Rasamalai / RasMalai

I prepared rasamalai for last Diwali potluck party and it tasted wonderful. but all them became hard after sometime as I made a small mistake while kneading and rolling the rasagullas. So when I prepared this time, I was taking extra care while kneading the chenna. As a result, all my rasamalais turned out good. Since we like rasamalai a lot, most of the time I prepare it instead of rasagullas.



Basic Information:

Preparation and Cooking Time: 45-1 hour

Makes: 10 rasamalais

Ingredients:



Rasagullas - 10 nos (Click to see how to prepare rasagullas)

Milk - 1 litre

Sugar Syrup from ragullas - 1 cup or 1/2 cup sugar

Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Nuts(Cashew nuts, Almonds, Pistachios) - 3 tables spoons, roughly chopped

Saffron - 1 big pinch

Method:



1) Prepare rasagullas first. Save 1 cups of sugar syrup after preparing the rasagullas. Bring the rasagullas to room temperature. Slightly press it to form like a patties. You can even use rasagullas without pressing it. Keep aside.

 

2) Boil milk in a thick bottom pan.

3) Soak saffron in 2 tablespoons of warm milk.

4) Add sugar syrup from rasagullas to the boiling milk(Or add sugar) and continue boiling till the milk reduces in its quantity and became thick. It took 40-45 minutes for me to reduce.

 

5) Add the saffron to the reduced milk.

 

6) Add rasagulla patties to it.

7) Add cardamom powder followed by nuts.

 

8) Cook for 5-10 minutes in very low flame.

9) Turn the flame off and cool to room temperature and then refrigerate it.

10) Serve chill.

Note:

1) Take rasagullas from sugar syrup only when the milk is reduced to half. Slightly press it to form patties and squeeze out the excess water just before adding. This helps to get soft and spongy rasamalais.

2) Instead of a cup of  sugar syrup, you can directly add 1/2 cup of sugar to the milk.

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Oma Podi / Carom Seeds Flavored Plain Sev

I always rely on my mom and grandma when it comes to traditional, festival recipes.They are very good source of those recipes and I simply call them and get the recipe over phone whenever I want to prepare it.



As Diwali is nearing, I want to prepare and post few diwali recipes in my blog. Called my grandma and asked few easy recipes. She suggested few and I have tried this Oma podi first as it called for only few ingredients(and all were available at my pantry when I thought of preparing it) and the method is also very easy to try. I prepared them in the evening time after my work and shot the picture in the next morning. I like the convenient with these kind of snack recipes as I can shoot photos anytime after preparing it. Now, Off to the recipe.

Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Makes: ~ 3 cups



Ingredients:

Gram Flour / Kadalai Maavu / Chickpea flour / Besan - 1 and 1/2 cups

Rice flour - 1/2 cup

Salt - to taste

Ajwain / Carom seeds - 1 teaspoon

Hot oil - 1 tablespoon

Water - to make a tight dough

Oil - for deep frying

Method:



1) Dry roast the carom seeds till it releases nice aroma and slightly crush it using a pestle and mortar. I used mixer to do this job.

 

2) Add 3 tablespoons of warm water to this crushed carom seeds and keep aside. Let it soak for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, filter the water from it.

3) Meanwhile, sift the chickpea flour and rice flour.

 

4) Put together the chickpea flour, rice flour and salt. Mix well.

5) Add hot oil.

 

6) Now, Add the water from carom seeds(we soaked carom seeds in warm water in step 2) to the flour mixture.

 

7) Add water slowly and make a soft and tight dough (It should not be very tight). It took 1/2 to 3/4 cup for me to make smooth and soft dough. It will vary depends on the chickpea flour and rice flour type.

 

8) Grease the idiappam press(Refer here for the picture of the idiappam Press) / Sev press using oil. Use the smallest hole lid for making oma podi.

9) Stuff the dough into the idiappam press/ sev press.

10) Heat oil in a thick bottom kadai/ frying pan.

 

11) When the oil is hot(It should be medium hot. drop a very small pinch of dough into the oil. It should pop out to the top surface of the oil.), press the sev directly to the oil. Start pressing from ends of the pan to

the centre of the frying pan for even cooking.

12) Fry just for few seconds and turn to other side to fry. Oma podi will get fried quickly after pressing.

13) Remove from oil and drain the excess oil using a kitchen tissue. Repeat these steps for remaining dough.

14) Allow it to cool to room temperature. Crush it and store it in a air tight container.

15) Enjoy with hot tea or coffee.

Note:

1) Add turmeric powder if preferred.

2) Make sure to prepare dough in right consistency for easy pressing of oma podi. If it is very tight, add very little water and make soft dough.