Lychee Rabdi

  

   Lychee Rabdi!

        How many lychee fans out here? Me and my fam absolutely love these bright red cuties. So soft and juicy, we never miss the opportunity to feast on them. As most of you know, we are great fans of sweets. Creamy milk sweets in particular. So, what happens when you put both these seemingly different foods together? We have the amazing Lychee rabdi! As unique as this sounds, lychee rabdi is truly tasty. De seeded lychees are filled with soft homemade sandesh. These stuffed lychees are dropped in thick and creamy rabdi and…voila! A yummy dish is ready! The best part is that you can taste the fresh lychees in the rabdi, giving you the best of both the worlds. This dish is partly inspired by Bliss Of Cooking. Though she had made the same with mango rabdi, we decided to stick to the good ol’ rabdi. Give this amazing fusion dessert a try and win hearts! 

Preparation time: 10 to 15 minutes| Cooking time: 30 to 40 minutes

Course: Dessert| Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients:

Lychees- 12 to 15

For Sandesh (for stuffing the lychees):

Normal milk- 1 litre

Lemon juice- from one full lemon

Powdered sugar- ¼ cup

Cardamom powder- ¼ tsp 

For rabdi:

Full cream milk- 1 litre

Condensed milk- 300ml (use ¾th of the 400ml milkmaid tin)

Badam- 10 to 12 (cut into small pieces)

Pista- 10 to 12 (cut into small pieces)

Cardamom powder- ¼ tsp

Saffron- 2 pinches (soak in a tblsp of hot milk and keep ready)

Method:

1.         Heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan or kadai. Let it boil in medium flame and take care that the milk doesn’t get burnt at the bottom.

2.         Soak saffron in a table spoon of hot milk. Keep ready.

3.         Keep stirring the milk at regular intervals and let it reduce to half the quantity.

4.         Now add milkmaid and saffron soaked milk to the boiling milk. Stir well. Let it thicken until it reaches the desired consistency.

5.         Add all the chopped nuts and cardamom powder. Keep in low flame for two minutes. Switch off flame. This is rabdi. Let it cool in room temperature, until we make the stuffed lychees ready.

6.         Wash and clean the lychees. Remove the skin. Carefully remove the seeds, without breaking the lychees.

7.         Now to prepare sandesh for stuffing the lychees, boil 1 litre of milk in a vessel.

8.         When it starts boiling start adding the lemon juice. Add a spoon first and see if the milk curdles. If not, add little more.

9.         Keep boiling the milk in medium flame. Within three to four minutes the milk will fully curdle. Switch off flame.

10.      Use a muslin cloth and strain the whey water. Keep the whey water aside.

11.      Pour a glass of cold water over the chena (paneer obtained from curdling the milk.), to remove the smell of lemon. Squeeze the muslin cloth and remove the excess water from the chena. Take care that some amount of moisture is still there in chena.

12.      Immediately, when the chena is still warm, transfer it to a plate. Use the edge of your palm and start pressing the chena. This will make it soft. You need to keep pressing for 10 minutes.

13.      Add ¼ cup of powdered sugar to the chena. Mix well with your hands. Transfer this to a kadai.

14.      Add ¼ tsp of cardamom powder. Cook on low flame for two to three minutes. Keep stirring to avoid getting burnt. Switch off stove and let it cool to room temperature. Sandesh is ready.

15.      Now take the Sandesh and fill it inside the deseeded lychees. Fill in all the lychees, similarly.

16.      Add the stuffed lychees to the rabdi. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours.

17.      Serve it chilled.

Notes:

·        The shape of lychees should be intact, or else stuffing the sandesh would be difficult. So, make sure that you don’t break the lychees while deseeding.

·        Don’t cook the sandesh on stove for more than 2 to 3 minutes, because it might turn dry.  

·        People who prefer less sweetness, add only 200ml condensed milk while making the rabdi.

Step by step pictures

 boil 1 lit full cream milk in a kadai

when the milk reduces to half, add 

condensed milk and saffron soaked 

in hot milk. give it a stir.

let it thicken to the desired consistency

 now add the chopped badam and pista

add cardamom powder. stir well.

switch off after two minutes.

let it cool to room temperature

now to prepare sandesh, boil a litre 

of milk in a kadai.  

 

when the milk is boiling, add lemon juice

 the milk starts to curdle after that

 strain the curdled milk in cloth.

squeeze it totally to remove all the 

excess water. the remains on the

 cloth is chena.

transfer the chena to a plate.

press it well with the edge of your palm.

do this for 10 minutes to make it soft

 add 1/4 cup of powdered sugar

to the chena. mix everything well.

 transfer it to a kadai.

 add 1/4 tsp of cardamom powder

cook on low flame for 2 to 3 minutes

switch off flame and let it cool.

sandesh is ready to be stuffed.

take the deseeded lychees 

fill it with sandesh. fill all the lychees.

drop the stuffed lychees into the rabdi

refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours. serve it chilled.