Recipe by Ishita Sarkar
The desert consists of 3 parts:
1. Rasmalai
2. Sandesh
3. Chocolate bowl & plate
1. Rasmalai
This consists of 2 independent steps – preparation of the Rasgolla and the Malai.
For Rasgolla:
a. Take about 1 litre of milk in a non stick saucepan and heat until it starts bubbling
b. Squeeze a full lemon into a cup and add 2 table spoons of water to it
c. Once the milk starts to boil, switch off the hob/gas and add the lemon water (prepared in
step-b)
d. The milk should curd at this point in time as the water should separate from the cheese
(chana). If not, continue adding lemon water in little quantities until the cheese separates
from the water and runs clear.
e. Drain the water and store the cheese in a clean porous cloth.
f. Squeeze all water from the cheese until it reaches a semi-solid state.
g. At this point, knead the cheese by hand for 10-15 mins, so that the entire lump of cheese
forms one continuous mix and no individual grains should be visible.
h. Make small flat balls (round balls are usually made for Rasgolla, flat balls for Rasmalai) of the
cheese and allow to rest for 5 mins. You should be able to get about 8-10 balls, depending
on the size of your ball.
i. While the balls are resting, heat 4 cups of water with 2 cups of sugar till the water starts to
boil.
j. Put the balls in the boiling water and cover for 10 mins in high heat.
k. Continue the process by lowering the heat to medium for further 15 mins. If you have a
transparent cover, you should now be able to see the balls getting bigger in size. Do not
remove the cover to check – this will cause the heat to escape and the rasgolla will not cook
completely from the core.
l. Finally switch off the hob/gas and allow the residual heat to cook for another 10 mins.
m. Open the cover and the rasgolla should be ready!
For the Malai:
a. Heat 1 litre of milk in a saucepan (preferably non-stick) in medium flame.
b. Drop in a few cloves of green cardamom for flavour. Remember to take the out later on.
c. It can take about 25-30 mins to reduce the milk to around 20-30% of the initial volume,
continue stirring every 5 mins during this time.
d. Take out the cardamoms.
e. Add a cup of sugar and stir well. Sugar content can be adjusted on the level of sweetness
you want.
f. Store the malai in a bowl to cool down
2. Sandesh
For Sandesh, please follow the steps a-g for rasgolla.
h. Heat a non-stick saucepan to medium flame and continue stirring the cheese for atleast
15 mins till the cheese no longer sticks to the pan
i. Add 3 table-spoons of sugar in steps and stir till it mixes well with the cheese. No sugar
grains should be present at this point.
j. Take the sweetened cheese out of the saucepan and place on a greased surface
(preferably with ghee, else butter) and mould in rectangular shape using a knife.
k. Decorate the Sandesh with cashew/pistachio/walnut.
3. Chocolate bowl and plate
a. Break a milk chocolate bar (150 gms) into small pieces in a bowl and put inside a microwave
to melt.
b. Heat every 10-15 seconds and stir after taking the bowl. This process needs to be repeated
till the chocolate has melted into a semi-liquid consistency. Overheating will burn the
chocolate, so please monitor every 10 seconds. The entire step should not take more than 5
mins.
c. Blow a balloon the size you want the bowl to be. Dip this blown-up balloon into the bowl of
melted chocolate and gently place it on a butter paper.
d. For plate, pour the melted chocolate on the butter paper and using a spoon, circle on it till a circle of uniform thickness is reached.
e. Keep these in the fridge to cool down for 15-20 mins
f. Once the chocolate has solidified, gently prick the balloon and slowly take air out of it. Doing it quickly might cause the bowl to collapse.
g. The plate should be easier to take off from the butter paper.
Finally, assemble the rasmalai by pouring in some of the malai in the chocolate bowl, put 2-3
rasgollas and garnish with pistachios and saffron. The sandesh can be placed on the chocolate
plate. Remember to serve the rasmalai cold.
