I recently went to Mumbai & asked my sons to boil the milk in the evening but they forgot about it & the milk curdled. The immediate reaction of many, in this situation, is to discard the milk. However, I make a lot of sweets using curdled milk. So whenever the milk curdles, my boys are delighted as they know I will either make rasgullas, rasmalai, angoori malai or milk cake out of it. We all love Bengali sweets, is’nt it ? We just can’t resist those lovely soft, spongy, melt in the mouth rasmalai…
So here’s how I make it…
Ingredients for the Cottage Cheese (Paneer)
· 1 lt. Milk
· 1 tsp. Lime juice
· 2 tsp. Maida (Refined Flour)
Ingredients for the Syrup :
· 5 cups Water
· 1 cup Sugar
· 2 tsps. Rose Water
Ingredients for the Sweet flavoured Sauce (Ras):
· ½ lt. Milk
· ¾ tin Condensed Milk (300gms)
· ¼ tsp. fresh Cardamom & Nutmeg pwd.
· Few strands of Saffron
· 2 tbsps. Almond & Pistachios (slivered)
Method :
Pour the split milk & placed it on heat. When it starts boiling, add 1 tsp. of lime juice.
The milk curdles immediately. Take the pan off from the heat, let it settle & cool for 10 mins.
Take a muslin cloth & spread it in a strainer. Pour the curdled milk gently into the muslin cloth.
Pour water on it & let the lime juice drain completely.
Then tie the muslin cloth tightly along with the cheese & keep squeezing out the water from time to time till the cheese is almost dry.
Then transfer the cheese onto a plate & knead it till it is a smooth dough.
Add 2 tsps. maida (refined flour) to this soft dough & knead till it was mixed well.
Divide the dough into 15 equal sized portions (from 1 litre milk) & flatten into discs.
In a pressure cooker, pour 5 cups of water along with 1 cup sugar & let it boil.
Gently lower the paneer discs into the boiling water & fix the lid with the cooker whistle.
After 2 whistles, take it off the heat & let the cooker cool down.
The discs of cottage cheese will double.
Then add 2 tsps. of rose water to the sweet syrup & let it cool down.
In another large pan, pour ½ lt. milk along with ¾ tin of condensed milk & let it boil with ¼ tsp. mix of cardamom, nutmeg pwd., a few strands of saffron & allow the milk to thicken to syrupy consistency.
Take it off the heat & add the cooked discs into the milk sauce after squeezing out the water gently.
Sprinkle 2 tbsps. slivered almonds & pistachios & chill it in the fridge.
We enjoyed this delicious flavoured dessert. This heavenly sweet treat is truly dainty & yummy…
You can also make rasgullas/rasmalai using fresh milk & curdling it with lime juice while the milk is boiling.
For rasgullas; make balls instead of discs & cool in the sugar syrup & then chill in the fridge with rosewater & a few drops of kewra essence. Serve chilled.
