Rasmalai (Cheese dumplings in flavored thickened milk)

Steamed dumpling made from cottage cheese/ paneer,  soaked in sweetened, thickened milk which has been delicately flavored with saffron. Rasmalai originated in what is now coastal Orissa.


This is so devilishly delicious, I can guarantee  you won't stop at one! 


You need:

To make the Paneer/ Cheese dumplings:

Whole milk – 1/2 gallon (approx 2 litres, makes around 7-8 rasmalai)

Lemon – 1-2 nos.

Water

To make the base syrup: 

Whole milk – 3 Cups

Green cardamom pods – 3-4 nos.

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Sugar – ¾ cups

Saffron strands – 7-8

Make the Paneer/ Cheese dumpling:

1. Prepare cottage cheese/paneer  – Boil milk in a deep pan, add lemon juice and continue boiling. Once it is curdled properly, you will see lumpy cottage cheese/paneer and pale yellowish whey completely separated. Infact the whey will become very transparent and you will realise it has absolutely nothing to offer! :). Place a muslin/ cheese cloth over a colander and pour all the cheese-whey mixture from the pan. Run under cold water to stop the cooking process and also to remove the lemony taste. Squeeze out as much whey as possible from the paneer and hanging the tightly bundled muslin cloth for a 10-15 min. Be careful when you squeeze out the water, as there could still be some heat trapped. By the way, it really needs to be granular and dried for the rasgullas to not break while cooking. 
2. Knead the paneer well with your palms, just like you make dough. Make paneer really smooth. To test if the paneer is dry enough, take a little paneer and roll it into a ball with a smooth surface. Now put this in the boiling water If it breaks, remove more whey from the paneer mixture and mash well. If it doesn't break in 2 min, roll all the mixture into half inch thick discs/ patties. (roughly the size of Oreo biscuits)
3. In a pressure cooker, boil 4 cups of water. Add the paneer balls to the pressure cooker. Put the lid with whistle on. Cook this for 7-8 min. Switch off and run under cold water to release pressure. Immediately transfer to a bowl and let it cool.
4. Now press the cheese dumplings between both your palms to squeeze out of all the water. 

Make the base syrup:

1. Soak saffron strands in 4-5 tbsp of warm milk. Let all the color and flavor gets extracted. 
2. Bring milk to a boil and reduce the heat. Now keep stirring every 3-4 min. Reduce the milk to till its only 2 cups. Add cardamom powder, saffron extract along with the strands and sugar. Boil for another 3-4 min and transfer to another bowl.

Final touches to the Rasmalai: Now dunk all the dumplings to the base syrup. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

*You can also eat it hot, if you like!