This Rasmalai Recipe takes less than 20 minutes of prep and creates an airy tender sponge that absorbs the beautiful flavours of sweet cardamom scented milk. Keep reading for my tips for making soft rasmalai that doesn't break!
Homemade Rasmalai is a bit of a flex you know? Like "oh this, I made it" casually dropped somehow never fails to impress. Now, because we don't have endless time and love a good hack, like with this Instant Pot Kheer, this Rasmalai recipe uses milk powder instead of chhena (homemade cheese) and trust me, no one is going to know the difference!
Before I proceed I am going to give a little shout out to my mother, whose rasmalai recipe is what I ultimately leaned on when other popular ones failed me entirely. I know, I know, we are supposed to keep it profesh here now and not talk about personal lives, but I have got to give credit where it's due.
What is Rasmalai?
The word Ras means juice and Malai means cream. You put the two together and it invokes something far more poetic than it's literal English translation.
Rasmalai or Ras Malai, is a traditionally South Asian dessert where 'pedas' or little disc shaped mounds of a soft dough are cooked in milk in such a way that they cook through and absorb the flavour of the milk.
Traditional Ras malai 'pedas' or dough is made using "chenna" or a South Asian cottage cheese that's made via a process which requires cooking milk and then curdling it. It takes a little time and practice to master the art of making the perfect ras malai discs.
Making Rasmalai with Milk Powder
While making Rasmalai from scratch requires finesses, after trying many many iterations of the milk powder (Nido) recipes, I have concluded that Milk Powder Ras Malai requires almost the opposite.
Milk powder Rasmalai requires what we in Urdu call "phurti", that means to do everything quickly, but with a light touch, more a breeze than a hurricane.
Confused? Let me explain: there is no real art here, no tweaking or adjusting like with Meethi Tikiyaan, you just do the work and do it fast for the best results.
Making Ras Malai: Ingredients
Peda/Dough: Full fat milk powder (I use Nido), baking powder for fluffiness, oil for moisture (you can use melted ghee too), a little all purpose flour, and egg to bind and cook.
Note: the amount of egg tends to vary across recipes, conventional wisdom being to start with 3 tbsp of egg which leaves about a tbsp in the bowl. I find that to be a little fiddly and that the whole egg works just fine. In Canada the standard large egg is 56g.
Milk Mix: Whole milk, cardamom pods, a pinch of salt, sugar for sweetness, and pistachios
How to make Rasmalai with Milk Powder: Step by Step
Step One: Combine the milk, sugar, and salt in a wide bottomed skillet/pan and bring to a boil on medium heat. You need this heat to dissolve the sugar crystals. Mix well and bring down to a gentle simmer. You can add pistachios now or later.
Note: Many recipes call for a lot more milk, but in my experience people tend to take a little ras malai and a little milk to bathe it in, when I use a full litre of milk it becomes too much. I also like the milk mix having a light sweetness so I don't cook it down much, but you can do whatever works for you!
Step Two: As the milk simmers away mix the ingredients to make the dough. Work quickly and deftly, your dough will be soft and slightly sticky, but as the ingredients incorporate in it'll become drier. Mix the dough, and QUICKLY shape into 10-12 balls, they'll be about an inch or so big. Flatten the dough and drop into the milk, continue doing so until your dough is used up.
Step three: Add your pistachios if you haven't yet, and gently (read: barely) simmer on low, covered for 5 minutes. The dough balls should have risen, flip them over, cover, cook for another 5 minutes and turn the stove off. They will expand as they cook and as they cool.
Once they cool then you can transfer them one by one into your dish of choice and refrigerate. Ras Malai tastes infinitely better the next day IMHO as the mix cools and any residual egginess goes away.
Five Tips for PERFECT Rasmalai
1.) Use a wide bottomed pan: ras malai needs space to cook, to expand, a wide bottomed pan is what is best. I use a 10-inch skillet.
2.) Bring the milk to a boil first to dissolve the sugar, then turn down to a low simmer. Don't even look at the Nido jar until you're at this point.
3.) When the milk is simmering then start making your dough. To get smooth balls it is imperative that the mixture be quickly mixed, quickly shaped, and quickly dropped (this is some "phurti" in action. If you wait too long the mixture tends to dry out and your dough becomes hard and cracks.
4.) I have tried cooking with various temperatures, but the safest approach is a gentle simmer. A robust boil can lead to the outside cooking and the inside staying hard, simmer-less milk won't cook it.
5.) DO NOT touch the dough balls until they're soft and rise to the surface of the pan, it is then and ONLY then that you can flip them.
Making this Rasmalai? Don't forget to read my tips above! Made it already? Leave a rating and comment! Would love to hear your thoughts and see your recreations on Instagram @flourandspiceblog
Soft Milk Powder Rasmalai - 20 Minutes
Equipment
- Frying Pan
Ingredients
Milk Mixture
- 3-3.5 cups whole milk (see note)
- ⅓ cup sugar (70g)
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 5-6 cardamom pods
- 1 tbsp slivered pistachios
Rasmalai "pedas" or dough
- 1 cup full fat milk powder 100g
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp all purpose flour
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 beaten egg (large, 56g)
Instructions
Milk Mixture
- Combine the first four ingredients in a wide bottomed pan and bring to a boil.
- Turn the heat down, and mix well, ensuring the sugar is dissolved.
- Once the sugar dissolves turn the heat low to maintain the gentlest simmer.Note: If you like a thicker milk in your rasmalai then use 3.5 cups of milk and cook on medium heat for 5-8 minutes to thicken the mix before turning it down.
- Add the slivered pistachios.
Rasmalai Dough
- Mix the milk powder, flour, and baking powder well, followed by the oil and then the egg. This works best by hand.
- A quick knead will give you a dough that's firm enough to shape into balls
- Work quickly and make 10-12 1 10 1 ¼ inch balls - make sure each dough ball is very smooth, add it to the milk immediately and then make the next one. My preferred technique is to squish each piece I break to make it compact and then roll it smooth between my hands.
- Once all your dough balls are made and in the pan on that gentlest of gentle simmers, cover the pan and let them cook undisturbed for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, carefully flip each ras malai, and then continue cooking for another 5 minutes and then turn the stove off and let them cool before transferring them to a box/dish.
- Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight for best results, garnish with additional pistachios and serve.
Mona says
Thank you for an incredible recipe ! Could not believe how authentic it tasted and with minimal effort !
Everyone loved it
Sarah Mir says
Thank you Mona!!! that is so nice to hear!!!!
Hello says
Hello,
I doubled the recipe and it turned out lovely. Only thing is by the time I got to the 20th peda the mixture started to get dry. It still was so nice. Are there any tips for keeping the dough moist while making pedas? I'm feeling adventurous and thinking about tripling the recipe for an event.
Thank you so much
Sarah Mir says
Hi Ambreen! GREAT to hear that!!! I hear you on the drying out but I think you can divide your dough and cover half with a damp paper towel while you work on the first half! Let me know how that goes!
Zay says
Hi Sarah,
Can we add condensed milk to the milk mixture to give it an oomph?
Sarah Mir says
Hi! I love adding it for richness for sure, just skip the sugar and taste as you add in! let me know how it goes?
Shaheen says
Can I sub the AP flour and baking powder for Self raising flour? Also, I want to triple the recipe, do I need to triple the amount of egg too?
Sarah Mir says
Hi Shaheen! I am so sorry but I wouldn't sub self rising flour for the AP, the ratios aren't the same!
Ali says
How much is 1 cup in grams please?
Sarah Mir says
I am so sorry! It's 100g!
sam says
hi could you tell me in grams how much milk powder i need and baking soda please thanks in advance
Sarah Mir says
I am so sorry, just seeing this and it's 100g for the milk powder and baking powder (not soda) is approximately 3grams. if you have a teaspoon measure I'd use that because I suspect it's just over 3 but my scales sensitivity (and that of most kitchen scales) is not perfect!
Dennielle K. says
Is milk powder the same as milk-mava powder?
Sarah Mir says
When I say milk powder I mean any full fat milk powder like Nido or other equivalents. Not sure what mava powder is, sorry!
Shweta says
What can the egg be substituted with, please?
Sarah Mir says
Hi Shweta! My sincere apologies but I am not sure and I wouldn't want to steer you wrong!
Rooh says
I made this recipe as is and it was fantastic! It was my first time making rasmalai but considering how easy it was, I will definitely make it again. I cooked the rasmalai five minutes on each side. I let it refrigerate (almost 24 hours) and served it the next day. Also, I was concerned how small the pedas were when I rolled them but they double in size when soaked in the milk!
Sarah Mir says
Rooh! Thank you so so much for trying the recipe and this review! I am SO glad you liked it!!!
Mond says
Every day whitener ley sakte hain
Sarah Mir says
I am honestly not sure! So sorry!
Hajira M says
Could you make this with 2% milk and add some full fat cream (whipping cream) to up the fat content?
Sarah Mir says
I think that would work! Let me know how it goes! Just remember to read the tips and keep an eye on temperature!
Kay says
I made the ras malai but it wasn’t soft. I made the milk powder mixture just like you said but I’m not sure what I did wrong. 🙁
Sarah Mir says
Hi Kanwal! I’m so sorry to hear that! Did you read through the recommended tips in the post? That might be helpful in figuring out what went wrong!
Kanwal says
I did go through all the tips. May be I didn’t cook it properly in the milk. Does the milk have to be simmering when you put in the dough?
Sarah Mir says
It does have to be at a gentle simmer otherwise there isn't enough heat to cook it through!
Anjana Bhowmik says
Oh goodness, I made this today and it was delicious! Thank you for the easy peasy recipe.
Sarah Mir says
Yay!!!! I am so so glad to hear that!!!! THANK YOU!