Ras Malai

Ras Malai, cotton soft cheese in a creamy milk sauce, is a delectable Indian dessert. Find out how easy it is to make and impress your family and friends. Ras Malai is a delicious and perfect end to any Indian meal. Make it for your next party or holiday celebration!

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: approx 1 hour (in various stages)
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

Whole Milk – 8 cups (divided)
Lemon Juice – 2 Tbsp
Water – 5 cups (in a pressure cooker)
Sugar – 1 cup
Saffron – pinch
Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp
Pistachios & Almonds – 2 Tbsp, roughly chopped
Sugar for the Ras – to taste

Method:

1. Boil 4 cups milk in a steel pan and boil the remaining 4 cups milk in a non-stick pan (The milk in the non-stick pan needs to be reduced to half the quantity so once it comes to a boil, keep the flame low and keep cooking while stirring occasionally. Grind saffron with a small amount of sugar and add it to the milk while boiling).
2. Once the milk in the steel pan comes to a rolling boil, slowly add lemon juice.
3. When the milk curdles (paneer), switch off the stove and strain the paneer in a cheese cloth.
4. Pour a little cold water over the paneer and hang the cheese cloth on the tap for approx 30 minutes to remove all of the liquid.
5. Remove the paneer from the cheese cloth and run it through a food processor to smooth it out. You can knead the paneer by hand but it will take a long time to make it smooth.
6. Divide the paneer into 12 equal portions a little smaller than the size of a ping pong ball.
7. Roll the portions in your hands until a smooth ball is formed. Lightly press the ball until it flattens out.
8. In the pressure cooker with water, dissolve 1 cup sugar and add the flattened paneer.
9. Close pressure cooker lid and cook until one whistle sounds. Immediately switch off the stove and set the timer for exactly 5 minutes.
10. After 5 minutes, carefully take the pressure cooker to the sink and pour cold water over the lid to remove the pressure.
11. Remove the cooked paneer with a slotted spoon into a bowl and allow it to cool.
12. Meanwhile, the milk in the non-stick pan should have reduced to half. Add sugar to taste, cardamom powder and nuts. Switch off the stove and keep milk aside.
13. Once the paneer is cool enough to handle with your hands, gently squeeze out the sugar syrup from the paneer and place the paneer into a serving dish.
14. Pour the prepared reduced milk over the paneer and chill in the refrigerator.
15. Garnish with additional chopped nuts.

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388 thoughts on “Ras Malai

  1. Hi Anuja and Hetal,

    Your recipe on Rasmalai had always been a great hit among my friends and family. Thanks to you both. In fact, as you mentioned in your intro, your recipes are very easy to make and definite well tried ones. Its really nice of you both to have invested so much of your time in sharing all the precious flavors with us.

    I have one request to make. I am from Tamilnadu and living in Germany. I am a moderate cook. But when it comes to making chapati it always ends up as a disaster. I tried several methods online but it never works out for me. I either make the chapati’s harder to eat or it becomes hard when kept for some time. Could you please make a video on how to make chapati that is soft and still soft when kept for a long time. How much of flour, water and kneading is necessary for making it and also the cooking temperature?

    I really want to make good chapatis as my husband always makes fun of me for my horrible chapatis. I totally rely on your recipe because I am sure it will be a standard and properly defined recipe.

    Thanks a lot,
    Deepa

  2. Hi, wonderful recipe. I love your website, I am always referring to it. I just made the ras malai using your recipe, but have a question. If we make double to quantity, do I take double amount of water in the pressure cooker, because it seemed like we would not extra water for extra quantity of paneer. Please advise. I always cook for min 30 to 40 people.

    1. Hi Manda,

      You don’t have to double the water right away but as you do more and more batches and it looks like the water is reducing, you can add it at that time.

  3. Hey,
    Thank u so much for the fabulous recipe…i made it on my father’s birthday as it is 1 of his favorite(mine too)….and he loved it…!!!
    Thank u so much…
    Mukta

  4. after boiling the milk in the steel pan, ive added lemon juice slowly but the milk wont split into paneer

    1. Hi Shanur,

      Was your milk at a rolling boil before you added the lemon juice? Sometimes, it may take a little more lemon juice as well.

  5. Hi Hetal & Anuja…

    U ve introduced me to a new dessert recipe.I ve never heard or had it..So was tempted to try it out..I strictly followed ur recipe and the clear instructions.waiting for my husband to come & try it out!!

    I ve two doubts:

    1. what will be the exact colour of the Ras after the whole process??..(Mine was very yellow…so was in doubt if something went wrong…)

    2. Ideally how long should the Rasmalai be chilled???…

    Waiting for ur reply…

    Thanks in advance

    Anku

    1. Hi Anku,

      The ras malai is usually an off-white color. Depending on if you used saffron or how much of it you used, the color can also be yellowish. A couple of hours of chilling time should be enough.

      1. Thanks for the reply Hetal…

        We liked the taste of it…the paneer came out well too..

        Both of U explain all the processes in such a simple way that even a beginner like me can prepare very tasty dishes. U compliment each other really well ..Keep up the good work.

        Love u both so much.!!

  6. Hello,
    I made this ricipe which was so good.
    But there is an problem.
    The paneer balls were blowed up enough
    And the balls were breaked in removing from cooker.
    Please help me

    1. Hi Anas,

      If the balls were breaking, they were overcooked. Sometimes, different pressure cookers will work differently. If you know yours is more powerful, you can reduce the time before removing the pressure.

  7. Dear Hetal and Anuja,

    I am good at making currys and other stuff but I was afraid to try any sweet dish. After watching your videos, I gained confidence because your teaching style is so good and your methods are so easy. I tried ras malai today and it came out really good. Thanks for all your support. 🙂

  8. hello mam, did you use cow full fat milk to make the paneer ? is it compulsory to take cow milk or can we use buffalo milk to make paneer?

    1. Hi Meenakshi,

      We only get cow’s milk here in the US so have not tried it with buffalo milk. It should work the same way, though.

  9. hi, i tried to make the rasgullas, but when i put the paneer balls into the syrup, its broken. plz plz tell me why. i m very thankful

    1. Hi Diljit,

      Because every pressure cooker is different, you have to adjust the resting time before releasing the pressure. Your pressure cooker may be more powerful so you can reduce the resting time.

    1. Hi Supriya,

      You could use evaporated milk, but the taste of cooked down milk is a little different. Condensed milk will be too thick and too sweet by itself, but you could thin it down with regular milk. Again, the taste will be different.

  10. Hi guys,

    i just made rasamalai for my husband for valentine’s day…it just came out perfect. can’t wait till he gets home. i already finished few. hope to save him a little bit. thanks for this wonderful recipe. Happy Valentine’s Day:)

    1. Hi Parveen i can tell you how you can make the rusmalai with milkpowder.In a pan add 3 cups of milk 1/3 cup of sugar and 3 cardamons over medium high heat.Now in a seperate bowl add 1 cup of milk powder 1 egg half teaspoon of baking powder and half tea spoon of butter and make it into a dough if it sticks to your hands add a little oil divide the dough in 12 equal parts and make it in round or in an oval shape
      once you make it then add it into the milk the milk should’nt be boiling otherwise the rusmalai’s can break it should be very warm but not chill either once you add in the rusmalai’s add about half cup of heavy cream to the milk it will make the milk little bit thicker then let it cook for 4-5 minutes then your rusmalai is ready.
      Marium”

  11. Hi Anuja and Hetal
    thanks a lot for your wonderful recipe. You ladies are the reall great and hard working i always like to watch your videos i have a question what if our paneer get to crumbly i mean when i made the paneer i leave it for 30 minutes and also squeeze the water out and put it in the food processer exactly how you ladies did but when i took it out from the food processer it was to crumbly and i was’nt able to make balls any idea why ? buy the way i wanna know where are both of you from and how old you ladies are ? you ladies do a lot of work but i can’t? please tell me and thanks
    afham”

    1. Hi Afham,

      When making ras malai, the paneer does not need to be as dry as if you were making paneer for cooking. Maybe too much of the whey drained out, making it crumbly. Usually, when food processed, even crumbly paneer turns soft. On a side note, Anuja is Punjabi and I am Gujarati. We are both in our early 40s.

  12. Hi! This recipe looks awesome and I’m dying to try it, but I have one small concern. Will I be able to make the paneer with commercial/pasteurized milk? I’ve heard that you really need unpasteurized milk for paneer, and I have not been able to find unpasteurized milk ANYWHERE where I live =/ Will this be a problem?

  13. Cooking was not my cup of tea until I found ur site. I tried rasmalai today n it turned out awesome. Thanx ladies. M interested in trying new dishes everyday now:))

  14. I made rasmalai just half an hour ago.It was awesome!!I love you girls for sharing the recipe and I love me for trying it.I will remember you when each time I make them again. Thank you soooo much !

  15. Hi,
    i tried ur rasamalai , i followed the same procedure by following ur video posted.but i made the paneer into rounds how u made and droped them in the sugar water in the cooker , i waited till i whistle has come. after 5 mins i hav put cooker under cold water and removeds the lid then whole paneer is mixed intlo water, no rounds r present, i could not find how it happend
    let me know abt this

    Thanks & Regards,
    sree

    1. Hi Sree,

      Sorry to hear that… The only thing I can think of is that you may not have removed enough of the whey from the paneer and it was too soft.

      1. My cousins tried this and they said the same thing, that the paneer disintegrated into the water after they opened the cooker.

        Please let me know how long it took to cook the milk to reduce it to half?

        1. Hey Pinal,

          The cooking time is really dependent on your pan, stove type and temperature. It does take quite a bit though.

          Regarding the paneer breaking up, each pressure cooker is different as well so you would have to adjust the time you let it rest before removing the pressure.

  16. thanx lovely lady’s,

    i made paneer, made it soft with blender. can i freeze half of it for a next time or is it better to make fresh paneer for rasmalai?

  17. Hi Girls,

    Xcellent recipe….. myself and hubby both love ras malai and i have been searching for a recipe since long…i didn’t know making it was soooooo easy….i have just finished making them for my dad’s b’day and they have turned out excellent…..one question though my paneer after blending was xtra smooth too difficult to handle and sticky not like what Anju was handling making them into balls so was wondering as to what could be wrong….

    Keep up the good job….i want to try out the date and walnut cake next ….will let you gals know after i try it out…..

    Thanks a lot once again….

    1. Hi Anupama,

      If the paneer is sticky, it means that enough of the moisture was not taken out. You might have to let it strain for a bit longer. Glad you like the recipe and please wish your dad a very happy birthday for us :).

  18. thankyou for giving such a wonderful recipe.I really liked your explanation and the recipe did turn out well please continue with the good work.Thankyou

  19. It’s the best best best recipe. Thank u hetal nd anuja so so so much. Tried to make rasmalai twice before coming across ur recipe nd it was a big disaster. This time did copy each nd every segment frm ur recipe. Nd my rasmalai turned to b so good. Thank u once again two of u.

  20. Hi Hetal & Anuja

    I love Rasmalai. I tried this recipe for Diwali. Everything looked good when preparing. But the final outcome was not super. Felt the rasmalai was harder eventually. It tasted good but not soft. The rasmalai did not absorb milk as well. I am not sure where I went wrong. Can you please help me?

  21. Hi Hetal and Anuja
    Today tried this recipe, turned out just awesome.Thank you both for making cooking so easy.One request ,if you guys could post some broccoli recipe.

    Thanks.

  22. Hi hetal/anuja

    Great recipe.

    Can i use condese milk for ras and still boil the same way like reg milk?
    Also how much of condensed and reg milk mixture?

    Thanks

  23. Hi guys,

    I’ve tried 2 or your recipes and really liked them. I like your low fat options in the recipes. I have made ras mali before with a similar recipe like yours. I used Horizons organic whole milk, half gallon and when I curdled it, I there was barely any malai and I had to add another half gallon. The curdling included strays of malai instead of chunks like I see in your recipe video. I wanted to ask, what brand of milk did you use for this recipe?
    Thanks!

  24. Hi Anuja & Hetal,
    i love ras malai very much. i have tasted the ras malai only 2 time.but i don’t know cook the ras malai.thinks you for recipe. your recipes provides the help to me in cooking.your all recipes is very useful for me.
    thanks

  25. Hello,
    Thanx for the recipe..I tried to do it like the recipe, but for some reason my ras malai get hard after a while……..can u tell me why??

    1. I don’t have food processor so I kneaded for a long time with my hand…can it be the reason why it get hard??
      and i waited a while before putting the milk on it, does it make them hard??

  26. Hi,

    I just wanted to say that i tried this recipe and it turned outto be awesome. I love it!! Thank you ever so much for sharing with us, very kind of you!

  27. they wr not overcooked, wr super smooth bt startd melting/spreading as wn added to the syrup…plz reply asap as i am left with the milk (Ras)…

  28. hi hetal and anuja, i just tried making rasmalayi the way it ws told. Everythng was gng fine bt the paneer balls start melting imm wn put in sugar syrup. And after whistle, there was no shape…i tried many times n wth open pan as well bt everytime the paneer balls melted….i used whole milk n kneaded well in food pro. there wr no cracks nthng. they wr super smooth. n wr nt overcooked…they strtd melting as nd wn dropped in the syrup… please help….

  29. hi hetal and anuja, i just tried making rasmalayi the way it ws told. Everythng was gng fine bt the paneer balls start melting imm wn put in sugar syrup. And after whistle, there was no shape…i tried many times n wth open pan as well bt everytime the paneer balls melted….i used whole milk n kneaded well in food pro. there wr no cracks nthng. they wr super smooth. n wr nt overcooked. they start melting as n wn dropped into the syrup…please help

  30. hi hetal and anuja, i just tried making rasmalayi the way it ws told. Everythng was gng fine bt the paneer balls start melting imm wn put in sugar syrup. And after whistle, there was no shape…i tried many times n wth open pan as well bt everytime the paneer balls melted….i used whole milk n kneaded well in food pro. there wr no cracks nthng. they wr super smooth. please help….

    1. Hi Anuradha,

      Sorry, but I have never heard of paneer melting :(. In fact, that is one quality of paneer (the fact that it does not melt) that makes it a great choice to cook with. If you followed all of the directions, I don’t have any advice to give you. Sorry.

  31. Ladies…

    I have made this almost 5 times after watching this video… And everytime i make it, it turns out to be AWESOME…!!! thanks to u guys… One big trouble is that whenevr my boyfriend meets me, he demands for rasmalai..!!! hehehehe…
    Keep up the great work..[;)]

  32. Hi Ladies!!
    Thanks a lot for this grt recipe. I made Rasgulla from this recipe. And they turned out soft, spongy & yummy!! Will make Ras Malai at the next event. And my Mom is visiting from India. She also liked it. She is happy that I am a good cook & makes a variety at home for the family. All credit goes to you!!!!

  33. I m yr grt fan, I luv yr recipes, the way u both cook and the simple way u teach us , hw to cook that’s amazing!!!!! I tried so many recipes of yours and they end up as I want, that’s really good..cooking is my passion .any one who ate my cooked food says u must open yr restaurant . I m livin in cork….. Ireland ……….but from India (Mumbai). I love watching u both. Thanks a ton…..Sushma

  34. hii dear..

    both of u ladies r doing a wonderful job..
    this is the best site for cooking i have ever seen…
    best of luck..

  35. hi..hetal

    i tried making this recipe but the problem was dat my paneer balls did not swell up..they did not bcum spongy..wats d reason behind this or wat can i add to the balls so that next tym it dsnt bcum so.plz do reply
    thanx

  36. Hi,

    I followed your recipe and the ras and malai came out well at the start. I started storing them in ref. and by morning, the malai is somewhat harder and what’s more the ras was broken into paneer and whey. How could it be possible?

    1. Hi Sampath,

      Sorry to hear that. The ras malai does harden up once it goes into the fridge…that is normal. However, we have never heard of the rasa breaking up like that. Did you rinse the paneer with some water to remove the lemon juice? That is the only thing I can think of that would separate the milk like that.

      1. Yes, I did that and I showed to my mother yesterday and she told that it’s actually cream from the milk. I didn’t expect the cream to be so thick and mistook it for paneer. What’s more, I didn’t taste it until yesterday evening(I was scared to taste when I made).Actually, the cream came just like how the paneer was seperated and mistook it for paneer. I’m sorry for the confusion. 🙁

  37. Hi,

    I bought Cottage cheese from Walmart and when I openened it, it looked very watery. Did I bring anything wrong ?

    1. Hi Purvi,

      Did you buy the cottage cheese for this recipe? If so, you do not need it and more importantly, you cannot use it for this recipe. Many people refer to paneer as cottage cheese, however it is not the same as the cottage cheese you buy from Walmart (or other grocery stores). Don’t throw it away though…it is supposed to be watery. You can add it to your chapati flour while kneading for extra protein. You can also have it straight from the tub with some sliced bananas or peaches.

  38. Hello there, I tried this recipe this afternoon and it came out pretty good but i felt like it was 2 different desserts. The rassa wasn’t completely into the dumplings. It was like eating paneer separate from the rassa. Please help.

    1. Hi Preeti,

      The key to soft ras malai is to have really soft paneer. Try putting ice into the pot as soon as the milk solids separate from the whey. This will stop further cooking of the paneer. Also, the paneer must be kneaded well.

  39. Hi,

    I plan to use nido milk powder to make milk and then paneer. Any idea, how much powder I should add to make a litre of milk? 1/4 gallon approximately equals a litre.

    Thanks for your help.

    Regards
    Prathima

    1. Hi Prathima,

      Sorry but we have never made paneer out of milk that was made from a powder. Maybe some of our other viewers can help with this question. Our first guess would be to follow the package instructions to make whole (full fat) milk.

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