Chits Kitchen

Rasmalai is a soft and mouth melting Dessert Sweet prepared from two different forms of milk that is Chenna and Rabri (Sweetened Milk). It is one of the most delicious and popular Bengali sweet which is now famous all over the country. Chenna is prepared by curdling the milk while Rabri is prepared by thickening the milk by boiling it continuously. To prepare this soft, light and juicy Rasmalai, flat Rasgulla balls are prepared and are then soaked in thick sweetened milk (Rabri).

There are number of Sweet Recipes prepared from chenna such as Rasgulla, Malai Chop, Cham Cham, Rajbhog, etc. Rasmalai is also one of them. Most of the steps in these sweets are same such as the preparation of chenna and sugar syrup. There are only slight variations in the steps at the end which gives slightly different taste. My favourite among all these sweets is Rasmalai, since it is juicy and tasty. Most of the steps in preparing the Rasmalai are similar to Rasgulla. Follow all the steps of preparing Rasgulla and then move ahead to prepare the thickened milk (Rabri). Then at last soak the rasgullas in the thickened milk. Preparation of Rabri is the additional step in Rasmalai.

I keep on preparing Rasmalai at home and so there is no need to buy it from sweet shops. The result of preparing the Rasmalai came out good in my first attempt only since I had the idea of preparing the Rasmalai balls and Rabri. I used the same tips and variations that I used in preparing the Rasgullas. I think now you all would have found it easy to prepare this tasty and delicious sweet recipe at home. Here I will be sharing the tips and variations to prepare Rasmalai Sweet Recipe. Try it at your home and let us know your feedback.

Rasmalai is one of my favourite desserts which I often prepare at home. My friends in office are also very fond of it and regularly ask me to prepare and bring it to office. I prepare it during the weekend only as I have to prepare in large quantity. This makes my weekend schedule very busy. Also whenever I think to prepare any sweet dish, Rasmalai is the sweet which comes first in my mind. The other reason for it is that each and every one in my family members loves to have Rasmalai after their meal.

To make Rasmalai, heat the milk first. As soon as the milk starts boiling, switch off the stove and allow it to cool for 3-4 minutes. When it cools down add Lemon Juice or Vinegar and stir it to curdle the milk. Then strain the curdled milk to separate the chenna from the whey with the help of muslin cloth or handkerchief. Squeeze out the excess water from the chenna. The chenna should neither be too dry nor too moist.

Take this chenna in a plate and add Corn Flour. Knead them properly to make soft and smooth dough. From this dough take small amount of chenna and roll it with your palm to make smooth flat circular balls. There should not be any cracks on the surface of the balls. In the same manner prepare the balls for all the dough. Keep them aside in a plate and next prepare sugar syrup.

To prepare Sugar Syrup, switch on the stove and heat 4 cups of water. Add 1 cup of Refined White Sugar and stir it to dissolve with the water. Allow it to boil. As soon as the Sugar Syrup starts boiling, add the Rasmalai balls into the syrup one by one. Turn the flame to medium to high and allow it to cook for 5 minutes with the pan covered. After 5 minutes, open the lid and flip the balls to the other side to cook. Cover the pan and again cook for 15 minutes. You will see that bubbles are formed. It helps in cooking the balls properly. Cook it for 20 minutes on total.

After 20 minutes switch off the gas and allow the Rasmalai balls to cool down completely with the pan covered. Do not open the pan unless it cools down completely. When it cools down, take out the balls and squeeze out the syrup slightly. Keep it in a separate plate. Now let’s prepare the sweetened milk (Rabri).

Take the Full Cream Milk in kadai or pan. Heat the milk over medium heat till it comes to boil. As soon as it starts boiling, turn the flame to low and keep on heating. After 10 minutes of boiling add Sugar and stir it. Heat the milk under low flame with continuous stirring till it attains a thick consistency. After about 20-25 minutes, when the milk thickens, add Cardamom Powder, Saffron Milk, a pinch of Lemon Yellow food colour and Chopped Dry Fruits. Cook for another few minutes and switch off the stove. The milk reduces to half its original quantity and becomes thick. Rabri is ready.

The consistency of the milk depends totally on your choice. If you want it to be less thick, heat the milk for less time. When the Rabri is still warm, add all the Rasmalai balls one by one into the sweetened Milk. Soak all the Rasmalai balls and chill it in refrigerator. Delicious and tasty Rasmalai is ready to serve. Serve it chilled by garnishing with Chopped Dry Fruits.

Below are few tips and variations that you can follow to make soft and juicy Rasmalai:

1. Quality of Milk: To prepare soft and juicy Rasmalai, use full cream milk. Cow’s milk is best to prepare Rasmalai. However if you do not get Cow’s milk, you can use any other milk also. Quality of milk decides the amount of lemon juice required to curdle the milk. Some milk requires more lemon juice to curdle while some milk requires less lemon juice. So keep sufficient amount of lemon juice handy with you while preparing the chenna.
2. Curdling of Milk: When the milk boils completely, switch off the gas and allow it to cool for 3-4 minutes before adding Lemon Juice to it. Allow the temperature to come down to 80% of its initial temperature. This helps in making soft Rasmalai. The other way to cool the milk is by adding cold water. If the Lemon Juice is directly added to the boiled milk then there are chances that Rasmalai will be hard on cooking. So to get soft Rasmalai, add the Lemon Juice or Vinegar only after cooling the milk slightly.
3. Moisture Content in Chenna: The other factor that decides the softness of Rasmalai is the moisture content in the chenna. The moisture in chenna should neither be too high nor too less. It should be appropriate to make it soft. If the moisture content of the chenna is more, there are chances that it may break while cooking. And if the moisture content is less and is dry then the Rasmalai will become hard, dense and rubbery on cooking. If the moisture content in chenna is high, you can add extra amount of Corn Flour or Maida to prepare the dough. And if the moisture content is low add slight amount of water to it.
4. Time taken to knead the dough: Squeeze the excess amount of water from the chenna. Take it in a large plate and add Corn Flour or Maida to it. Knead the chenna till all the grainy part or lumps are completely removed. Knead it for approximately 10 minutes to make the dough soft. While kneading if you find that it is becoming oily then stop kneading further. Do not over knead it to make it greasy. Kneading time also depends upon the pressure you apply while preparing the dough.
5. Preparing Rasmalai Balls: Once you prepare the dough, take small amount of dough and roll it with your palm to make flat circular balls. Roll it to make the surface smooth without any cracks on it. The size of the Rasmalai depends upon your wish but the size of 1.5-2 inch diameter is perfect for Rasmalai.
6. Consistency of Sugar Syrup: To prepare Sugar Syrup for Rasmalai, take Sugar and Water in the Ratio of 1:4 i.e for every cup of sugar take 4 cups of water. The sugar syrup should not form threads. If the syrup becomes thick, add extra amount of water. While preparing the sugar syrup, you must keep in mind that proper amount of sugar should be used since we will also be using sugar to prepare the sweetened milk. It should not become too sweet.
7. Cooking Time for Rasmalai in Sugar Syrup: After you make Rasmalai balls from the chenna, you need to cook in sugar syrup. Cook the Rasmalai balls for approximately 20 minutes under medium to high flame to get soft and spongy Rasmalai. Do not overcook it or else it will become rubbery. Also there must be enough space in the pan for the balls to expand. So use large pan. To check whether the Rasmalai are cooked or not, take the Rasmalai and drop it in a glass of water. If it settles down then it means that it is cooked. If it floats, then it is under cooked.
8. Cooking Temperature: Cook the Rasmalai balls under medium to high flame. The temperature should be such that there is continuous formation of bubbles in the sugar syrup. If the syrup is boiling rapidly and the sugar syrup is overflowing from the pan then reduce the temperature slightly. Cook the Rasmalai for approximately 20 minutes to get soft and spongy Rasmalai.
9. Resting Time of Cooked Rasmalai: After the Rasmalai balls are cooked for about 20 minutes, switch off the gas and allow it to cool down completely with the pan covered. Do not open the pan unless the sugar syrup cools down completely. If the lid of the pan is removed in between, there are chances that the Rasmalai balls will become hard and dense. So, open the lid only when the Rasmalai balls and the syrup cool down completely.
10. Consistency of the Sweetened Milk (Rabri): Consistency of the sweetened milk completely depends upon one’s choice. If you love to have thick Rabri, cook the milk till it reduces to half its original quantity. If you want to make the Rabri of slight thickness, cook the milk to reduce the quantity to about 3/4^th of its original quantity. While preparing the Rabri, add Dry Fruits also. Dry Fruits also make the consistency of the milk thicker.

Prepare this recipe at your home and leave your valuable feedback in the comment section below. Also rate this recipe. Do share this recipe with your friends and relatives through facebook, twitter, instagram and pinterst.

Try our other sweet recipes such as Gulab Jamun, Balushahi, Besan Ki Barfi, Besan Ke Ladoo and Sweet Boondi.

You may also like our other sweet recipes:

Halwa Recipes

Kheer Recipes

Cake Recipes

Mithai (Sweets)

Also try our other Breakfast Recipes & Snacks Recipes:

Sandwich Recipes

Parantha Recipes

Pakoda Recipes

Beverages Recipes

Let’s start preparing Bengali style Rasmalai…

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5 from 5 votes

Rasmalai/Bengali Rasmalai/Rasmalai Recipe

Rasmalai is a popular Bengali Sweet dessert prepared from Chenna (Paneer) discs. These discs are cooked in Sugar Syrup and then dipped into thickened milk. The thickened milk is also called rabri. Rasmalai is served by garnishing with chopped dry fruits.

Course Desserts, Mithai, Sweets

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Rasmalai, Rasmalai Recipe

Preparation Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Resting Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings 10 pieces

Calories

Author Recipe by Chits

Equipments:

• Heavy Base Pan or Kadai
• Strainer
• Muslin Cloth

Ingredients:

For Rasmalai Balls:

• 1 litre Full Cream Cow’s Milk
• 3-4 tablespoon Lemon Juice or Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Corn Flour or Maida
• 1 cup Water

For Sugar Syrup:

• 1 cup White Refined Sugar
• 4 cup Water

For making Rabri:

• 1 litre Full Cream Cow’s Milk
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Cardamom Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Saffron (Kesar)
• 1 pinch Food Colour: 1 pinch
• 1/2 cup Chopped Dry Fruits (Pistachios, Almonds, Cashews, etc.)

Instructions:

Preparation of Chenna for Rasmalai:

• In a large pot, take the Full Cream Milk. Heat the Milk under medium flame till it comes to boil.
• Keep stirring the milk in between so that it does not stick at the bottom of the pot and does not burn. Also there must not be any formation of cream layer on the surface of the milk.
• After the Milk comes to boil, switch of the flame and allow it to cool for 3-4 minutes.
• When the boiled milk cools slightly to about 80 % of its initial temperature, add 1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice or Vinegar to the milk.
• Mix and stir with the help of spoon for few seconds. You will see that the milk starts curdling slightly.
• Again add another tablespoon of Lemon Juice and stir it. Keep it stirring till the milk completely curdles. If it does not curdle, add extra amount of Lemon Juice. The amount of Lemon Juice or Vinegar required for curdling the milk depends upon the quality of milk. So keep the lemon juice handy.
• When the milk completely curdles, green coloured whey is formed with chenna separated from it.
• Now take a large bowl and place the strainer over it. Then place a muslin cloth or clean handkerchief over the strainer.
• Strain the curdled milk to separate the chenna from the green coloured whey.
• After straining, pour cold water over the chenna and rinse it to remove the sour and acidic taste of lemon juice from the chenna.
• Collect the edges of the muslin cloth and squeeze it to remove the excess water content from the chenna. Chenna should neither be too dry nor too moist.
• After squeezing, take out the chenna from the muslin cloth and place it over a large plate to prepare the dough. We will now knead the chenna to prepare Rasmalai balls.

Kneading and Preparing Rasmalai Balls:

• With the help of your palm, slightly mash the chenna. Add Corn Flour or Maida to it.
• Mix the chenna with the corn flour and knead it till it is soft and smooth. Do not add any water to it.
• Knead the chenna for about 10 minutes so that there are no lumps in it and is soft. Also it should not leave oil. If it starts leaving oil, stop kneading it. Dough is ready.
• Take small amount of the dough and roll it with your palm to make flat disc shaped balls. Roll it to make it soft so that there are no cracks on the surface or at the edges of the balls.
• In the same manner, prepare Rasmalai balls for the remaining dough. Keep it aside in a plate.

Preparation of Sugar Syrup:

• Heat 4 cups of Water in a large flat pan or kadai over medium heat. Let it boil.
• Add 1 cup Sugar to the boiling water. Stir the sugar till it completely dissolves. Allow it to boil.
• If there are some impurities in the Sugar Syrup, add 1 tablespoon of milk into it. As the syrup boils, the impurities start floating on the surface of the sugar syrup. With the help of spoon, take out the impurities from the syrup. If you are using White Refined Sugar, there is no need to add milk since it will not contain impurities.
• When the Sugar Syrup starts boiling, we will add the Rasmalai Balls into the syrup to cook it.

Cooking of Rasmalai Balls:

• When the Sugar Syrup starts boiling, add the Rasmalai Balls into the Sugar Syrup.
• Turn the stove to medium to high flame and allow the Rasmalai Balls to cook with the pan covered with lid for 5 minutes.
• While adding the balls into the sugar syrup, you must see that there is enough space around the balls so that it has space to expand. The balls expand on cooking.
• After 5 minutes, open the lid and flip the balls to cook on the other side. Cover it again.
• Now cook the Rasmalai Balls for another 15 minutes without opening the lid. You must be careful that the syrup does not over flow from the pan. If it overflows, then either reduce the syrup quantity or reduce the flame slightly.
• On cooking you will see that froth bubbles are formed. It is good for proper cooking of the balls. On total cook the Rasmalai balls for 20 minutes to get soft and spongy balls.
• While cooking, you will notice that the balls have expanded to double its original size. At this point, the balls are cooked. Switch off the stove.
• To check whether the balls are completely cooked or not, take the disc shaped balls and dip it into water. If it sinks, it means it is cooked.
• The other method to find whether it is cooked or not is by pressing it. When we slightly press it and release it, the ball will regain its size which means it is cooked.
• Allow the Rasmalai balls to cool down completely without opening the lid.
• On cooling, open the lid and take out the balls from the sugar syrup in a different plate.
• Slightly squeeze out the sugar syrup from the balls and keep in different plate. Follow the same procedure for the remaining balls.

Preparation of Rabri (Sweetened Milk):

• Take Saffron Strands and soak it in a tablespoon of warm milk. Keep it aside
• Now take the Full Cream Milk and transfer it into a heavy base pan or kadai.
• Switch on the stove and heat the milk over medium heat till it comes to boil.
• As soon as the milk starts boiling, reduce the flame to low and allow it to boil.
• While boiling keep stirring it regularly with the help of spoon or spatula so that it does not stick to the pan and burn.
• After about 10 minutes, add Sugar into the milk and mix it. Continue boiling the milk.
• After about 20-25 minutes, the milk will thicken to required consistency.
• At this moment add Cardamom Powder, Saffron Milk, a pinch of Lemon Yellow food colour and Chopped Dry Fruits. Food colour is optional and you can skip it. It is used to give colour to the sweet.
• Mix all the ingredients and cook for 2-3 minutes more. The milk thickens to form Rabri.
• Switch off the flame and allow it to cool slightly. Now we will add the cooked Rasmalai balls into the milk.

Preparation of Rasmalai Sweet:

• Take the cooked Rasmalai balls and dip it one by one into the Sweetened Milk (Rabri). Milk should be slightly warm.
  
• Allow the Rasmalai to soak in the sweetened Rabri. Chill the Rasmalai in refrigerator for few hours before serving.
  
• Once it is chilled, take the Rasmalai out from the refrigerator and transfer it to a serving bowl.
  
• Rasmalai is ready to be served. Serve the delicious Rasmalai by garnishing with Chopped Dry Nuts such as Pistachios, Almonds and Cashews.
  

Notes:

1. To prepare the Chenna for Rasmalai, Cow’s Milk is best. You can also use Buffalo’s Milk to prepare the chenna.
2. While the milk is boiling, keep stirring it frequently so that thick layer or malai is not formed at the surface of the milk. Also continuous stirring prevent the milk from burning and sticking at the bottom of the pot.
3. After the milk boils completely, switch off the stove and allow the milk to cool down for 3-4 minutes. Then add the Lemon Juice or Vinegar to curdle the milk. It helps in making the Rasmalai balls soft and spongy. You can also add cold water to the milk to cool the milk instantly.
4. To curdle the milk, appropriate amount of lemon juice or vinegar is required. The quantity depends upon the quality of the milk. So lemon juice should be added to the milk in batches. Also keep the lemon juice handy.
5. The chenna formed after curdling the milk should not be too moist nor too dry. It should be slightly moist. It helps in making the Rasmalai balls soft and spongy. If the chenna is too dry, the balls will be hard. If it is too moist, it may break while cooking.
6. The milk whey left behind after curdling the milk is very nutritious. It is used to prepare Atta dough or used in dal and curries.
7. You can use either of Maida or Corn Flour to add to Chenna to prepare the dough. You can also use Sooji (Semolina) while kneading the dough. It’s optional.
8. To prepare the dough, mash the chenna till it is soft and smooth. There should not be any lumps or grains. Also do not over mash it or else it will become greasy. While mashing, as soon as the chenna starts becoming oily, stop kneading.
9. The surface of the Rasmalai balls should be smooth without any cracks on it. Roll the balls on your palm till is smooth. If there are cracks on the surface of the balls, there are chances that it may break while cooking.
10. The Rasmalai balls need enough space to expand while cooking, so add the Rasmalai balls in limited quantity depending upon the size of the pan. Use wide and flat bottom pan to prepare the sugar syrup.
11. To prepare the Sugar Syrup, use sugar and water in the ratio 1:4. Use White Refined Sugar to make Sugar Syrup.
12. To prepare soft Rasmalai, cook the balls for at least 20 minutes. After the Rasmalai balls are cooked, switch off the stove and allow it to cool down completely with the lid covered. If you open the lid, there are chances that the Rasmalai will become hard. So, do not remove the lid unless it cools completely.
13. After the Rasmalai balls are cooked, squeeze the sugar syrup from the balls by applying little pressure or else it may break.
14. Rabri is the most important part of Rasmalai. While preparing the Rabri, boil the milk till it reduces to 3/4 of the original quantity. It is a time taking process. You can adjust the consistency of the Rabri according to your preference. The consistency of the Rabri decides the taste of Rasmalai.
15. Adjust the amount of sugar in sugar syrup as well as in Rabri as per your taste. If you want to make it less sweet, add less sugar while preparing the sweetened milk.