Last night after dinner D wanted to have something Sweet. He has a major sweet tooth and because I am not very good at making desserts we usually have some Chocolate or Ice cream in the fridge to satisfy his Sugar cravings. So I asked him to have some Ice cream for dessert and he mentioned how he was craving some Indian-style dessert.
However, it was late at night and I was really tired so he just had some ice cream and that was it. Today morning when I was home alone I thought I would make something sweet for him but I had literally no ingredients to make a good Indian dessert. However, I found some Milk powder hidden behind a few boxes in the pantry and I suddenly remembered how my aunt used to make some really delicious Rasmalai with Milk powder.
Traditionally one has to use Cottage Cheese or Ricotta for a lot of Indian desserts, but this is a quick way to make soft fluffy dumplings boiled in some thickened Milk. Although I remembered the recipe a bit, I had to message my cousin (my aunt's daughter) all the way in Canada, hoping they would be awake for her to get me the correct recipe. And thanks to my aunt and modern technology I was able to make the dessert and chill it just in time before D came home. And boy was he surprised when I served him the Indian dessert he was craving for.
Recipe cooking time 60 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup Full-fat Milk powder
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Liter Full-fat Milk
1 tsp Baking powder
1 small Egg (beaten)
3 Cardamon pods
1 tsp Cardamom powder
Almonds & Pistachios to garnish
Few Saffron strands
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
Method:
1) Heat milk in a wide and thick-bottomed pan. Once the milk comes to its first boil, add the Sugar, Cardamom Pods and Saffron and reduce the flame, letting the milk thicken gently.
2) In a bowl add the beaten Egg, Milk powder, Cardamom powder, and Baking powders and start mixing them into a dough. You will find that the dough will be really sticky which is fine. At this stage add a little Vegetable oil so it becomes easy to handle. If your Egg is big it you may need to add a little plain Flour to make it easy to roll the dough. Do not over knead, you just everything to be mixed into a dough.
3) Apply a little oil to your palms and start rolling little portions of the dough into small balls. It is important to keep the balls as small as you can as they will swell up once you add them to Milk.
4) Add the balls one by one to the thickened milk. Make sure at this stage the gas flame is really low and you want the balls to be cooked slowly, thru and thru. DO NOT TOUCH the balls at this stage or they will break.
5) Add the Almond flakes and Pistachios and let them gently cook in the milk for another 10 minutes before they start floating on top and the milk has thickened further. Turn the heat off and let them cool down, before chilling them in the fridge.
Serve it chilled garnished with some Almonds, Pistachios, and a strand or 2 of Saffron.