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Rasmalai/Bengali Rasmalai/Rasmalai Recipe
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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
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Resting Time 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Servings 10 pieces
Calories
Author Recipe by Chits

Equipment

  • 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.
    Rasmalai/Bengali Rasmalai/Rasmalai Recipe
  • Allow the Rasmalai to soak in the sweetened Rabri. Chill the Rasmalai in refrigerator for few hours before serving.
    Rasmalai/Bengali Rasmalai/Rasmalai Recipe
  • Once it is chilled, take the Rasmalai out from the refrigerator and transfer it to a serving bowl.
    Rasmalai/Bengali Rasmalai/Rasmalai Recipe
  • Rasmalai is ready to be served. Serve the delicious Rasmalai by garnishing with Chopped Dry Nuts such as Pistachios, Almonds and Cashews.
    Rasmalai/Bengali Rasmalai/Rasmalai Recipe

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.