Rasmalai Anyone

[Geetha]

After many experiments with unsuccessful ingredients and different varieties of socalled Rasamali Im asking someone to please tingle back to life wth may be a hint or two if you have one in your chest.. please I need to do it once atleast in my life time. I'd rather not foray one of the chefs of those best restaurants as it would be mean to them anyone else is welcome to pipe in thanks for all your efforts it will be appreciated in this family years from now too truly

Yes it will be remembered I trust if my geans get passed on and even if it my husbands he loves food(food lovers are different breeed that it a entirely different thread I guess)

[Geetha]

    After many experiments with unsuccessful ingredients and different varieties of socalled Rasamali    Im asking someone to please tingle back to life wth may be a hint or two if you have one in your chest.. please I need to do it once atleast in my life time. I'd rather not foray one of the chefs of those best restaurants as it would be mean  to them   anyone else is welcome to pipe in thanks for all your efforts it will be appreciated in this family years from now too truly

    Yes it will be remembered I trust if my geans get passed on and even if it my husbands he loves food(food lovers are different breeed that it     a entirely different thread I guess)

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The ingredients I spoke of here are the Gits packet of Gulab jamun I though made perfect replacements to the mild khoya

Any way that didn't turn out well even though my husband liked it 've never been able to get the prorosity that good rasamalis have in them and I do make the surrounding sea of milk with the right payaram mix it is too close to original ones to believe.

I might get back to my kitchen cupborad to get you the name of the payasam mix later.

[SDSeth]

The ingredients I spoke of here are the Gits packet of Gulab jamun I though made perfect replacements to the mild khoya

Any way that didn't turn out well even though my husband liked it 've never been able to get the prorosity that good rasamalis have in them and I do make the surrounding sea of milk  with the right payaram mix it is too close to original ones to believe.

I might get back to my kitchen cupborad to get you the name of the payasam mix later.

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[Kapuliperson]

I just made this last week and it came out really fantastic. I'll post the recipe on here once I get it from my fridge door ;). I'm just at a netcafe now.

[Yajna Patni]

I used to make good Rasmalai. My secret was good milk. I cant make it work in the US with store milk. so my tips are:

good unhomoginized milk for the paneer. Unhpasteurized is better still. take the milk from the middle of the churn, it shouldnt be too creamy or the paneer will be soft and oily, or too uncreamy or it will be dry and crumbly.

Use Yoghourt to curdle the milk rather than citric acid or lemon juice, it makes a softer more workable curd.

use a little bit of flour in the paneer, this will make sure if the paneer is not perfect they will hold together, but just a teeny bit, or they will taste doughy.

when you boil them, make sure that the syryp is not too thick, or they will not puff up properly. I usualy cook them in a very watery syryp. then soak them in sweetend milk, and THEN pour over the kheer/malai, whatever.. that way they are very juicy. They should squeak when you bite into them.

Rasamali is sheer heaven.

Edited September 30, 2004 by Yajna Patni (log)

[Yajna Patni]

Also, add the youhour to the milk when it has come off a boil, and do not boil the milk, let it sit for a while and then strain out the curds.

[RupenRao]

This might be of help to you:

http://www.rupenrao.com/recipe.asp?rid=73

[Geetha]

Thanks Rupen for your input here, I'd like to mix up all those ideas and try out in one experiment with the ingredients on hand. I will let you know how it proceeds I'll await other posts before starting maybe tonight.

I spoke of the payasam mix that came close to the Ras in Ras malai, well it is the MTR Vermicelli payasam, and has to do with its saffron content since I use it to thicken the milk too it works fine with the Ras Malai the vermicelli is in negligible qty's so doesn't bother me.

[Geetha]

I usualy cook them in a very watery syryp. then soak them in sweetend milk, and THEN pour over the kheer/malai, whatever.. that way they are very juicy.  They should squeak when you bite into them.

Rasamali  is sheer heaven.

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I love this method hope it workd out for me fine when I have a try out.

I have a Question Yagna, does the sweetened milk have to be hot or does it have to be cold, when does the major part of absorption take place or rather which is crucial to the squeakiness does squeakiness meant the syrupy soaked-ness or the granularity likened to rasagul;la

[Yajna Patni]

I soak them in cold sweet milk. THey absorb it better than thick syryp or malai. Then I put them to sit in cold kheer or malai.

the squeak is an odd thing that has to do with the texture of the chenna ball... the rasgulla. it really shouldnt be grainy, more like spongy, and if it turns out just right there is an odd squeak on your teeth when you bite in, and the sweet juice rushes out.

[Yajna Patni]

most of the absorbtion takes place while they are cooking

[v. gautam]

Geetha,

As rasamalai basically comprises rasagullas stewed in kheer, as an initial foray would suggest that you purchase some rasagullas or even chamchams.Then make kheer using 1-2 quart whole milk + 1-2 pints half and half. Reduce by half, stirring continuously to crate thin ribbons [use a heavy bottom non-stick vessel, preferably one reserved only for milk] . Now drop in rasagullas with syrup, simmer [not boil] gently a few minutes, adding crushed green cardamom, and even saffron if you wish. There is your rasamalai; serve at room temp; if refrigerated, rasagullas will get hard. kimanyai sastravistaraih?

Edited September 30, 2004 by v. gautam (log)

[Geetha]

Kimanyai sastravistaraih is sanskrit if my memory serves me right but then I am not a sanskrit pandit I studied only five years of my life and I've done many things to diminish its knowledge in my life like learning french which has kept no remnants of sanskrit in terms of understanding meaning of words. I'm certainly good in hindi and sandi-vitchedh but I am stumped did you mean to say 'it is diffifult to elabourate further'. Let me know. Thanks.

[Geetha]

After deliberation I've decided to use the following ingredients for making rasmalai

They are:

1. Whole milk

2. Heavy cream

3. buttermilk

4.Using the churn in sugar syrup

5. Using sweetened milk whole or other ones I have at hand then

6. Kheer made separately and cooled as described using my mix

Hope and pray it comes out good. I have thought of other ingredients but as these are available store bought I'm opting out for these, riccotta cheese will be used if ever later as quick fix to any go-wrongs. Any I should be trying now instead of writing any more.. so I will start to make now. Thanks all of you

Regards

Geetha

[v. gautam]

Kimanyai sastravistaraih is sanskrit if my memory serves me right but then I am not a sanskrit pandit I studied only five years of my life and I've done many things to diminish its knowledge in my life like learning french which has kept no remnants of sanskrit in terms of understanding meaning of words. I'm certainly good in hindi and sandi-vitchedh but I am stumped did you mean to say 'it is diffifult to elabourate further'. Let me know. Thanks.

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You are right in the translation: i was punning on a sloka by Sankara that had your name in it: gItA sugItA dhItA kimanyaih ..., i.e. what need for other elaboration, sastras

I was trying to say, use the already-prepared rasgullas that you will find in NYC, then when you are confident about the basic kheer, flavorings etc., only then turn to the much more difficult task of making your own rasgullas, then stewing them.

one more, begging your pardon, but your name is as beautiful as it is auspicious:

gItA gangA ca gAyatrI govindeti hrdisthite

caturgakAra samyukte punarjanma na vidyate

[Please tell your husband he should never forget this, especially if he ever takes issue with your cooking adventures!! ]

Edited October 2, 2004 by v. gautam (log)

[Geetha]

Indeed you've guessed it right my friend and my parents too have known the right thing in naming me so.. my husbands name is Govind Love Hope it happens as you've perceived it to.

Indeed you're shankara too and all of us are equal as humans and avatars all at same time. No pun here:)

[Geetha]

At last I've put to use my muslin cloth I bought and over stored for a year now. I've got my curdled milk hanging on my kitchen cupboard knob talk of innovative use of shelves.

Any one knows how ever long it will take to dry up a little ..

Another good things about this things is that it uses your senses and reliability on them only for instance how to curdle how long to do it etc differs from milk to milk I think.. any way the result here doesn't matter at all to me it matters enought to try out the authentic recipe once in a while. I love getting dirty with mud any day to doing it with curl of milk really. I am getting a lot of tolerance level topping and I seem to be pushing the limits here to my tolerance of smell of milk.. I saw one topic on other forum on what are smells you like oof food in mesmerising myself I came to look for answers here in this forum of course.. but then I can still not think of any one in particular but one smell I do not like is of milk

Thanks any suggestions will be helpful in future for I am a Rasmalai fan for future too

[Geetha]

If anybody doesn't reply to me I'm going to make a cheesecake out of the rasmalai raw materials.

My curds are drying still but I didn't know for how long am I to dry it still I am experimenting with the available state of things here at home..

Okay some please sendin a PM to me about how long it takes to dry up to right consistency for rasagolla aka rasmalai pleasse

Geetha

[Geetha]

I've already started to make em on my own so please do not comment on my skills of it yet.. let yuou know when it is cooled over and may be nice too for the taster I might push in bits of the drama of rasmalai making online, if I do make it again and thanksto all of you for contributing to my heqavently success as it may be.. tomorrow

Great

Geetha

[Geetha]

Thanks all for your contribution I know I nagged you for help for this, then again thanks all of you here..

I made them a week ago but they are tasting good still and the helps helped me more than I thought really I used all the above ingredients in the recipe and the methoods were really good

Now I think I have my own tips to add to when

I prepare a recipe to tell others.. thanks again

Geetha

[Bull Terrier]

Rasmalai is possibly my favourite Indian dessert and I've experimented several recipes but I still haven't got it quite right and I wanted to ask the more knowledgeable people on this forum to help me out a little bit here..

Anyway, I obtained 2 litres of fresh, unpasteurized, full-fat milk directly from a farm. I heated it up to boiling point at which I removed the heat and added yogurt to "cut" it. I stirred it gently and then threw in a few ice cubes to cool it down a little so as the cooking of the paneer didn't continue and thus the paneer wouldn't harden any more.

I then strained it, placed it in a clean towel and pressed it under a medium weight for 15 minutes.

I then kneaded it a little with some flour and formed it into balls (a total of 6).

I brought to the boil a fairly thin syrup and then added the balls. I cooked them for 15 minutes on a gentle boil with the saucepan partially covered.

In the meantime I mixed some cream with sugar and a little powdered green cardamom . Once the balls were ready I added them to the cream and put a drop of rose water on each ball. I realise that it is more traditional to put the balls in reduced milk but always use cream because I like them this way.

I refrigerated the lot for a few hours before serving them.

Although they came out nice, I still found the balls to be of the wrong texture, in other words a little too hard. They certainly didn't come out "squidgy" when you bite into them, as good rasmalai balls should be.

Why not? Where did I go wrong?

[Veena]

Bull Terrier, here are a couple of things I do differently while making rasgullas. The latter two would impact the texture of the rasgullas.

1) Use citric acid instead of yogurt to curdle the milk.

2) Mix a couple of teaspoons of sugar (instead of flour) in the milk curds.

3) This is the most critical step: After mixing the curds with sugar, take the lump of curds and place in one corner on a large plate. Pinch off a small portion and press it with the ball of your palms (the fat part below the thumb) along the surface of the plate. It's easier to demonstrate this motion rather than describe in words - essentially, you should place the curds under the ball of your palms and slide it along the plate until everything under your palm is plastered to the plate. Then scrape it off the plate with your fingers and set aside on another corner. Do this until you have worked through the entire stock of curds. This step is to eliminate all lumps and ensure very smooth curds. This is the most tedious part of the process and unfortunately there are no short cuts (other than finding someone with very big hands). No, a food processor will not work.

I learnt rasgullas from a Bengali friend of mine, who makes the best ones I have ever eaten (they surpassed even those of some famous Bengali mithaiwallas in India). All the above is from what she taught me. After my lesson, I attempted it solo, and while mine are nowhere nearly as excellent as hers, they are quite satisfactory and do have that "squeaky-spongy" texture. Hope this helps.

Veena

edited to add: I just realized that you were asking about rasmalai, and not rasgullas, but the same principles apply while making the "balls".

Edited July 10, 2006 by Veena (log)

[Geetha]

I wonder if anyone has tried the non-veg version o rasmalai, its ingredients are khoya and egg, and the milk for liquid, I think this was the one I tried to get right after all... it tastes very different than the one from the only khoya.

you prepare the mix with the same ingredients above adding the egg into it( 1 egg), and boil it in the milk as usual. and the shape of the rasmalai is like a pattis or rather flat instead of round.

[sabiha]

I wonder if anyone has tried the non-veg version o rasmalai, its ingredients are khoya and egg, and the milk for liquid, I think this was the one I tried to get right after all... it tastes very different than the one from the only khoya.

you prepare the mix with the same ingredients above adding the egg into it( 1 egg), and boil it in the milk as usual. and the shape of the rasmalai is like a pattis or rather flat instead of round.

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Yes, the simplest recipe I've heard for Rasmalai sounds very similar to this one.

To a cup of Milk powder you add an egg and half a teaspoon or so of baking powder. Once the dough is mixed and smooth the little formed patties are dropped into the boiled down milk, which is kept bubbling on the stove to cook the patties through. I think it's always safe to try just one first to make sure they don't split or something, if they do then add some more milk powder to the dough and try again. If the balance is right, the rasmalai usually do come out nice and tender but you have to be careful.

[RedPepper]

This is how I make it. This is not the authentic recipe.