Desserts: Ras Malai

Preparation Time: 0 mins
Cooking time: 1hr
Refrigeration time: 5-6 hrs
Serves: 6 (150 ml serving)

Ingredients:
2 lt of full cream milk.
1 tea spoon vanilla custard powder
2 tablespoons sugar
6 Rasgullas.
2 pods of green cardamom.
Handful of almonds & pistachios

Method:

1. Take a thick bottomed pan and heat milk in it. Heat it on slow until it has reduced to half the original quantity. Keep stiring once in a while, but do so very slowly keeping in mind to not to break the creamy formations at the top. This hardened milk formation will add texture to the ras malai later.
2. When the milk is done, add custard powder. Mix the custurd in 100 ml of cold milk and then add to the boiling milk. All this while, keep stiring to avoid formation of lumps.
3. Add sugar.
4. Take the rasgullas and squeeze them gently to remove all the sugar syrup out of them. Cut the rasgullas in half. Doing this will ensure that rasgullas take the milk preparation as there ras and this will add to the flavour of ras malai.
5. Add the rasgullas and cardamom powder to the milk and boil on high flame for 1-2 mins.
6. Allow it to cool a little bit and then carefully pour the prepration in a serving bowl.
7. Decorate with thin flats of almonds and pistachios.
8. Refrigerate for 5-6 hrs. Serve chilled.

Note: My personal observation is that ras malai tastes better if it has been refrigerated overnight.