Rosomalai / Rasmalai

Somewhere in between Doshomi and Lokhi Puja / Laxmi Puja, we Bengalis let ourselves to be flooded in sweets. All kinds of sweets...dry, soft, soaked in syrup, soaked in rabdi, deep fried and dipped into sugar syrup, loaded with nuts....we care a damn. It all starts from the evening of the Durga Dashami, the last day of the Durga Puja, when the younger ones touches the feet of all the elders and the elder ones give us their blessings in return...well and a mouthful of sweets not to forget. Younger ones also visit the house of the older relatives with sweets and then they do “Bijoya”. We touch our elder’s feet i.e we do “pranam” and seek their blessings and the same aged people embrace each other. If I can remember correctly, I remember my grandmother doing Bijoya by touching a hand woven fan made of date palm tree leaf and sprinkling some raw whole grain rice and a special type of grass called “durbo ghas” on our head and murmuring some poem or mantra. After she was finished we touched her feet. Then Ma did this and so did my aunts. i.e . masi , mami and pishi.

All these continue till the Laxmi puja and then we start preparing for the Kali Puja. A festive month flowing like sand....quickly and terrible fast. Now that our Bijoya is only through the phone and skype, making some sweets in home makes me feel alive. It revives the festivity of the mind and we indulge ourselves into some sweet luxury that is so not available here.

knead the chana or cottage cheese with corn flour until a smooth and soft dough is formed.

Make small balls from the kneaded dough.

Boil the cottage cheese balls in plain water with some green cardamoms until they have doubled in size.

In a bowl mix 2 tbsp sugar with 1 cup of milk and a pinch of food colour. Put the rasgullas in it and keep aside.

Add saffron strands and green cardamoms to the milk and simmer on low flame.

Simmer the milk on low flame until the milk is reduced to half and then mix in the nuts, sugar, condensed milk and yellow food colour.

Pour in the reduced milk or rabdi in the bowl where the rasgullas were already being soaked in milk.

So, this year I decided to make Rasmalai. Gooyee soft and spongy rasgullas soaked in sweet and creamy rabdi, topped with lots of pistachios and flavoured with green cardamoms and saffron. A childhood favourite this Rasmalai ended too soon after it hit the dinner table. Make sure that you serve them chilled because that is when you can enjoy it most.

Rosomalai / Rasmalai

Serves 5-7

Ingredients:

1.5 litre of whole full fat milk – to make the chana or cottage cheese

1 litre of whole full fat milk – to make the rabdi
1 tsp corn flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 th cup condensed milk

3 green cardamoms – crushed

10-12 strands of saffron

A pinch of yellow food colour

A handful of pistachios – chopped

Juice of 2 lemons

Method:

Make the rasgullas:

Take the 1.5litre of milk in a heavy bottomed pan or dutch oven and simmer on medium flame till it comes to a boil. Then put off the flame and slowly pour in the juice of 2 lemons. With a ladle lowly mix it in. Do not hurry or else your chana or cottage cheese will turn out dry.

Let the milk to cuddle up. The milk should be cuddled in big clots. Drain the entire milk through a cheese cloth and run cold water through the chana or cottage cheese to let go of the lemon flavour.

Now tie the cheese cloth tightly over the cottage cheese and put that on a sieve. Put that sieve over a bowl or on a basin to let go of the draining water. Let it stay like this for 1 hour and then open the cloth. Take the cottage cheese in a bowl. Add the corn flour and start kneading. Knead well with the help of your palm for 5-7 minutes until it forms a smooth and soft dough. Make small balls out of that dough. You can make small balls or medium sized balls. I have made both.

Now take a saucepan and fill it with plain water. Add some cardamoms in it and let it come to a bowl.

Then put the cheese balls into it. Do not crowd the pan, there should be enough place for each of them.

Now boil the balls until they start to float on top of the water and they become double in size. Once done, take out the balls from the water and squeeze out all waters from them. Follow this process to cook rest of the cheese balls.
You can also cook the rasgullas in pressure cooker. In that case, fill more than half of the cooker with water and add the green cardamoms. Let the water come to a boil and then add in the cheese balls into them. Put cover and cook till the cooker blows 2 whistles. Let the pressure released naturally and then open the lid. You will see small puffed up rasgullas floating on top of the water. Fish out the rasgullas and keep aside.

In a bowl take 1 cup of milk, 2 tbsp sugar and just a pinch of yellow food colour. Mix well till the sugar dissolves and then put in the rasgullas in them. Let them soak in the sweeness while you make the rabdi.

Make the rabdi:

In a saucepan or heavy bottomed dutch oven start to simmer the 1 litre milk on low flame. Add the crushed green cardamoms and saffron strands into the milk and stir every two minutes so that the milk does not burn at the bottom and change its colour. Also scrap the sides of the pan to collect the milk solids.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes on low flame or until the milk is reduced to half of its original quantity.

Now add the sugar, condensed milk, most of the chopped pistachios, the yellow food colour and simmer for another 2 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved properly in the milk.

Transfer the milk to a clean bowl and put the already cooked rasgullas into them. Put cover and let it come to room temperature. Once it has cooled down, put the bowl into the refrigerator and chill overnight or at least for 4 hours. This will help the rasgullas to soak in all the flavours and sweetness of the rabdi.

Serve chilled with some chopped pistachios and saffron on top of the.