Angoor Basundi is made with grape sized paneer or chena balls and they are dipped in thickened sweet milk. These are popular Bengali mithai and perfectly soft and fluffy.
If you are just like me a huge fan of Bengali mithais, this one is for you. I love all sweets made from chena or paneer. Ras malai or Angoor Basundi are my favorite desserts of all time. These pillowy soft and fluffy rounds melt in your mouth if prepared perfectly.
It is quite an easy dessert but can be a bit intimidating or tricky if it fails. Don’t worry I will try to share as many tips as possible. I have never had any issues in making these with zero experience as well.
What is Angoor Basundi?
Angoor means Grapes in Hindi and Basundi is a dessert made by cooking the milk until it thickens and caramelizes and creates creamy milk reduction.
Angoor in this recipe is made by curdling milk, making it into chena or paneer. The most famous cheese from India. Unlike, paneer we do not set this one. Freshly prepared paneer is used to make round tiny balls.
These tiny balls are then dipped and served in saffron Basundi. They soak up some of the milk. The dish is flavored with cardamom and saffron, garnished with dry fruits.
Sometimes, some people call this Angoori Rabdi. It is same dish. We always called this Basundi. The difference between Basundi or Rabdi is that Basundi is also cooked for sometimes giving it creaminess and taking away the raw taste , but it is still thinner in consistency and Rabdi is thick in consistency almost close to a pudding consistency and is not quite pourable.
While I love making desserts from scratch and don’t mind labor intensive desserts, its always okay to use some quick methods to improve the time spent on them. Few more desserts to try for festive season.
Ingredients Needed:
Milk: Milk is the star of this dish. To make the balls and for the Basundi. We use whole milk in this recipe.
Sugar: White granulated sugar is used for both the sugar syrup to dunk the balls and to sweeten the basundi.
Lemon or vinegar: to make paneer, we need either lemon or white plain vinegar. I prefer lemon.
Nuts: We have used pistachios and almonds.
Cardamom and Saffron: Cardamom and saffron are used for flavors.
Tips or Suggestions:
- Use whole milk for the best experience. This dessert is all about milk.
- Make sure to stir the milk so that it does not boil over while making basundi.
- If you do not have saffron, it can be made without it as well. It will be white in color. Dried rose petals and edible silver is also optional. However, nuts add nice texture to the dish so I would suggest you use them.
- I use less sugar, but if you prefer more feel free to taste it and add more sugar.
- Once we curdle the milk, do not let it cool down for long time. As it sits, it becomes drier and then you must work very hard to make it smooth.
- Rubbing the chena is the most crucial step of the whole recipe. You can also pulse it in a food processor. There should be no cracks in the balls when you are rolling them. Balls should look smooth.
- Only add balls in sugar syrup when it is boiling. Do not add them before that.
- Basundi should be warm when you add cooked balls, if not just slightly warm it up. It helps in soaking the balls.
- I like to multitask, so I start with making chena, then cook saffron basundi while the milk curds are resting. Then start making balls, while still the basundi is simmering. Keep a close eye.
- Once basundi is done, turn it off and start sugar syrup. I have made whole dish in 30 minutes.
- Whey can be used in making dough or use it in subjis.
- Basundi will thicken as it sits and cools down. So, we are only reducing milk to a certain consistency. The balls will also soak up some of the milk. Keep all that in mind.
Angoor Basundi
Ingredients
Paneer/Chena
- 4 cups Milk whole milk
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
Sugar Syrup
- 3 cups water
- 1 cups sugar
Basundi
- 4 cups Milk
- ¼ cup Milk powder
- ¼ cup Sugar
- pinch Saffron
- 1 tsp Cardamom
- rose petals, nuts, edible silver
Instructions
Chena Balls
- Add milk in a heavy bottom deep pot on medium heat. Bring the milk to a boil. Once the milk is boiled, stir in lemon juice in it. Stir a little bit, and you will see milk curdling. Sometimes, it happens quickly or sometimes it will be slightly slow to see cheese curds.
- Once you see water and cheese curds, it means it is working. It won’t look white as milk. (refer pics)
- Turn off the heat. Let it cool down for 5 minutes.
- Line a colander with a cheese cloth, remove the paneer/chena that we just made into it. Pour some cold water to cool it down. Squeeze out excess water and tie the cheesecloth, and hang it on higher level, so excess water can gets drained.
- After 10 minutes, remove the chena/cheese curds/paneer in a plate. Do not leave longer than 8 minutes. We want it to be moist and soft, not dry. It will be difficult to work with it, if it gets dry.
- Now, using the heel of your palm, start rubbing the chena in the plate until it becomes smooth. This step is the most crucial step. If it is crumbly, it will dis integrate in sugar syrup, messing up the syrup. It should 7-9 minute to do so.
- Best time, to involve kids to do this step. I think it would be fun.
- Once you have smooth dough, divide it into 1 tsp each. You should easily get 25-30 mini balls. Cover them with a wet paper towel, o they do not get dry.
Sugar Syrup
- Take sugar and water in deep pot, on high heat and let it boil. Once its boiling and sugar has melted completely, start dropping balls into them one by one.
- I prefer to drop one chena ball and wait to see if it crumbles into the syrup. That way you know if the dough is not kneaded smooth. Stir as you drop more balls, and let it cook for 8-10 minutes or until you see they have doubled in size. They will look puffier and spongier and slightly doubled. Don’t over crowd the pot. They expand so they will need some space.
- Once done, remove the pot form heat. Let it sit for few more minutes -10 minutes covered.
- One it cools down, remove all the balls in a plate and gently very softly squeeze out syrup from the balls by pressing them between your palms. Do it gently so that you do not break the balls. You can use leftover sugar syrup for something else.
- Immediately add squeezed out balls into the milk mixture. Garnish it with lots of chopped pistachios and almonds, and silver edible leaf if you wish. I like to add some dried rose petals too. The balls will soak up some of the saffron milk.
Basundi – Saffron Milk
- Add whole milk in deep pot on medium high heat and let it simmer for atleast ½ hour. Keep stirring in between. The milk should reduce in quantity, and it will become more thicker and creamier.
- If you don’t stir continuously the milk will boil over and stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.
- Take ¼ cup of milk in a small bowl from the boiled milk, take few strands of saffron 7-8 approximately and crush them either in mortar or pestle or between your palm and then add them to the warm milk. Let it rest and release its flavor.
- Add sugar, freshly crushed cardamom powder in the boiled milk. Let the sugar melt. Add saffron milk too currently. Stir well. If the milk is thickened, you can turn off the heat. It should have pourable consistency.
- Leave it in the fridge for atleast 1-2 hours before serving. They taste much better once they are chilled.
Notes
- Please check all tips/suggestions
