Rasmalai

Rasmalai

Ingredients:

• paneer (COTTAGE CHEESE ) made from 1 liter of milk (recipe below)
• 1 liter full cream/ whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cardamom powder
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds or pistachios

Preparation:

• Mix the water and 1 cup of sugar in a pan and boil till all the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the fire and keep syrup aside.
• Knead the Paneer in a platter till very smooth. Make into balls slightly smaller than the size of a walnut and flatten slightly in the center.
• When the Paneer balls are made, reheat the syrup to boiling, then simmer and gently drop in the Paneer balls. Cook for 10 minutes. Turn off fire.
• In another pan boil the 1 litre of full cream milk with the 1/2 cup of sugar, till reduced/thickened to 75 per cent of its original volume. Turn off the fire, add the cardamom powder and mix well.
• Add the syrup soaked Paneer balls (after draining) to the milk mixture and chill for a few hours.
• Before serving, garnish with slivers of dried fruit.
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• HOW TO MAKE PANEER :

Ingredients:

• 1 litre full-cream milk (use lean milk for a low-fat version)
• ½ tsp citric acid/lemon juice
• ½ cup warm water

Preparation:

• Set the milk up to boil.
• As the milk is readied, dissolve the citric acid/lemon juice in half a cup of warm water.
• When the milk comes to a boil, pour the acid-water/lemon juice-water mix into it.
• Reduce the heat and stir continuously until the milk is completely curdled.
• Remove from the heat when the separation of the curds and yellowish whey is complete.
• Strain the mixture through a clean muslin cloth.
• Hold it under running water for a minute and then press out the excess water.
• Hang the muslin for 15-20 minutes so that all the whey is drained out.
• To make the paneer into a block tie the muslin and place it under something heavy.
• The paneer can now be cut into chunks and used as required.