Pista Rasmalai Recipe – Show me a person from Indian subcontinent, who does not know about Rasmalai. Rasmalai remains the most loved Indian dessert. I have been making Rasmalai at home for a decade now. Recently, I decided to experiment with Rasmalai (also written as Ras Malai) and I made Rose Rasmalai. After the massive success of Rose Rasmalai, here I am presenting Pistachio Rasmalai recipe.
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What is pista rasmalai
Pista or pistachio rasmalai is traditional rasmalai with addition of extra pistachios. Soak pistachio in water and make paste of the pistachio. Now add this paste in the last step of assembling it. Check recipe details for all the steps. I have used green color in the recipe, it is absolutely optional and not adding the color won’t change the taste. If you using green color, look out for organic green color options.
Ras malai
Rasmalai consists of two parts in the name. Ras is Juice in hindi and Malai is Cream from milk in hindi.
It dates back to early 19th Century. Since then Rasmalai has been ruling the heart of many in India and now across the world.
Method of making pista rasmalai
For making pista rasmalai, there are three main steps:
Making of chenna (or paneer)
- First of all heat a heavy bottom pan and pour 2 litres of milk in it. The reason why I always use heavy bottom pan and medium flame is while making anything with milk it saves milk from sticking at bottom. After the first boil comes, switch off the flame and keep it for 10 minutes to cool down.
- Now add vinegar to the milk and keep stirring.
- Once milk curdles completely (it will take 1-2 minutes), add 8-10 cubes of ice to it. This will help in cooling down the temperature of milk and curdled milk will combine together to form big chunks.
- Strain this on a strainer lined with Muslin cloth. You can keep the strained water (whey) to add in your curries or to knead flour as it is a very good source of protein.
- Now wash this curdled milk with the running water under tap for 8-10 minutes. This helps in removing the sour taste due to vinegar.
- Gather the Muslin cloth from all the corners and squeeze the extra water gently. Don’t squeeze hard otherwise the curdled milk will also come out with water.
- Now hang this for 30 minutes so that extra water present will also drop down.
- After 30 minutes, take out the curdled milk onto a plate. Your chenna is ready. This would be little granular and dry in appearance.
Prepare Pistachio Paste
Soak the pistachios in luke warm water. Keeping aside a few, grind rest of pistachio to a fine paste.
Preparing ras malai balls and cooking them in sugar syrup
- Knead the paneer with the help of your palm and fingers for 10-12 minutes and make a soft and smooth dough of it. Remember to use palms for kneading and fingers for collecting together.
- Now take one tablespoon of mixture and knead again and make a round ball of it and then press between your palms to shape them like patties.
- Repeat the above process and make the patties of all the mixture. In the end you will have around 20-22 patties.
- Now put 1.5 cups of sugar with 5 cup of water in a pressure cooker on gas for a boil. After it boils, add these patties to it and put the lid on.
- After the pressure cooker whistles once, simmer the flame and keep it for another 8-10 minutes.
- Now open the cooker after its pressure is released, the patties would have doubled in size.
- Take out all the patties one by one and giving them a little squeeze to release the extra sugar syrup.
RECIPE FOR MAKING RABRI / Ras malai Ras (or juice)
- Take heavy bottom pan and pour 1.5 litre of milk and put it on medium flame on gas for thickening.
- Keep stirring the milk in between and do it till it reduces to 1/2.
- Switch off the flame and add 3 tablespoon sugar, 1/3 teaspoon of green color and 1 teaspoon of pistachio essence and ground paste of Pistachio and mix it well.
Assembly of Pista Ras malai
Now to assemble Ras malai, put all the patties in a bowl and pour the Rabri over them. Garnish this with glazed cherries and pistachios. Serve this ras malai cold.
FAQs
This is pista ras malai recipe, however the success of this recipe lies in making the normal ras malai. I am listing some of the common issues people face while making ras malai at home.
Hard Rasmalai
Primary reason for hard rasmalai is hard chenna, which is not enough kneaded, or boiling chenna for too long.
Ras / juice is watery
You must use full fat / whole milk for making ras of ras malai. Best consistency of ras comes from full fat milk.
Chenna dough kneading
Knead the dough to make dough crumb free, smooth and smooth textured. Use the palms to knead the dough.
Chenna balls break in the sugar syrup
Loosely kneaded dough balls or if too much vinegar is added in the chenna dough can lead to ras malai balls to break, Other reason can be water retention in the chenna.
Can I store Ras malai?
Yes. You can store Ras malai can be easily in an air-tight container in fridge for up to a week.
Is Pista Rasmalai Gluten free?
Yes, this pista rasmalai recipe is gluten free.
Is Rasmalai Vegan?
Normally Rasmalai is not vegan. You may use almond milk replacing the normal milk in this recipe to make it vegan. I am not sure how that will taste.
Serving suggestion
Serve pistachio rasmalai, cold topped with chopped pistachios.
Below is the detailed step by step recipe to make soft pista Rasmalai at home.
Other Rasmalai Recipes
Rose Rasmalai
Original Rasmalai
Recipe Card for Pista Rasmalai
Pistachio Rasmalai Recipe
Ingredients
- 3.5 Litre Full Fat Milk 2Litres for Rasgullas and 1.5Litres for Rabri
- 1.5 Cup Sugar To be used while making rasmalai balls / patties.
- 2 Tablespoon White Vinegar
- 1/3 Cup Pistachios Chopped
- 3 Tablespoon Sugar
- 1/3 Teaspoon Green Color Optional (Use Organic if you can)
- 1 Teaspoon Pistachio Essence
Instructions
Recipe to make the Chenna
- First of all heat a heavy bottom pan and pour 2 litres of milk in it. The reason why I always use heavy bottom pan and medium flame is while making anything with milk it saves milk from sticking at bottom. After the first boil comes, switch off the flame and keep it for 10 minutes to cool down.
- Now add vinegar to the milk and keep stirring.
- Once milk curdles completely (it will take 1-2 minutes), add 8-10 cubes of ice to it. This will help in cooling down the temperature of milk and curdled milk will combine together to form big chunks.
- Strain this on a strainer lined with Muslin cloth. You can keep the strained water (whey) to add in your curries or to knead flour as it is a very good source of protein.
- Now wash this curdled milk with the running water under tap for 8-10 minutes. This helps in removing the sour taste due to vinegar.
- Gather the Muslin cloth from all the corners and squeeze the extra water gently. Don’t squeeze hard otherwise the curdled milk will also come out with water.
- Now hang this for 30 minutes so that extra water present will also drop down.
- After 30 minutes, take out the curdled milk onto a plate. Your chenna is ready. This would be little granular and dry in appearance.
- Soak the pistachios in luke warm water. Keeping aside a few, grind rest of pistachio to a fine paste.
Recipe for making Ras Malai Balls
- Knead the paneer with the help of your palm and fingers for 10-12 minutes and make a soft and smooth dough of it. Remember to use palms for kneading and fingers for collecting together.
- Now take one tablespoon of mixture and knead again and make a round ball of it and then press between your palms to shape them like patties.
- Repeat the above process and make the patties of all the mixture. In the end you will have around 20-22 patties.
- Now put 1.5 cups of sugar with 5 cup of water in a pressure cooker on gas for a boil. After it boils, add these patties to it and put the lid on.
- After the pressure cooker whistles once, simmer the flame and keep it for another 8-10 minutes.
- Now open the cooker after its pressure is released, the patties would have doubled in size.
- Take out all the patties one by one and giving them a little squeeze to release the extra sugar syrup.
Recipe for making Rabri
- Take heavy bottom pan and pour 1.5 litre of milk and put it on medium flame on gas for thickening.
- Keep stirring the milk in between and do it till it reduces to 1/2.
- Switch off the flame and add 3 tablespoon sugar, 1/3 teaspoon of green color and 1 teaspoon of pistachio essence and ground paste of Pistachio and mix it well.
Assemble Rasmalai
- Now to assemble Rasmalai, put all the patties in a bowl and pour the Rabri over them. Garnish this with glazed cherries and pistachios. Serve this rasmalai cold.
Notes
- You can make vegan rasmalai by using almond milk in this recipe.
- To check whether your patties are cooked properly you can do the water test. Put one patty into a glass of water. If it sinks to the bottom and settle then it’s done, if it floats in water then you have to cook them in sugar syrup for few more minutes.
- Adjust the amount of sugar as per your taste.
- Rasmalai taste best when soaked for good 8-10 hours. I normally recommend, making rasmalai a day before it needs to be served.