We know your house would be filled with Diwali ki mithai and no room in the refrigerator to fit anymore. Well, that’s the charm of the festival right? From brightly-lit houses to colourful rangolis and sugar-loaded sweets, Diwali is incomplete without hogging on desserts to your heart’s content. While the taste of barfis and ladoos is gripping your tongues, you ought to make some desserts at home too.
Since I don’t have a sweet tooth, my personal favourite has to be the mildly-sweet kalakands and rasmalais. The creamy and soft rasmalai is dunked in sweet milk and seasoned with saffron strands to give it an irresistible aroma. While we are at the topic of rasmalai, I want to ask you if you’ve tried Chocolate rasmalai?
On the occasion of Diwali, baker-blogger Shivesh Bhatia shares this delectable chocolate rasmalai recipe from his kitchen.
Ingredients
For the Chenna
• 4 cups (960ml) milk
• 3 tbsp (14ml) vinegar
• 3 tbsp (15ml) water
• 2 tsp (7gms) cocoa powder
• 2 cups (480ml) cold water
For the Chocolate Milk
• 3 cups (720ml) milk
• ⅓ cup (67gms) sugar
• 2 tbsp (14gms) cocoa powder
• ¼ tsp (1gms) cardamom powder
• 2 tbsp (8gms) chopped almonds
For the Sugar Syrup
• 4 cups (960ml) water
• 1 cup (200gms) sugar
• Cold water to dunk cooked chocolate chenna balls
Instructions
1. In a thick bottomed vessel, heat the milk while continuously stirring so as to avoid the milk sticking at the bottom. Heat only until it’s lukewarm. Switch off the stove.
2. Mix vinegar and milk together in a separate container and tip it slowly in the milk. Stir continuously with soft hands.
3. Once the milk has curdled, strain it over a muslin cloth on a strainer. Immediately wash it with ice cold water.
4. Squeeze out all the excess liquid and let the chenna sit on the strainer, covered in the muslin cloth for at least 20 minutes.
5. In this time, you can start making your chocolate milk. In a pan, add milk, sugar and cardamom powder.
6. Let the sugar dissolve. Gradually add cocoa powder while continuously whisking.
7. Lastly add chopped almonds and cook for a while. Once done, keep it aside.
8. Open your muslin cloth and transfer the chenna to a plate. Crumble the chenna and start kneading it with your palms.
9. After a few minutes into the kneading, add the cocoa powder and knead well. Make sure you see no lumps of cocoa in the chenna.
10. Make balls, flatten it a bit and let them sit covered.
11. In a separate pan, add sugar and water. Let it come to a boil.
12. Add your chocolate chenna balls to this and cook it covered for 8-10 minutes.
13. Once they have doubled in size, dunk them in cold water and let them stay until they are cool to touch.
14. Take them out, squeeze out the excess water and dunk them in hot chocolate milk.
15. Let them soak for at least one hour and garnish with some more almonds and gold leaf before serving.
