Rasmalai - Sweet Beginning of this month

Rasmalai is my all time favourite sweet.Its quite easy to make and absolutely heavenly!The method seems to be quite lengthy but the end result knocks off the pain.

Ingredients:
Whole Milk – 8 cups
Water – 4 cups
Condensed milk - 3 tsp
Lemon Juice – 2 tsp
Sugar – 1 cup
Saffron – a pinch
Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp
Pista & Almonds (chopped)– 2 tbsp

Method:
1.Boil 4 cups of milk in a pan and add 2 tsp of lemon juice slowly when it comes to rolling boil.
2.Stir continuously till whey water seperates out.
3.When the milk curdles (paneer) remove it from the stove and strain using a fine muslin cloth and tie it up.
4.Run the muslin cloth bag under cold tap water for 2 mins so that the flavor of lemon gets washed out from the paneer.
5.Keep aside for 1/2 hr and let it drain completely.Make sure all water comes out.
6.Now you have to knead it into a smooth dough (You can also use a food processor to knead ).
7.Make 12 equally sized small balls and flatten it out gently.
8.In a pressure cooker add 4 cups of water and dissolve 1 cup sugar in it.
9.Add paneer balls into the cooker.After a whistle,switch off the stove.It would have become double its size by now.
10.After the pressure is released,remove the paneer balls and gently flatten it to remove the excess sugar syrup.

Preparing the Ras:
1.Boil remaining 4 cups milk in medium flame till it has reduced half its quantity.Later add saffron dissolved in 2 tsp of hot milk and cardamom powder.
2.Add 3 tsp of condensed milk(For thicker consistency) and sugar to taste for the rasmalai.
3.Add the cooked paneer balls slowly into the boiling malai.
4.Let it stand for another 5 mins which makes the paneer balls to absorb the milk.Remove from stove.
5.Garnish it with chopped pista,almonds.
6.Chill before serving.It taste delicious when refrigerated overnight.