| Alternate Name: | Rossomalai, Roshmolai, Rasamalei |
| National Cuisine: | India, Bangladesh, Pakistan |
| Region: | Bengal, South Asia |
| Course: | Dessert |
| Served: | Cold |
| Main Ingredient: | Chhena, malai, saffron, sugar |
| Variations: | Kolkata's roshomalai |
| Similar Dish: | Rasgulla, Pashka |
| Country: | Kolkata, West Bengal, (India) |
| Cookbook: | Rasmalai |
Ras malai, also known as rasamalei, or roshomalai, is a dessert that invented in Kolkata, British India at 20th century by Krishna Chandra Das.[1] The dessert is called roshomalai in Bengali,[2] ras malai in Hindi,[3] and rasa malei in Odia.[4] It is popular in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.[5]
The original term for ras malai is "rosho malai (Bengali: রসমালাই) which derived from the Classical Bengali word "rosho malai" with the same meaning.
The term is made with a Bengali word Rosh (Bengali: রস) which means sap and a Hindustani word Malai (Hindi: मलाई, Urdu:) which means clotted cream hence the name of the sweet sap of clotted cream.[3]
Das Grandsons say that their forefather Krishna Chandra Das invented the ras malai in the early 20th century. His father, Nobin Chandra had come to Calcutta and opened a sweet shop in 1866. He wanted to create an entirely new dish, so he did a lot of experimentation and ended up inventing the rasmalai in 1932.
Ras malai consists of flattened balls of chhena soaked in malai (a type of clotted cream) flavoured with cardamom. Milk is boiled and a bit of vinegar or lime juice is added to split it. The whey is discarded and the milk solids are drained, cooled and kneaded into a dough. The dough is divided into small balls and the balls are cooked in hot water with a bit of rose water added. The balls are then cooked in milk with saffron, pistachios and kheer as stuffing.[6]
Different types of ras malai also can be found in different areas such Rasmanjuri of Rangpur division. In Dhaka and Rangpur, the ras malais are similar in shape to the rasgullas,[7] and round discs.