"Sweet Treats"- Ricotta Cheese 'Rasmalai' with Saffron/ Sweet Ricotta cheese dumplings in sweetened milk

This weekend was pretty good.Saturday took 'E' for a Puppet show in a near by school and then in the evening, our good friends 'M' and 'V'called and said they would stop by to meet us in the evening. Now we were meeting them after a longggg time..and needed to catch up....and ofcourse I wasn't letting them go without having dinner with us. I already had prepared Idli batter.So it was easy enough to make idlis,sambar and chutney.My friend 'M' loves Idlis...so that was going to be a feast for her. What to make for Dessert???
I had been planning to make this Ricotta cheese Rasmalai for a long time.I had bought Riccotta last week itself, but did not have time to get to it. So it was perfect ....I would try this one for tonight's dessert!
My friend 'P' had made it few times..and also 'A' had made for one of her party.Looking at the recipe...it seemed pretty straight forward. When I made it myself..it was really 'NO BIG DEAL RASMALAI'. It was so quick and easy and tasted pretty good!! The 'ras/ basundi' is done similar to the 'authentic recipe' and tastes the same,but the 'malai/ dumplings' are made by baking the ricotta cheese in the oven.How easy is that??? The dumplings come out pretty close but there is obvious texture difference and are not as 'Spongy' as the authentic paneer dumplings in Rasmalai. But wait.......a 'Health fact'
Paneer has about 21% fat ......while Ricotta cheese....even the whole milk Ricotta cheese has 11% fat!!! The Ricotta is a 'whey' cheese..ie...made from the liquidy whey left after the milk is curdled.
So if you are craving Rasmalai but also watching your waist line...this may be an option for you!!! Guiltless(may be less guilt) Indulgence!!!
Ingredients:
For 'Malai'/Dumplings:
15oz Ricotta cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 pinch cardamom powder
Mix everything till well blended, spoon a couple tsps in a 'muffin' pan. Makes about 12 'dumplings'.
Bake at 350F for about 35-40 mins, till the cheese sets and the sides turns slight brown.Check with toothpick. The cheese 'discs' will look like these after baking-

For the 'Ras'/ Basundi:
There are many ways to do it. You can use either whole milk or half and half or condensed milk etc.
I made mine with some whole milk, some 1% milk and condensed milk.No particular reason.The basundi came out nice and sweet,not too thin or thick.
1and 1/2 cups whole milk
1 and 1/2 cups 1% milk
14oz condensed milk
1tsp corn starch
1 pinch Saffron
1/2tsp Cardamom powder
1 pinch nutmeg powder
Chopped almonds/ pistachios etc for garnishing
1) On low heat boil together all the milk,corn starch for about 20 mins.
2) Stir continously and make sure the milk doesn't burn.
3) Check for sweetness.Add sugar if it isn't sweet enough for you.
4) Add the saffron cardamom,nutmeg etc.Let it cool.

Ras+Malai
Either arrange all the cheese dumplings in a big serving dish and pour the 'ras' on top OR place the dumplings in individual serving dishes and pour some ras on top.Garnish with chopped nuts, saffron etc.Serve at room temp or chilled. I think it tastes best 'Chilled'.

Enjoy this sweet-creamy-cold sensation with unique flavors of saffron,cardamom and nutmeg!!!

Note:

I am sending this entry to JFI-Saffron hosted by http://chefinyou.com/