, 2011 - Posted by Spoon and Chopsticks

Ras Malai is a famous and one of my favourite Indian sweet desserts. It is made with paneer, which is a kind of homemade cheese popular in South Asian countries. Ras Malai has a nice creamy flavour with a lovely smell of cardamom.

Ingredients for paneer patties:

3 cups full-cream milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
6 tbsp sugar
3 cups water

Ingredients for milk mixture:

2 cups full-cream milk
5 tbsp sugar or to taste
2 cardamom pods
Few pistachio nuts (optional)

Making paneer:

Boil 3 cups milk. Once the milk starts to boil, add lemon juice and stir the milk. Gradually the milk will start curdling.
Pour the milk in a cheese cloth or any thin piece of cloth. Lightly squeeze out the excess water and tie it firmly to form a pouch.

Hang it over your sink and leave it there for at least 2-3 hours to get rid of the excess water.

After 2-3 hours, paneer will be formed.

To check if the paneer is ready, take a small piece on your palm and rub it with your thumb for 15-20 seconds. Try making a ball out of it. If it forms a smooth ball, your paneer is ready.

Making paneer patties:

Put the paneer in a dry and clean surface. Using the palm, knead the paneer for about 5 minutes. This will form a smooth dough.

Roll small balls out of the dough and lightly press the balls to form a patty shape.

In a medium heat, boil sugar and water in a pressure cooker. Once the syrup is boiled, drop the paneer patties in the syrup.

Cover the pressure cooker and cook for about 7-10 minutes.
Immediately open the pressure cooker but before doing that, make sure you take the steam out from the pressure cooker.

Take the paneer patties out of the pressure cooker. Squeeze them lightly to remove excess water and keep them aside.

Making Ras Malai:

Boil the milk with cardamom on a medium heat, stirring frequently, until the milk is reduced to almost half the quantity.
Add sugar and the paneer patties in milk. Cook for 2 minutes.

Your Ras Malai is ready. It is usually served chilled and garnished with pistachio nuts or any of your favourite nuts.

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23 comments:

adorasbox said...

This is so unusual. I totally love paneer but have only had it in curries. Love the cardamom in the milk

... on July 16, 2011 at 7:46 PM

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

Cardamom is one of my favorite spices! I've never heard of this dish and it intrigues me. Your step by step on how to make the paneer patties is great - it really makes me want to get into the kitchen and make these :)

... on July 16, 2011 at 11:58 PM

purabi naha said...

Holy smokes! Those rasgullas look perfect and the rasmalai looks delishh. Perfectly creamy.
You have mastered the art of making such an authentic dessert so well! Congrats!!

... on July 17, 2011 at 1:22 AM

Unknown said...

This is so yummy...those rasgullas looks so perfectly made dipped in creamy milk...must have tasted heavenly..

... on July 17, 2011 at 3:21 AM

Nithya said...

Looks really yummy :) Home made is always the best :)

... on July 17, 2011 at 3:21 AM

Torviewtoronto said...

deliciously done ras malai looks wonderful

... on July 17, 2011 at 4:44 AM

Veronica's Kitchen said...

Cardamom and pistacho sound wonderful mixing with the dairy!

... on July 17, 2011 at 8:54 AM

Angie's Recipes said...

Very delicious! I have never had ras malai before...I would go for the chilled one with some pistachios.

... on July 17, 2011 at 6:58 PM

Umm Mymoonah said...

I love this dessert any time, looks absolutely delicious.

... on July 17, 2011 at 9:57 PM

cooking varieties (wan maznah said...

Hi spoon n chopstick.. many thanks for your visit. Lately I have been exposed to a lot of Indian origin dishes comparatively.
Right now I also get to learn another Indian dish from an Australian… thank you :) am quite keen to try this manageable recipe of yours which looks delicious with the "cheese"

... on July 17, 2011 at 10:34 PM

Unknown said...

I heard of this didh but never tried it. looks great.

... on July 18, 2011 at 8:50 AM

briarrose said...

Such a fun recipe. Love it.

... on July 18, 2011 at 9:28 AM

Loveandcalories said...

This is perfect!! The paneer rounds have come so absolute spot on!!

... on July 18, 2011 at 5:02 PM

Daksha said...

Wow! mouthwatering Ras malai looks yummmm. Thanks for sharing this.

... on July 18, 2011 at 9:30 PM

Nish said...

My favourite indian dessert! Thanks for sharing, it looks so delish!

... on July 19, 2011 at 6:59 PM

Quay Po Cooks said...

I think I have this dessert before at my ex boss's house. Interesting to see how this is made.

... on July 19, 2011 at 9:23 PM

claire gallam said...

This is very interesting but looks so good!

... on July 20, 2011 at 3:01 AM

Raquel @ Erecipe said...

wow this looks really delicious, I am not familiar with Indian dessert, but in the photo I know it is really creamy and delicious =)

... on July 21, 2011 at 3:25 PM

Unknown said...

Perfectly done and luv the stepwise too...looks very tempting

... on July 28, 2011 at 5:00 PM

Unknown said...

these have turned out PERFECTLY delicious!

... on July 29, 2011 at 2:10 AM

Lola Lobato said...

Great recipe! I like mine with pistachios

... on August 11, 2011 at 5:19 AM

mjskit said...

I've always wanted to make paneer! Thanks so much for the recipe and such a great pictorial of the process!

... on August 27, 2011 at 7:28 AM

abraham said...

Looks really yummy .... i have made this several time and the more i make it the more i like it....

... on October 30, 2011 at 11:26 AM

Spoon and Chopsticks

Homemade Ras Malai: Sweet Indian Dessert

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