30-Minute Rabdi Recipe (Using Paneer)

Ingredients

• 3 cup milk full fat
• 1 cup fine grated paneer use malai or high fat paneer
• 5 tablespoon nut powder I use cashews & almonds
• ½ cup condensed milk can go upto 10 tablespoon
• ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
• 10-12 saffron strands
• ⅓ cup silvered nuts to add & garnish

Steps

1. Rinse a wide pot or shallow pan with water and without wiping, add milk to it. Place on a stove, bring to a boil, reduce the stove to low medium and let the milk simmer for 15 minutes. Pro Tip:- Using a wide mouthed utensil really quickens the process of thickening the milk, I highly highly recommend it.
2. Stir periodically to make sure that milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. The milk will almost reduce by ⅓ rd of its volume and start getting thick. Scrape the sides of the pot every now and then and add back the malai scrappings to the milk.
3. Meanwhile, soak a few saffron strands in 1-2 tablespoon warm milk from the pot.
4. Using fine side of the box grater, grate the paneer.
5. Make nut powder by adding nuts to a grinder. We need 4-5 tablespoon nut powder. coarsely chop the rest of the nuts. Tip:- If you are using seeds from green cardamom pod, add it to the grinder with nuts.
6. Once the milk has reduced a bit, add the paneer, ground nuts and condensed mil, mix well and cook stirring often. Stirring often makes the rabdi creamy and also breaks down the paneer for the right (slightly grainy) texture of rabdi. Cook for about 8-10 minutes.
7. Taste and if you feel you can add 1-2 tablespoon of sugar if you feel that the rabdi isn't sweet enough. I like to keep in lightly sweet else it tastes quite heavy.
8. When the rabdi has thickned, add the cardamom and soaked saffron along with chopped/silvered nuts. Mix well. Cook for 2 more minutes.
9. Avoid overcooking or thickening the rabdi too much. Take off the stove, cover and let sit covered till cold. Pro Tip:- Don't over thicken the rabri while cooking. Remember that it will thicken as it cools down or while you store it in the fridge. Ideally, rabri should have a thick sauce consistency.
10. You will notice a thick film of cream forming on top as it cools down, dont worry just use a spoon to mix it back in. Chill rabdi in the fridge for 5-6 hours before serving.