It's no secret that Indian festivities go hand in hand with sweet treats (overload)! While there is not much you can do to avoid sugar at these times, you can opt for the healthier options. One such option is the very loved, very well known Rasmalai. A sweet dish originally from Bangladesh, I don't know of many folks from the sub-continent that would say no to Rasmalai.
With the soft and juicy textures that crumbles in your mouth, accompanied with sweet almond milk, cardamom and saffron flavours, this one is a celebrity in the world of sweets! Whenever I make this star in our home, it doesn't last long in the fridge at all!
Here it is my version of the RASMALAI:
Ingredients:
For the dumplings - 2 cups of full cream milk, juice of 1 fresh lemon.
For the sugar syrup - 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water.
For the sweet almond milk - 1 cup milk, few tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon almond milk powder, few strands of saffron, handful of flaked almonds, 1 teaspoon cardamom powder.
Method in pictures:
Make: First make the dumplings by heating the 2 cups of milk, then without boiling, add lemon juice bit by bit while stirring continuously. When the milk curdles completely, remove from heat and drain the paneer (cottage cheese) in a muslin cloth. Press to drain excess liquid and hang for 30 minutes.
While waiting, make the sugar syrup by bringing to boil the 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water.
Once the paneer is well drained, it should feel like a soft dough. Kneed gently with your fingers then make small dumplings as desired. Place these into the sugar syrup, cover and cook for about 10 minutes.
You can prepare the almond milk while the dumplings are cooking. Just bring to boil the 1 cup of milk with sugar, almond powder, saffron, cardamom powder, flaked almonds. Let it cool before placing the cooked dumplings into it.
After putting the dumplings into the sweet almond milk, rest it in the fridge for a few hours and serve chilled :)
