But wait, what is rasmalai? Its sweetened, flattened or round balls of paneer (Indian cottage cheese) soaked in milk cream. Sounds yummy? That's 'cuz it is!
So in case you want to celebrate the holidays with some Indian dessert, whose sweetness level you can control, then this one is for you. Did I mention its super easy?
The recipe does use eggs, which would probably make the inventors of rasmalai turn in their graves, but the taste is not compromised one bit and there is no 'eggy' smell at all.
What I Used:
For the pieces
Milk Powder - 1.5 cups
Egg - 1
For the liquid base
Whole cream milk - 4 cups
Sweetened condensed milk - 1/2 tin (adjusting according to the size of your sweet tooth)
Crushed cardamom - 3
You can use other flavoring of choice like rosewater, pistachios, almonds, saffron, etc.
How I Made It:
1. Mix the egg and the milk powder together to form a thick, sticky dough-like mass. Divide into lemon sized balls and flatten gently on palms. If too sticky, dampen palms. Lay these flattened pieces without overlapping, on a tray.
2. Heat a wide bottomed pan and bring the milk to boil. Once it starts boiling, bring the heat to sim and gently, very gently, add the milk powder-egg discs to this.
3. You don't need to mix or stir much, but be careful to give the discs enough space from each other in the liquid. They will expand a bit when they start cooking.
4. After about 10 mins, add the crushed cardamom and. Let it cook for another 10 mins.
5. When the pieces have expanded considerably and seem soft and cooked through (take out once piece, break and check inside if the dough is still sticky), remove from fire.
6. Add the condensed milk when still hot and mix gently. Adjust amount according to sweetness required.
Chill before serving.
Chilly Paneer
Paneer or Indian cottage cheese is a very important constituent of the Indian cuisine. As it is, despite its great diversity, Paneer is a component which is present in the cuisines of almost all the regions. As it is, one of the most important aspects of Paneer is that it is not only used for making various sweet dishes, as well as dishes constituting the main course menu. Therefore it would not be actually surprising if you are invited for dinner and Paneer forms part of every thing right from the appetizer, the main course and the sweet dish.
Of all the Paneer recipes, Chilly Paneer is one of the most popular. Heavily influenced by its non vegetarian cousin, the Chilly chicken, it was evolved to give vegetarians a substitute for the chilly chicken. Being a devout non-vegetarian, I used to hate this idea of going for petty substitute.
However, my views were thoroughly shagged up, as I had my first morsel of this wonderful dish; at the request of my wife. Here I was enjoying Chilly Paneer, which was if not better, then equally good in comparison to Chilly Chicken. Thereafter I looked through the recipes and I was flummoxed to find so many recipes of chilly Paneer. I tried some of them, and found this recipe the most appealing.
Ingredients:
400 gm Paneer
8 tbsp Corn flour
4 tbsp Oil
4 Onions
6-8 cloves Garlic
6-8 Green chilly
2 large Capsicum
1 cup Vegetable stock
Salt to taste
1 tsp White pepper powder
4 tbsp Soy sauce
1/2 tsp Ajinomoto
2 tbsp Chilly sauce
Preparation:
1.First of all, drain Paneer properly and chop down into medium sized pieces.
2.Now, heat sufficient oil in a wok, roll the Paneer pieces in corn flour and deep fry the Paneer pieces on medium heat till the edges turn brown.
3.Thereafter set the fried Paneer pieces aside.
4.Now, blend remaining corn flour in quarter cup of water and set aside. Chop the onions into thick slices and crush the garlic cloves.
5.Now, chop green chilies and cut capsicum into thick stripes and set them aside.
6.After this, heat two-tablespoon of oil in a pan, add crushed garlic and then stir-fry for some time.
7.Now, add sliced green chilies, onion as well as capsicum and saute for some time.
8.After this add fried Paneer pieces and stir in the vegetable stock.
9.Add salt, pepper powder, soy sauce, chilly sauce, Ajinomoto and the blended corn flour and keep stirring while cooking on high heat until the sauce thickens to coat the Paneer.
Your Chilly Paneer is ready to serve. Serve hot with Fried rice.
Kadhai Paneer
Kadhai or karahi is a kind of thick, circular, and deep vessel, which is used in Indian cooking. Originally made of cast iron, they are nowadays made of a number of metal, but mostly in stainless steel. As it is, the Kadhai is the trademark of several delicious Indian recipes. Many mouthwatering dishes owe there existence to the mighty Indian Kadhai. Kadhai Paneer is one of these recipes. This particular dish carries a distinct aroma and irresistible flavor. The blend of Green Pepper, dried fenugreek leaves as well as cardamom, adds to the exquisite flavor of this magnificent dish.
Anothe