Cheater's Rasmalai

Our friend Brad earned his doctorate last week and we hosted a dinner to celebrate this milestone. As the guest of honor, he got to choose the menu and (surprise, surprise) chose Indian food. I put together a North Indian-ish menu with tandoori tofu and tandoori gobi (cauliflower) as appetizers, dal makhni, fragrant jeera (cumin) rice, achari baingan and a crunchy salad for the main course, and rasmalai for dessert.

Describing rasmalai in English is a feat. Fluffy milk dumplings in cardamom-scented milk? Cheese balls in sweetened milk garnished with nuts? Each description is more unappetizing than the next. How does one describe the milky cloud of the rasgulla and the burst of saffron and cardamom when you bite into it? Would anyone else like to take a stab at this? Usually, I give up in exasperation and say, "Oh, just shut up and eat it- you'll see what it is".

I've been making this (dare it say the word?) semi-homemade cheater's version of rasmalai for years. Canned rasgullas (widely available wherever Indian groceries are sold) are given a tight squeeze to get most of the sticky syrup out and then dunked into thick sweet milk. Once chilled, this is one of my favorite special-occasion desserts.

This is how I make it:
Mix 1 can of evaporated milk (low-fat is OK) and half of cup of regular milk. Bring them to a boil, then simmer gently, stirring frequently for 15 minutes. Add ¼ cup of sugar (or to taste) and generous punches of saffron and cardamom. Let the milk cool down a little.

Meanwhile, you need freshly squeezed rasgullas- I just use two spoons to scoop up a rasgulla (this one happened to be the Ghasitaram's brand) from the can and press the spoons together to remove most of the syrup, then place the dry rasgulla into the serving bowl.


Pour the warm spiced milk over the rasgullas (warm milk soaks in very satisfactorily). Garnish with toasted chopped pistachios and almonds. Chill and serve in dainty bowls. A small serving goes a long way with this rich dessert. I should note that this last fact did not stop my peeps from going for seconds.



*** Fresh off the needles ***

I reached a minor milestone in my knitting life- my first stranded colorwork project! What is stranded colorwork? The colorwork bit comes from the fact that you use two or more colors in knitting. The stranded bit is how the knitter feels while working on the project. Kidding, kidding.

I was shopping for yarn and saw a colorway called Masala! Of course I had to buy it. Those yarn makers know how to entice me in with preciously named colorways.

Anyway, here is my first proper colorwork project- the beautifully designed Selbu Modern hat pattern. It was a tedious knit what with having to peer at a chart every few stitches but I love how it turned out. And I did not make any mistakes- that is a major miracle in itself.







Have a great week and I'll see you in a few!