Tricolor Rasmalai

Posted on January 25, 2016 Updated on April 21, 2017

Rasmalai is a very rich and classic Bengali sweet made up of paneer dumplings which are dunked in a creamy and sweet milk sauce which is flavored with cardamom ,saffron with toppings of nuts.

This Republic day my daughter was very much excited about flag hoisting and I wanted to add more fun to her excitement by preparing “tri color rasmalai”.
She really enjoyed having these ras malai of tricolor and this way we simply enjoyed our freedom having these yummy tricolor Rasmalai.

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cooking Time: 35 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Milk – 2 litre
Condensed milk – 200 ml
Lemon Extract – 2 Tbsp
Sugar – 250 gm
Water – 9 Cups
Vanilla or Rose Essence – 1/4 tsp
Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp
Saffron strands – few
Green and orange food color – few drops
Almonds – 8 to 10 finely chopped
Pistachio – 8 to 10 finely chopped

Directions || How to prepare rasmalai syrup
Place 1 litre of milk in a saucepan and add sugar, cardamon powder, saffron strands into it.

Bring to a boil, then simmer on a low flame.

Stir occasionally and wait until it reduces to half of its original volume.

Now add condensed milk, half of the chopped nuts and simmer on low flame.

Stir occasionally and keep an eye on the pan.

In the meantime prepare Rasmalai discs.
Directions || How to prepare rasmalai discs.
First add 1itre of milk in a clean vessel and bring it to boil. Do stir in between to avoid burnt bottom.

Mix 2 Tbsp water to the lemon extract and keep it aside.

Once the milk starts to boil, turn off the flame. Start adding the lemon extract to the milk, little by little at regular intervals and keep stirring.

The milk will start curdling. Let the curdled milk rest for 5 minutes.

Now take a clean muslin/cotton cloth and place it in a strainer. Pour the curdled milk into the cloth.

The water (Whey) will get drained and the milk solids would remain in the cloth.

Now run the milk solids under cold water, to remove the sourness of the lemon.

Now gather the sides of the cloth and squeeze the milk solids to remove excess water.

Set this packet over the strainer or just hang this cloth for 30 mins, so that the excess water gets drained off.

The resulting product from this step is paneer / Indian cottage cheese and used in various Indian cuisines.

Now, remove the paneer from the cloth and start kneading it using your palms for 10 minutes.

Divde the dough into 3 parts , add green color to one part , orange to other part and leave one part of the dough white.

Then flatten them into thick discs and set aside.

In a heavy bottom pan heat sugar and water, once it starts boiling add the prepared discs

Cover the the pan and cook the discs for about 10-15 mins.

When the discs seem spongy remove from flame.

Take a discs and press with a spoon and if it springs back it means it is ready.

Then switch off the flame and remove the discs with a slotted spatula or spoon and well with another spoon to remove the sugar syrup from the discs.

Now drop these into the simmering milk and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.

Remove from flame and garnish with nuts and serve warm or refrigerate and serve chilled.
Tips

– You can use vinegar / citric acid instead of lemon juice for curdling.

– If you are in a hurry,

1.you can save your time by directky using cottage cheese/ paneer.
2.Prepare the sugar syrup in the cooker pan, add the discs and cook for one whistle.

– Always use full fat milk when preparing desserts. 2% milk will not give best results.

– Kneading is very important to get soft and fluffy discs.Minimum 10 mins kneading is mandatory.