This Soft Rasmalai Recipe is a must-have for anyone who loves milk desserts. These velvety, melt-in-your-mouth cheese patties soaked in a fragrant, cardamom-spiced milk syrup infused with saffron are simply divine. The flavor lingers on your palate, leaving a lasting impression and making it a cherished dessert for countless fans.
This delicious dessert originates from the eastern part of India but is now popular all over the country. It is also one of our favorite desserts at home, along with tres leches recipe easy and cheesecake minis.
The joy of crafting and sharing this delectable treat is truly out of this world. Although Rasmalai may seem intimidating to make, once you start making it, you realize it is quite easy. I had a similar experience with some other sweets like Kaju Katli Sweet and chocolate truffle cake.
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Why you'll love Rasmalai?
- It tastes delicious. The soft, melt-in-your-mouth cheese patties dunked in sweet milk infused with saffron take you to the next level.
- This dessert is very popular for special occasions and get-togethers, and your guests will just love it.
- You can always adjust the sweetness to your liking by increasing or decreasing the sugar.
- Serve the dessert warm or cold, but tastes best when you serve it chilled.
- This dessert can be frozen for a longer time and will remain fresh.
Ingredients that you need
- Whole Milk -The higher the fat content, the better
- Sugar- This is needed for the milk base and for boiling the cheese balls
- Nuts - Almonds and Pistachios chopped into small bits
- Cardamom - This is the unique flavoring that makes the dish special
- Cornflour to make the cheese patties or balls
- Lemon Juice to curdle the milk and make the cheese patties
- Saffron to make saffron-induced milk by soaking it in milk
Making Rasmalai with the Soft Rasmalai Recipe
Make Cheese Patties
We start by first making the cheese patties. We need to boil milk, add lemon juice to curdle it, and strain the cheese using a muslin cloth. This by-product is also called paneer or cheese. To this, add cornflour and knead it to make soft cheese patties.
Cook the Cheese Patties in Syrup
Add the cheese patties to hot boiling sugar syrup water with the lid closed. After 15 minutes, they will expand in size; let them stand for 30 more minutes. Meanwhile, have the milk and sugar syrup ready.
Make the sweet Milk base
To make this, reduce the milk to half by boiling it, and then add sugar. Later, blend in saffron-infused milk and chopped nuts. Dish out the cheese patties and transfer them into the boiled and cooled milk syrup. The dessert is ready to be served.
- Step 1: Boil milk and add lemon juice to curdle the milk. Strain the cheese from the curdled milk and knead it with a little cornflour to form soft patties.
- Step 2: Boil sugar and water at high temperature to cook the cheese patties.
- Step 3: Add in the patties to the sugar solution and cover with a lid so it cooks well for 15 minutes.
- Step 4: Open the lid; the patties will have doubled in size. Let it sit for 30 minutes. These will be drained out to be added to the milk syrup in Step 6.
- Step 5: Add some saffron to a little milk to make saffron-induced milk. Chop the nuts finely.
- Step 6: Boil milk and sugar. Add the nuts and saffron-induced milk. When cooled, add the sweetened cheese patties from Step 4 and transfer to a serving bowl.
Useful Tips
- Make cheese patties, milk syrup, and sugar syrup simultaneously. Once the cheese patties are ready, they can be immediately cooked in the boiling sugar syrup. Once they are cooked, the milk syrup is also ready to take in the cheese patties.
- Kneading the cheese well is very important to get soft patties. First knead the cheese for about four minutes, later add cornflour and knead again for another five minutes
- Add the cheese patties to the sugar syrup one by one, not all at once. This is so the temperature of the boiling water is maintained.
Recipe FAQs
No worries if you are unsure which type of milk to use, from full cream to light cream, half and half, and so on.
Information for each of their fat content is as below:
Whole milk contains 3.25% fat,
Half-and-half contains 12 % fat,
light cream contains 20 % fat,
Whipping cream contains 35 % fat,
and heavy cream contains 38% fat.
A higher content of fat is recommended and is usually used in desserts where you need to whip and get stiff peaks. I used plain whole milk to make both the patties and the milk syrup. It turned out well.
The trick to get soft and spongy patties is to follow the steps exactly as described in the recipe description. If followed to the T, you can be assured that the patties will turn out very soft and just melt in your mouth.
Rasmalai will stay fresh for 3 to 4 days when refrigerated and can be frozen for about 3 months.
To prevent rasmalai patties from cracking, knead the cheese obtained from curdled milk with cornflour until smooth and homogenous. Shape the patties gently, ensuring the edges are even and crack-free.
The cheese patties made by adding lemon juice to boiled milk are also the way we make paneer. There are many paneer dishes that you can make using it, like palak paneer, shahi paneer, paneer tikka masala, grilled paneer, and so on.
Related Recipes
If you tried this Soft Rasmalai Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and a 📝 comment below. I love hearing from you!
Soft Rasmalai Recipe
Ingredients
For cheese patties (chena or paneer)
- 5 cups whole milk
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (2 big lemons)
- ½ tsp cornflour
For milk syrup
- 5 cups whole milk
- ½ cup sugar
- 20 pistachios cut into small pieces
- 7 almonds cut into small pieces
- 7 cashew cut into small pieces
- 4 green cardamom powdered
- 30 saffron strands dipped in 2 tbsp warm milk
For sugar syrup
- ½ cup sugar
- 4 cups water
Instructions
To make sugar syrup
- Boil water and sugar in a wide vessel . This will be used to cook the cheese patties made in the next step.
Make cheese patties (chena /paneer)
- Boil milk and take off heat. Let it cool for 3 minutes.
- Add 2 tbsp water to the lemon juice.
- Add the lemon juice to the milk in 3 additions stirring gently with every addition.
- Once the milk curdles , pour into a cheese cloth placed on a strainer and bowl.
- Wash it with cold water to get rid of any taste of lemon.
- As the cheese cools, knead it gently with your fingers, using both hands for about 5 minutes till it is soft. The kneading is very important to get soft patties.
- Next add the corn flour and knead again for 4 minutes .It may get a little sticky at this point.
- Make about 10 balls and flatten lightly .
- Add them to boiling sugar syrup one by one , so that the temperature of the boiling syrup does not come down.Adding all at once will bring the temperature down.
- Cook them closed on high flame for 15 minutes. They will expand to a bigger size. Do check from time to time .
- Switch off heat when done and let it stand for about 30 minutes. Drain them one by one , squeezing the syrup out and add them to the milk syrup that is boiled and cooled.
To make milk syrup
- Add saffron to 2 tbsp of warm milk and keep aside.
- Boil milk and reduce it to half.
- Add nuts and cardamom powder .
- Add the milk infused with saffron to it .
- Once the milk is reduced and thickened, add sugar and let it completely dissolve.Cool it for about 30 minutes.
To assemble the dessert
- In a serving dish, pour the milk syrup .
- Drain the cheese patties from the sugar syrup and add them to the milk syrup.
- Garnish with chopped nuts.
Notes
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- Make cheese patties, milk syrup, and sugar syrup simultaneously. Once the cheese patties are ready, they can be immediately cooked in the boiling sugar syrup. Once they are cooked, the milk syrup is also ready to take in the cheese patties.
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- Kneading the cheese well is very important to get soft patties. First knead the cheese for about four minutes, later add cornflour and knead again for another five minutes
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- Add the cheese patties to the sugar syrup one by one, not all at once. This is so the temperature of the boiling water is maintained.
Rasmalai is looking so good ,soft and perfect spongy Nisha!
Thank you so much Deeksha! It was indeed very yum .
I've never had this dessert! It's nice to learn about it here 🙂
Thank you so much Christy, it really tastes awesome hope you get to try it some time!
One of my most fav dessert Nisha....I can have this any time of the day😊 but i haven't tried at home, I willlll definitely try sometime ! Btw rasmalai looks damn tempting 👌
So happy to hear that Jyo ! it's my favorite as well ..do definitely try it out , it will be a piece of cake for you 🙂 Thank you so much for the comments and constant support!
Oh wow! The rasmalai looks perfect Nisha 👌 Thanks for sharing !
Thank you so much for the lovely comment Smitha, appreciate it!
Wow one of my favourite dessert.😋😋😋😋
Wonderful to know that it is your favorite as well Libarah, Thank you so much for the comments and stopping by!
You're always welcome dear
Wow ! You have nailed it perfectly, rasmalai looks so soft, spongy & delicious. Thanks for sharing the wonderful recipe.
Thank you so much Megala appreciate your comments! It is my pleasure to share .
Thanks for the recipe! I love discovering local delicacies whenever I travel. I hope I'll get to try this in India someday!
You are very welcome Lynn. I'm sure most Indian restaurants in New York and most places in the US also carry it in their dessert menu.So hope you can try it here as well. But yes great idea to try it out when you visit India .Thank you so much for stopping by!
I am a die-hard fan of rasmalai Nisha and yours look so inviting and yum!
It was indeed delicious Neha and happy to hear you are a rasmalai fan as well! Thank you for stopping by .
My wife's favourite dessert, naturally that makes it mine too...!! 😀
That's wonderful Raj , I think this dish is most peoples favorite indeed . Hope you will try making it some time !Thank you for stopping by.
You are becoming my favorite "food" blogger! This recipe is just AWESOME! (Saving it up) ❤
Thank you so much dear for such a wonderful comment , so kind of you! The admiration is mutual , I love all the variety of your posts and never miss catching up on them.I'm sure you will love this no-fail recipe for sure:).
My husband's all-time favorite dessert. Thank you for the recipe. <3
Oh! That's wonderful Jyoti. It is my pleasure to share this recipe. Thank you so much for stopping by!
What a fascinating recipe, I would love to try that one! Love the plate too!
I'm sure you would love this amazing dish Diane .Happy to hear you love the plate, it is from one of my trips back home 🙂 Thank you so much for the support and stopping by!