Rasmalai Recipe – EASY, Soft, Milk Powder Recipe

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This Rasmalai Recipe takes less than 20 minutes of prep and creates a tender sponge that absorbs the beautiful flavours of sweet cardamom scented milk. Keep reading for my tips for making soft rasmalai that doesn’t break!2 ras malai pieces in a plate with milk, a dried rose and pistachios for garnish

Parallel to ordinary life I consider my homemade Rasmalai to be quite the impressive culinary achievement. People never fail to be impressed by my offhand announcement of having made this dish. Homemade Rasmalai exists as a fantastic feat if your cooking method doesn’t involve professional cooking. I have come to present you with both the cooking instructions and essential tips for preparing soft ras malai that holds its shape without crumbling.

The foundation of this discussion begins with acknowledging my mother whose culinary creation proved to be the best alternative when different popular methods did not work. The professional expectation of keeping things business-like doesn’t apply since I need to acknowledge the excellence of this preparation.

What is Rasmalai?

The term Ras refers to juice and Malai means cream. When you combine Ras and Malai it generates an experience much more beautiful than the actual English definition.

Traditional South Asian dessert Ras Malai means mild disc shapes of soft dough that cook in milk to fully absorb its flavor. The traditional pedas require “chenna” South Asian cottage cheese to craft the dough through milk cooking based curdling processes. People who wish to create perfect ras malai discs must dedicate some time to learn and perfect their culinary skills.

partial view of a small plate of ras malai,a bite taken out

Making Rasmalai with Milk Powder

While making Ras malai from scratch requires finesses, after trying many many iterations of the milk powder (Nido) recipes, I have concluded that Milk Powder Ras Malai requires almost the opposite.

Rasmalai made from milk powder requires “phurti” which Urdu speakers apply to represent fast yet delicate movements of preparation.

Five Tips for PERFECT Rasmalai

1.) Use a wide bottomed pan: ras malai needs space to cook, to expand, a wide bottomed pan is what is best. I use a 10-inch skillet.

2.) Bring the milk to a boil first to dissolve the sugar, then turn down to a low simmer. Don’t even look at the Nido jar until you’re at this point.   3.) Begin making the dough after the milk starts to simmer. Rapid mixing and rapid shaping and dropping of the mixture will produce smooth balls because “phurti” acts during this time. A prolonged wait time will cause the mixture to dry up and lead to hard dough that forms cracks.

4.) Gentle simmer is the safest cooking method for my attempt. Cooking the pudding at full boil will produce a crust on the surface while failing to soften the center unless both an aggressive boil and milk that fails to simmer are avoided.

5.) DO NOT touch the dough balls until they’re soft and rise to the surface of the pan, it is then and ONLY then that you can flip them.

Making Ras Malai: IngredientsIngredients for ras malai

Peda/Dough: Full fat milk powder (I use Nido), baking powder for fluffiness, oil for moisture (you can use melted ghee too), a little all purpose flour, and egg to bind and cook.

Typically recipes use three tablespoons of egg while leaving one tablespoon remaining in the bowl according to traditional methods. I prefer the complete egg rather than trying to use only 3 tablespoons of egg since the whole egg process works better. The standard weight of a large Canadian egg amounts to 56 grams.

Milk Mix: Whole milk, cardamom pods, a pinch of salt, sugar for sweetness, and pistachios

How to make Rasmalai with Milk Powder: Step by Step

Step One: Combine the milk, sugar, and salt in a wide bottomed skillet/pan and bring to a boil on medium heat. You need this heat to dissolve the sugar crystals. Mix well and bring down to a gentle simmer. You can add pistachios now or later.

When the milk mixture begins to boil combine all ingredients for making the dough. The dough remains soft and sticky at first but it will become more dry as the ingredients combine together. Work with fast deliberate movements. Form ten to twelve small balls of dough by working fast since the dough will be slightly sticky but drier after mixing. Add the flatten dough pieces one at a time into milk until all dough has been included.

The next step requires adding pistachios before the covered stove gets reduced to a low heat that simmers the mixture for 5 minutes. You should see growth in the dough balls after stewing them for 5 minutes then turn them over and cook again for 5 minutes while leaving the stove off. The dough masse will continue to enlarge from cooking heat and natural temperature reduction.

Once they cool then you can transfer them one by one into your dish of choice and refrigerate. Ras Malai tastes infinitely better the next day IMHO as the mix cools and any residual egginess goes away.

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Rasmalai Recipe – EASY, Soft, Milk Powder Recipe

Tender ras malai in the light sweet milk, a classic dessert simplified.

Ingredients

Milk Mixture

  • 3-3.5 cups whole milk (see note)
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ⅛ tsp salt
  • 5-6 cardamom pods
  • 1 tbsp slivered pistachios

Rasmalai “pedas” or dough

  • 1 cup full fat milk powder
  • ¾ tsp baking powder
  • 1 ½ tsp all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp vegetable oil
  • 1 beaten egg (large, 56g)

Instructions

Milk Mixture

  • Combine the first four ingredients in a wide bottomed pan and bring to a boil.
  • Turn the heat down, and mix well, ensuring the sugar is dissolved.

  • Once the sugar dissolves turn the heat low to maintain the gentlest simmer.

    Note: If you like a thicker milk in your rasmalai then use 3.5 cups of milk and cook on medium heat for 5-8 minutes to thicken the mix before turning it down.

  • Add the slivered pistachios.

Rasmalai Dough

  • you have to Mix the milk powder, flour, and baking powder well, followed by the oil and then the egg. This works best by hand.
  • A quick knead will give you a dough that’s firm enough to shape into balls

  • you need to Work quickly and make 10-12 1 10 1 ¼ inch balls – make sure each dough ball is very smooth, add it to the milk immediately and then make the next one.

    My preferred technique is to squish each piece I break to make it compact and then roll it smooth between my hands.

  • Once all your dough balls are made and in the pan on that gentlest of gentle simmers, cover the pan and let them cook undisturbed for 5 minutes.
  • After 5 minutes, carefully flip each ras malai, and then continue cooking for another 5 minutes and then turn the stove off and let them cool before transferring them to a box/dish.
  • now Leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight for best results, garnish with additional pistachios and serve.