After a 2 months of missing ICC I finally made up for April month’s challenge. But again a bit late! Sorry dear Valli! I tried a sample before making it in large scale for the b’day celebration. Mine turned into hard balls of paneer. After bit of searching in the blog I got a clue from Sailaja and hence cooked my paneer balls in pressure cooker in the sugar syrup for 2 whistles and 5 mins of simmering. This method turned my paneer balls very spongy and tasty! This was a big hit at my daughter’s 4th b’day! With advance wishes from my dear blogger friends it was a much adorable celebration.
Without much ado I am jumping on to the recipe!
I did with 3 liters Milk for paneer and 1 litre for malai. Hence I multipied other ingredients accordingly.
Milk – 1 litre (1/2 litre for making paneer and 1/2 litre for making Rasa/Milk syrup.)
Lemon – 1 medium
Sugar- 8 tbsp (4 for Sugar Syrup and 4 for Rasa/Milk Syrup) + 2 tbsp Condensed milk
Saffron- 3-4 pieces
Cashew Nuts – 5 whole
Almond – 4 whole
Maida / All purpose flour- 1/2 tsp
I boiled the milk for paneer and when it came to a rolling boil added the lemon juice, stirred and switched off the stove. Then I strained the liquid and hung the milk solids in a thin muslin cloth for 1/2 hour and voila the paneer is ready
I used whole milk which turned to be a creamy paneer.
Preparing the Paneer Balls.
If you are ready to make the balls right away, then allow the paneer to hang for 15 mins, proceed right away. Else store it in fridge and thaw it before using it. I proceeded right away.
Knead the paneer well with your fingers, add 1/2 tsp all purpose flour. continue kneading it for 10 mins, until you get a soft dough. Divide into small equal balls, remember these are supposed to absorb and will become double. (actually mine almost quadrupled)
Preparing Sugar Syrup:
I used a non stick wide pan with lid for making the Sugar Syrup. Add 2 cups of water and 4 tbsp of sugar. Let it boil. When it starts boiling, gently add the paneer balls. Simmer the flame and cover with the lid. I thought it might break but fortunately it held its shape. Cook for 10 minutes in slow flame.
The water almost got absorbed, I didn’t have much to squeeze out.
Preparing Milk Syrup/Rasa:
You can start making the Milk Syrup, when you are doing the sugar syrup. Take milk in a wide bottomed vessel and let it boil and get reduced into half of the quantity. Add sugar and mix well. Soak the saffron in hot milk and keep it aside. When the milk is almost thick, add the condensed milk if you have in hand. Then goes the saffron to the milk. Put the paneer ball’s into the rasa/milk syrup. cool it down and refrigerate.
Refer here for original recipe.