This easy Rasmalai recipe takes less than 30 minutes and tastes incredible. Soft and spongey, soaked in saffron and cardamom flavoured milk!
I'm not a big fan of Pakistani desserts, but Rasmalai is just so refreshing and absolutely delicious. It's like biting into milky, creamy clouds of deliciousness.
Homemade rasmalai is a whole experience in itself and quite a festive dish. It takes quite a bit of time, effort and skill to make, which is why many don't really make it at home.
Thankfully, we're making this easy peasy, instant version instead! It takes less than 30 minutes of active work since it uses milk powder to make the balls instead of homemade chenna (cheese).
If you like this recipe, you'll love this Rasmalai Tres Leches Cake, this Gulab Jamun Date Cake, Chai Sticky Toffee Pudding, and this Pistachio Tres Leches Cake!
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What is Rasmalai?
Rasmalai is a milk based dessert originally from the Bengal region (at the time) of the Indian subcontinent. It's widely enjoyed across South Asian countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.
It's basically cheese balls cooked in sugar water and then soaked in a milk mixture flavoured with cardamom and saffron. It may sound a bit odd but trust me, its absolutely delicious. The balls are slightly spongey and soft and melt in your mouth and the milk is just delightful.
Chenna vs Milk powder
So the traditional version uses Chenna to make the balls, which is just simple homemade cheese. It's a longer and more complicated process compared to the milk powder version, but the results are amazing (if you have the time).
It involves heating up a large amount of milk and then curdling it with an acidic ingredient like lemon juice or vinegar. It's then strained out and hung to remove excess moisture. Which takes a bit of time.
Then it's kneaded into a smooth dough, portioned out into small balls and rolled smooth. After that they're cooked in a sugar syrup and then soaked in the milk mixture.
Whew. That was a lot.
The milk powder version on the other hand is much, much simpler and less time consuming.
You get the milk mixture cooking with sugar, cardamom , saffron and a pinch of salt.
Once it's almost ready, it's time to make the balls with milk powder, a bit of flour, some salt, baking powder, oil and a whisked egg. It's kneaded into a smooth dough and rolled into balls and then added to the milk while it's at a reallllyyy gentle simmer.
Let them cook undisturbed and flip them over when they're puffed up and floating. Cook for a about 10 more minutes and let it cool! Of course you have to garnish with some pistachios, or almonds, and dried rose petals
See? Done in much less than an hour. Of course, you gotta let it chill in the fridge because I promise you, it tastes SO much better.
Though I do sneak one when it's still warm.
Ingredients
You don't need too many ingredients to make these, but you NEED to use full fat or whole milk powder. The fat content in important, the skim milk powder or low fat versions do not have enough fat for them to come out right.
See recipe card BELOW for quantities.
- Whole milk
- Cardamom pods
- Saffron
- White granulated sugar
- Whole milk powder - Full fat or whole milk!!! Skim milk powder or low fat versions will not work
- Baking powder
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Oil or ghee
- Large egg
- Pistachio - for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the milk, sugar, cardamom pods and salt to a wide pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and continue cooking while stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes. Once the milk at a gentle simmer and is slightly reduced, we're going to make the malai balls (pedas).
- Mix together the milk powder, baking powder, salt, flour and oil until all combined.
- Add in the whisked egg and work quickly to form a smooth dough by mixing with your hands.
- Make about 16 balls, working quickly to roll them into smooth balls as you go, so the dough doesn't dry out. I like to press them down slightly to get a disc shape. Oil your hands again if needed.
- Make sure the milk is at a gentle simmer, on low heat. You should barely be able to see the bubbles. Immediately drop the all the balls into the gently simmering milk in one go, making sure it's not any hotter than that. Without touching them, cover the pot and let them cook for about 5 minutes.
- Once they're puffed up and floating, gently flip them over. Cook for another 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat, garnish with a sprinkle of pistachios and let cool.
- Transfer to serving dish and garnish with chopped pistachios or almonds and some dried rose petals if you like. Chill in the fridge overnight or at least 2 hours to improve the flavour drastically!
Hint: I recommend oiling your hands before mixing the dough so it doesn't stick as much and is a much cleaner ordeal.
Storage
Let it cool and transfer to your serving dish. Cover and store in the fridge for 3-5 days!
Tips for Rasmalai success
- Measuring out the milk powder: I recommend weighing the milk powder on a kitchen scale for accuracy. You can also fluff up the milk powder and scoop or add into the measuring cup with a spoon. This helps prevent using too much or too little. Using too much will make your balls cook dense and hard and the dough will dry much too quickly, making it really difficult to work with.
- Work quickly with the dough: Mixing the dough and shaping the balls quickly ensures it won't dry out. If the balls dry out, they'll crack, which will lead to them breaking in the milk as they cook.
- Don't make the dough too soon: This ties to the previous tip, if you make them too soon they'll have to sit while waiting for the milk to cook. They'll dry out and most likely break apart when added to the milk or as they cook. You want to make the dough about 20-30 minutes into the milk mixture cooking when its just *slightly* reduced.
- Milk temperature when adding in the balls: The milk should be at a really gentle simmer. You should barely be able to see it. About 85°C -90°C (185°F-194°F). If it's too hot, the balls will cook quickly on the outside and the inside will be hard and dense. I struggled with that a few times while testing so make sure the milk isn't too hot!
- Whole milk powder: You need full fat or whole milk powder for this recipe, NOT the skim milk or low fat or fat free kinds. The fat content is important for them to turn out soft and hold their shape!
- Don't reduce or cook the milk too much: As someone who makes South Asian milk based desserts which involve cooking milk for a while, I like to reduce it more than people usually do, to get a thicker milk mixture. For this rasmalai though, I do not recommend reducing to a point where you can see it's thickened. As the balls cook in the milk, the milk will also cook further, making it thicker. And as they chill and cool down, they absorb more milk. So you'll end up with a really thick milk mixture, which also won't be enough to serve with the balls
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Rasmalai
Ingredients
- 3 ⅓ cups whole milk
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 4-5 cardamom pods
- pinch of saffron
- ¼ cup white granulated sugar (50g)
- 1 cup whole milk powder (110g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon oil or ghee
- 1 large egg (52g)
- Pistachio - for garnish
- Dried rose petals - for garnish
Instructions
- Add the milk, cardamom, salt and sugar to a wide, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat and give it a stir. Roughly grind the saffron in a small mortar and add a little warm water or the milk to bloom. Add to the milk mixture.3 ⅓ cups whole milk, ¼ cup heavy cream, 4-5 cardamom pods, pinch of saffron, ¼ cup white granulated sugar, pinch of salt
- Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium and cook for 20-30 minutes while occasionally stirring to prevent the bottom from scorching. Make sure to scrape the sides of the pan and mix it in.
- Once the milk mixture has reduced by about 20%, start making the dough balls.
- Combine all the dry ingredients and then add in a whisked egg and the oil. Quickly mix into a rough dough with a spoon or fork and then knead into a smooth dough with your hands. You'll need to work quickly so the dough doesn’t dry out. Oil your hands before kneading so it doesn’t stick as much.1 cup whole milk powder, 1 teaspoon baking powder, pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon oil or ghee, 1 large egg
- Make about 16 balls, around 10 grams each. Work quickly to roll into smooth balls as you go, so the dough doesn't dry out. I like to press them down slightly to get a disc shape. Oil your hands again if needed.
- Make sure the milk is at a gentle simmer, on low heat. You should barely be able to see the bubbles.
- Immediately drop the all the balls into the gently simmering milk in one go, making sure it's not any hotter than that. Without touching them, cover the pot and let them cook for about 5 minutes.
- Once they're puffed up and floating, gently flip them over. Cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat, garnish with some chopped pistachios and let cool.
- Transfer to serving dish and garnish with chopped pistachios/slivered almonds/rose petals. Chill in the fridge overnight or at least 2 hours improve the flavour drastically!Pistachio - for garnish, Dried rose petals - for garnish
Liz Soussou says
Your recipes are amazing
Faiza Q says
Recently tried the Rasmalai recipe and it turned out perfect! I just had to add another tablespoon of oil to the dough as the balls were not turning out smoother. Thank you so much Nabeah for your easy to follow recipes. Looking forward to trying more.
Fathima says
Assalamualaikum. Can I substitute the heavy cream for regular packaged nestle cream?
Sameera says
Very easy to follow. Came out perfect on my first try. My family really loves it.