Rashmalai (Dessert)

This is a fun dessert recipe. Why? Because... it's a 3 in 1 dessert! Rashmalai is a popular sweet dish in the South Asian countries. To make Rashmalai you have to make Rashgolla, which is also a very popular sweet dish. To make Rashgolla you will need to make 'Chaana' (curdled milk), which is also served as dessert in various forms. Chaana is used to make a number of sweet dishes such as- rashgolla, rashmalai, shandesh, chomchom etc (these are popular sweet dishes in South Asian countries).

Anyways, it takes a while (10-15 hours!) to prepare this dessert and it's worth the waiting so give it a try.

To make Rashamalai you will have to make curdled milk, then rashgolla and finally rashmalai. Ingredients of each recipe has been listed below.

Curdled milk:

• Fresh milk - 1 liter,
• White vinegar - 4 tbsp,
• Water - 4 tbsp.

Rashgolla:

• Sugar - 1 cup,
• Cardamom - 2-3,
• All purpose flour - 1 tbsp.

Rashmalai:

• Fresh milk - 0.5 liter,
• Sugar - 1 tbsp.

Add 1 liter milk in a pot and mix 4 tbsp of white vinegar with 4 tbsp of water in a cup.

Heat milk and bring to boil.

As soon as the milk starts to boil add the white vinegar-water mixture to the milk and take the milk off from the cooker. In just a few seconds the milk will become curdled. Wait for 5 minutes.

Use a filter spoon to filter the curdled milk from the water,

Try to filter as much water as possible.

Keep the curdled milk in a dry place for 2-3 hours.

Add 1 tbsp of all purpose flour, 1 tbsp of sugar and 0.25 tsp of cardamom powder to the curdled milk (chaana).

Mix and knead them really well.

Make equally sized balls (the size of the balls depend on your choice). I made 20.

Place the curdled milk balls on a flat plate while preparing the sugar syrup.

Add 2.5 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar in a sauce pan,

Heat the sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved and bring to boil,

As soon as the sugar syrup starts boiling bring heat to low.

Pour the curdled milk balls into the sugar syrup one by one carefully,

Keep them on low heat for 8-10 minutes (not more than 10 minutes),

Now, take the sauce pan off from heat and cool them. Keep them in the sugar syrup for an hour.

The chaana balls are kept in the sugar syrup if you want to serve them as Rashgolla but since we're making Rashmalai we'll filter the syrup from the chaana balls and keep them in a dry place while preparing the malai.

Add 0.5 liter fresh milk and 1 tbsp sugar in a sauce pan,

Heat milk in medium heat,

Stir frequently until the milk is really thick and creamy. This will take about 15-20 minutes.

Cut cashew nuts and raisins into small pieces,

Add the malai into the chaana balls with a round soup spoon until all the balls are covered with malai.

Keep them in the refrigerator and take them out after an hour.

Sprinkle the cashew nut and raisin slices over the Rashmalai and serve. You'll love this dessert, it's sweet, creamy and delicious! Enjoy :)