Ras Malai Recipe | How to Make Ras Malai at Home

 

Forget Love, I’d rather fall in Ras Malai

 

In this article you will find:

• Secret Ingredient
• Difference between ras malai and ras gulla
• Can you make ras malai out of leftover ras gullas
• Calorie count

Being a Pakistani, I am certain that you can relate that the wedding season never ends. Whether it’s the chilly nights of December or the warm evenings of July, a bowl of Ras Malai makes everything enchanted. Ras Malai is a combination of two words, Ras (meaning Juice) & Malai (meaning creaming). If you are fond of cheesecake, it’s often referred to as Desi Cheesecake. This exotic dish is originally from India and certainly remains on top when it comes to milk-based desserts.

Water is a very important component of most dishes. That’s why dishes taste different in different regions of the world. The composition and ratio of minerals are different, making it problematic to achieve the same taste.  No wonder, New York pizza tastes so much different in New York as compared to Pakistan. And similarly, no ras malai comes close to the real ras malai of Bengal.

If you are a foodie, you can’t help but question why is ras malai yellow sometimes? I’d ask myself this question so many times before I got an actual answer. I ended up convincing myself that they are probably using expired milk. Thank god Google helped me get rid of my assumption. It’s yellow because of saffron coloring.

Secret Ingredient:

Being a foodie myself, I was surprised why ras malai tastes so different now than it did several years ago. When I started looking at recipes, I saw that the main ingredient is dry milk powder and something did not feel right about it. After surfing the internet for hours and hours, I discovered a recipe that was more than 100 years old. And guess what?

The star ingredient in that recipe was cheese! Cheese does know how to make an ordinary dish stand out. To make the process easier, people are now replacing cheese with dry milk powder. And though it makes the process a bit easier, it takes away the quintessence of an actual ras malai.

There is a preconceived notion that all original sweet dishes are a tad bit difficult to make. That is why people prefer to get it from bakeries and stalls nearby. But, if you someone who is as intrigued as much as I am, stay tuned. This article is for you!

Difference between Ras Gulla and Ras Malai:

Ras malai and ras gulla are both milk-based desserts thus making it difficult to differentiate at times. Both are prepared from paneer balls also known as cottage cheese balls. The key difference is that ras gullas are cooked in a sugary syrup till they double in size. For ras malai, after they are cooked in sugary syrup, they have to be squeezed and then dipped in milk for further cooking. They are cooked till their soft texture is achieved.

Can you make Ras Malai with leftover Ras Gulla?

Sometimes you end up with so many sweets without even realizing how you got them in the first place. It’s usually the time around Eids, Milaads, and weddings. But don’t worry, I have a perfect hack for you. Now you can turn your boring sweets into amazing treats without even getting rid of them. And this time, you will not have to worry about them going bad. This time, you will only have to worry about you getting fat.

I am sure you already have all the ingredients required to turn your boring ras gullas into exciting ras malai. All you need some leftover ras gullas, saffron, pistachios & almonds, cream, and lastly, condensed milk.

Grab a wok and add half a cup of condensed milk to it. Add 1 tbsp. of milk and whisk them together gently. After they have been mixed together well, add a cup of milk and let it boil. To achieve yellowish-white color, add saffron and keep stirring.

Boil it for another 7-9 minutes and during this process, keep adding nuts (almonds & pistachios) till a rich, creamy texture is attained. Now take out the leftover ras gullas and squeeze them nicely, yet gently so that all the sugary syrup is drained out. Afterward, add them to the mixture in wok and let it cook for another 5 minutes at low flame. Let it cool. Furthermore, add it to a bowl and refrigerate it for at least 4-6 hours before serving.

Calorie Count:

It’s really hard to believe that a divine dish like ras malai has low sugar, high protein, high calcium, high mineral content, and low salt. Depending on the blood sugar level of diabetic patients, ras malai that has low or no sugar can be consumed by them.

Nuts added in ras malai are rich in antioxidants that fight the free radicals in our body and reduce our chances of getting sick. The main reason why ras malai is so much better than other sweets is because it’s not deep-fried. Saffron is also known for reducing the chances of getting cancer.