INGREDIENTS
1.5 liters whole milk 6 cups
generous pinch saffron strands
12 almonds sliced or chopped
1/4 cup granulated white sugar 50 grams, or adjust to taste
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/2 teaspoon rose water or adjust to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Add whole milk (we are using 1.5 liters/6 cups milk here) to a heavy bottom pot
on medium heat.
milk in a pot
Once it becomes little warm, take 1-2 tablespoons of milk from the pot and add
it to a separate bowl/container. Now take a pinch of saffron strands, crush
between you palm and add it to the warm milk. Set aside.
Meanwhile add nuts to a pan of water and let it heat up. Let the nuts remain in
hot water for 15 minutes while you are working on the recipe. And once 15
minutes are up, then remove the skin and chop or slice the nuts. I have used
only almonds here, you can use cashews, pistachios etc.
saffron milk in a measuring jar
Back to the milk now, let the milk come to a gentle boil. And once it has come
to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low.
Let the milk simmer on low heat, do not stir and after 5 minutes or so you will
notice that layer of cream starts forming on top of the milk. With a spatula or
spoon, pick this cream top and stick it to the sides of the pan. You can then
give a gentle stir to the milk and then let it simmer again.
spatula scraping the sides of a pot filled with milk
Keep doing this process of collecting the cream top and sticking it to the sides
as the milk simmers. Do this every 10 minutes or so when the cream forms, and do
not stir it in between. Because if you stir then the cream top won't form.
On another note- if you want a smooth rabdi, then keep stirring the milk often
and don't do this step of sticking the cream on the sides.
milk in a pot with the milk cream top stuck on the sides of the pot
After around 35 minutes (from the time it came to a boil), the milk has reduced
to half (3 cups). At this point add in the sugar and mix.
sugar being added to a pot of milk
Also add the prepared saffron milk that we had prepared earlier. Stir and
continue to simmer the milk and collect the cream top on the sides.
saffron milk being added to a pot of milk
After additional 30-40 minutes, the milk has now reduced to 1/3rd of it's
original volume (total time taken from the point it started boiling to reach
this stage was 1 hour 20 minutes). At this point add chopped nuts.
Also add cardamom powder and rose water and stir.
sliced almonds being added to milk
Now scrape all the malai (cream) from the sides using a spatula that you had
collected all this while and mix it with the reduced milk.
spatula scraping the sides of a pot with milk
Remove pot from heat and rabdi is now ready. As you can see the final volume of
the rabdi was 2 cups (we started with 6 cups). If you want, you can even reduce
it further to 1/4th of it's original volume which will be 1.5 cups.
Chill the rabdi and garnish with more nuts before serving!
measuring jar filled with 2 cups of thickened milk
NOTES
Calories calculated is for 1 cup of rabdi.
Sweetness can be adjusted to taste. This rabdi is lightly sweetened, add
additional 1-2 tablespoons of sugar if you prefer sweeter rabdi.
You can also flavor the rabdi with kewra water.
The milk should be simmered on medium low to low heat throughout.
NUTRITION
Calories: 590kcal
Carbohydrates: 62g
Protein: 25g
Fat: 27g
Saturated Fat: 14g
Cholesterol: 75mg
Sodium: 323mg
Potassium: 1036mg
Fiber: 1g
Sugar: 63g
Vitamin A: 1215IU
Vitamin C: 1mg
Calcium: 865mg
Iron: 1mg