Rasmalai with Egg
On April 9, 2014 by Meghalee DasThe following guest post, Rasmalai with Egg, has been written by my mother-in-law, Dr Archana Goswami. Dr Goswami is a retired Head of the Dept (Chemistry), Cotton College, Guwahati, and is currently involved with an NGO, Matri, which works for advocacy of children’s rights. She is also interested in finding cheap and viable solutions for providing safe drinking water. Besides occasionally writing for newspapers and magazines, she likes gardening, photography, cooking, and is addicted to crossword puzzles.
When you ask mothers to write in a food blog, it is impossible to choose only one dish out of their unending list of delicious recipes. Everything they make is special, which you appreciate even more when you go months or years without tasting their food. Any dish you try to recreate is like recreating a loving memory, and there is no greater joy than when they approve of the result. I have learned many recipes, especially traditional Assamese ones, from her. But I chose Rasmalai with Egg because it is an easy dessert, hardly has five essential ingredients and is great for dinner parties or festivals.
So here’s Dr Archana Goswami’s Rasmalai with Egg recipe. Over to you, Ma!
Rasmalai is one of the most popular Indian desserts, where soft, fresh paneer or milk balls are simmered in fragrant thickened milk. But what makes this recipe different is that here we will use milk powder and an egg to make the balls, which results in a unique texture — slightly chewy, spongy and creamy at the same time. It has always been a hit with my family and is greatly relished by my friends at the local ladies’ tea parties. I always make this dessert for the senior members of the family who do not like store-bought sweets. If anyone has a sugar problem then one can use sugar substitutes and avoid the sweetened condensed milk. What I love about this dish is that it is very easy to prepare and no extra fat is needed. This recipe brings many fond memories of family and friends gathering for lunch and dinner and who can never have enough of it. Since it is best served chilled, you can also make it a day early and keep it in the fridge. Here are the ingredients and steps:
Ingredients:
Milk: 1.5 litres
Sweetened condensed milk: 1 tin
Bay leaf: 1
Cardamom pod: 1
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
Saffron strands: 1 small pinch (optional)
Chopped almonds, cashews, pista: 1/4 cup+1 tbsp
Milk powder: 1 cup
Egg: 1
Method:
1) Thicken the milk to about half by simmering it on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Pour in the sweetened condensed milk to thicken the milk faster. Add the bay leaf and cardamom pod for flavour and fragrance.
2) If you are using unsweetened condensed milk, then add about ½ cup sugar. If not, skip this step.
3) While the milk is reducing into kheer, in a bowl take one big cup of milk powder. Make a well in the center and break one egg into it.
Knead very gently into a soft dough. (Some prefer to add a pinch of baking powder to the dough to puff up the balls, but that is optional and we have not added it here.)
4) Make small balls. (The balls will be sticky but they are easier to shape if you wash off any dough residue on your palm. Also, do not make them too big as they will double in size).
Drop them into the simmering milk or kheer, along with 1/4 cup chopped nuts.
5) Let the balls simmer for 12-15 minutes. Add the cardamom powder and a few saffron strands to the milk for extra flavour. If required, at this stage, you may also add a little sugar to taste.
6) When the balls become large and start to float to the surface, take off the heat.
You can see they have almost doubled in size
7) Garnish with the remaining chopped almonds and pista and keep in the fridge for a couple of hours. It will make the milk thick, almost like a custard, and the balls will absorb more of the liquid. Serve chilled.
- Milk: 1.5 litres
- Sweetened condensed milk: 1 tin
- Bay leaf: 1
- Cardamom pod: 1
- Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
- Saffron strands: 1 small pinch (optional)
- Chopped almonds, cashews, pista: ¼ cup+1 tbsp
- Milk powder: 1 cup
- Egg: 1
- Thicken the milk to about half by simmering it on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Pour in the sweetened condensed milk to thicken the milk faster. Add the bay leaf and cardamom pod for flavour and fragrance.
- If you are using unsweetened condensed milk, then add about ½ cup sugar. If not, skip this step.
- While the milk is reducing, in a bowl take one big cup of milk powder. Make a well in the center and break one egg into it. Knead very gently into a soft dough. (Some prefer to add a pinch of baking powder to the dough to puff up the balls but that is optional.)
- Make small balls and drop into the simmering kheer, along with ¼ cup chopped nuts.
- Let the balls simmer for 12-15 minutes. Add the cardamom powder and a few saffron strands to the milk for extra flavour. At this stage, you may also add a little sugar to taste.
- When the balls become large and start to float to the surface, take off the heat.
- Garnish with remaining chopped almonds and pista and keep in the fridge for a couple of hours. Serve chilled.
