Rasmalai

Friends,

It looks like I need a bit to warm up after this long period of hibernation!!!!

Well, I din't stop cooking or feeding my baby, I wasn't trying anything new and honestly was lazy to draft some words!!! I wasted 2 full weeks frantically experimenting on my HTML/paintbrush skills to decorate my templte. The designs filled up the good cells in my brain and my desktop and pulled me far away from the content itself.  Anyways,  hubby sparingly nodded to this pale look out of the lots. That tells me its high time I give him a lecture on creativity. (Sigh :P)

So, here I am back in business with one of my bookmarked recipes. I made this for my friends' son Saketh's first birthday! Phew, hard work finally did pay off though it was after 3 long strenuous trials!!!

First trial curdling the milk - failed!
second trial curdling the milk - failed!
Third trial with Ricotta cheese - half success!
Fourth attempt and i DID it!

So, Why do we want to start from scratch and curdle good 1 liter of milk?
The baked ricotta's are just so perfect for rasmalais!! No curdling and no stress!

What you need:
Ricotta cheese - Whole milk 15 oz box
Powdered sugar to taste
half n half - 3 cups
saffron for color and garnish
crushed cashew and pistas
Milk - 2 cups
Milkmaid (as needed) I used about 3/4 cup

Wrap the Ricotta in cheese cloth and let it hang for one full night. The water will drop off completely and next day you have nice and thick ricotta cheese.
Now mix sugar with the cheese and blend it well.
Keep tasting it to get the perfect sweetness. (don't make it too sweet, the milk sauce too is sugary).
Butter the muffin pans very lightly.
Now with a spoon, fill the muffin pan with this mixture.
Bake them for 20 minutes at 475F. make sure it doesn't get browned on the sides.
You can do the 'toothpick method' similar to the 'cake check'!
Turn off the oven , keep them in there and let it cool completely. (cooling completely is mandatory else they will still be delicate and fall apart)
After may be an hour, scoop them out with a spoon.

There you have the perfect balls!!


for the sauce:
Add milk, half and half to a pot and stir in medium heat till it reduces to half.
Add in the milkmaid and sugar as needed.
Stir in cardamom and saffron.
After a while this will turn into a nice light yellow thick and creamy sauce.

Drop the balls in the sauce.
I kept them dipped overnight in the fridge and by next day lunch time, balls had sucked in all the goodness from the sauce, it had become much more light, fluffy and soft.
There is nothing to worry, this will definitely won't let you down!

Serve them chilled with cashews and pista!!!
Omy dint have it as he found his return gift to be sweeter than his moms rasmalai!! :D.
Getting all kids to sit together for one second was tougher than cooking!!!

All the kids at the party! (The Birthday boy Saketh in red T)