No need to toil over rabdi for hours and hours now. To make this simple & easy rabdi recipe, all you need is paneer, full fat milk, nuts, condensed milk and about 25-30 minutes.
This creamy instant rabri recipe will entice everyone's tastebuds at your next party without anyone guessing that you didn't slog for hours. Read on!
Lacey rabdi from streets of Old Delhi used to be my favorite. Prepared in the backyard of hole in the wall mithai (sweet) shops in giant kadai with few men laboriously stirring the milk with long ladle. Served over jalebi, gulab jamun, topped over falooda or kulfi or on its own in a kulhad(shallow earthen bowl), it was worth every penny!
While I have made traditional rabdi many times, ever since I came up this recipe few years back when I first shared the brioche toast with saffron rabdi, I mostly stick to this shortcut rabdi that is less time consuming to make.
We all need quick recipes to fit in our busy lifestyle and that is how this instant rabdi recipe was born.
A Note :- Even when I am deviating from traditional cooking methods to make recipes easy for you and me,I try hard to keep the soul of our age old indian recipes intact. We are not going to compromise on taste or texture. Hope you will get a sense of the fresh milky taste when you try my recipe.
Traditional Versus Instant Rabdi
Rabdi or Rabri is a north indian sweet made with full fat milk, sugar, nuts and green cardamom. It uses the most basic ingredients that are toiled over for hours and hours to turn them into this dreamy dessert. Authentic rabdi is creamy, lacchedaar (lacey) and has aroma of cardamom & nutty texture in every bite.
Traditional Rabdi is made by slowly reducing the milk to get rid of most of its moisture leaving behind the milk solids. The milk slowly thickens thanks to a process involving lots of patience and continuous attention in the form of stirring & scrapping the pot. However, the result is totally worth it.
This easy version is a great hack to get the same taste and texture. This instant rabdi recipe that I am sharing today will help you get the job done in less than half the time (takes about 30 minutes)with basic ingredients.
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Why You Will Love This Easy Rabdi Recipe
- Simple ingredients. Most indian homes have paneer, milk and a can of milkmaid (condensed milk) stashed in the fridge or in the pantry. Just the things we need! No funky or fancy ingredients needed. No to minimal store runs.
- Takes about 30 minutes to make. We start with full fat milk and we reduce it to mimic the taste of authentic rabdi. The taste of rabdi is so fresh and milky!
- Small batch recipe. However you can double or triple it easily to suit your needs.
- Sometimes I just want to eat rabdi by itself and since we dont have a mithai shop here in Las Vegas, I resort to this recipe to quickly satisfy my cravings. It is so easy that you can start working on it while you brew your morning tea or coffee to serve it over toast for breakfast, just sayin!
- Perfect texture. Since I use fine grated paneer, it makes the texture of rabdi grainy, or daanedaar as we call it in Hindi. For those of you who know real rabdi will know what I am talking about.
- This recipe is perfect for busy days of entertaining or during festival time when you have your hands full with hundreds of things in the kitchen.
- Lastly, its plain deliciousness. You would want to eat it all in a sitting!
Ingredients You will Need
Here are the ingredients that you will need. You probably have all the ingredients at home right now.
- Full Fat Milk - We are taking a shortcut however we are not going to compromise on taste. Full fat milk tastes fresh and creamy. We are going to reduce it similar to how its done in traditional rabdi, however trust me, no slogging needed.
- Malai Paneer - Get your hands on a creamy block of paneer from store or make your own at home. I leave it to you. Store bought works just fine!
- Condensed Milk- Sweetened condensed milk available in baking aisle of stores. Sugar wont work unfortunately because condensed milk with its high protein content contributes in the thickening & creaminess of rabdi.
- Nuts - We are going to use nuts(cashews, almonds & pistachios) two ways. I powder ¼ cup nuts and keep ⅓ cup coarsely chopped. Powdered nuts help thicken the rabdi. You can add any nuts of choice.
- Flavoring- Saffron & Green cardamom are traditional rabdi flavorings and I use both.
Instructions (Step Pictures)
- Rinse a wide pot or shallow pan with water and without wiping, add milk to it. Set to boil on stove. Once boiling, reduce to low medium and intermittently stir the milk. Using a spatula, scrape the sides and mix back with the milk.
Pro Tip:- Using a wide mouthed utensil really quickens the process of thickening the milk, I highly highly recommend it.
- Mewnwhile, do these 3 steps. 1) Take a few tablespoons of warm milk from the pot and soak saffron in it. 2)Using fine side of a box grater, grate the paneer. 3) In a small grinder, powder the nuts (I used cashews & pistachios) to get 4-5 tablespoon nut powder. Coarsely chop ⅓ cup nuts to add to rabri.
Tip :- If you are using seeds from green cardamom pod, add it to the grinder with nuts.
- Once the milk is reduced by one third (takes about 12 minutes), add the grated paneer, condensed milk and nut powder to it. Mix and let cook for 10 minutes. You will see after 3-4 minutes that the milk starts thickening up and you will be able to notice the typical grainy texture.
- At this point add the saffron, cardamom powder and chopped nuts. Cook for 1-2 minutes and switch off the flame.
- Dish out, cover and let cool. 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 in the fridge for 5-6 hours before using.
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.
Storage
Store rabdi refrigerated for 2-4 days. Instead of serving it straight out of the fridge, I set it out 15-20 minutes earlier so that its a saucy consistency when serving.
What To Eat With Rabdi
Serve Rabdi with indian sweets like jalebi, gajar halwa or gulab jamun. You can use it to top drinks like thandai or falooda. Serve it with kulfi. I love a small bowl on its own with a sprinkle of nuts, so delicious!
Few Tips
- Use full fat milk. Skim milk or 2 percent milk will not yield a good taste.
- Both paneer and condensed milk contribute to the thickening process, don't substitute.
- Use ready to use fine almond flour from the store instead of grinding nuts. I use it all the time.
- Use a heavy bottom, wide mouthed pot or pan. I usually prefer stainless steel or hybrid cookware to make sweets with milk. Plain reason being that cleaning is easier.
- Avoid non stick cookware since the laccha would not form. Laccha is the milk layers on the sides of the pot while you are reducing milk.
- Avoid using cast iron pots for making rabdi. Due to high heat conduction properties of cast iron, the milk can burn easily.
- Rabdi thickens substantially while it chills. Make sure that you dont overcook it.
- You can add rose water or any flavorings of choice to the rabdi.
- For a nut free version - Simply skip all the nuts and cook the rabdi extra 5-6 minutes to achieve the consistency.
- Dont over sweeten the rabdi. Such milky preparations can taste very heavy if they are too sweet. Sweeten wisely especially if you plan to serve it with mithai (indian sweets).
FAQ
No. Though the ingredients sound as what you will use while making paneer kheer, you will not taste paneer, just its texture. Traditional rabdi isn't smooth- it has a chewy texture. Fine grated paneer adds a lot of graininess to the rabdi to mimic that texture because it doesnt dissolve after cooking.
It stays good for 3-4 days in the refrigerator. I dont recommend freezing it. The taste goes away. My recipe makes a small batch, make it, enjoy and finish it within few days.
I love hearing your feedback. Do rate the recipe below and leave your feedback telling me what you liked or didn't!
Easy Rabdi Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.5 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
Instructions
- 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.
- 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.
- Meanwhile, soak a few saffron strands in 1-2 tablespoon warm milk from the pot.
- Using fine side of the box grater, grate the paneer.
- 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.
- 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 .
- 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.
- When the rabdi has thickned, add the cardamom and soaked saffron along with chopped/silvered nuts. Mix well. Cook for 2 more minutes.
- 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.
- 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.
Notes
- Nutrition Information is an estimation only.
- Use full fat milk. Skim milk or 2 percent milk will not yield a good taste.
- Both paneer and condensed milk contribute to the thickening process, don't substitute.
- Use ready to use fine almond flour from the store instead of grinding nuts. I use it all the time.
- Use a heavy bottom, wide mouthed pot or pan. I usually prefer stainless steel or hybrid cookware to make sweets with milk. Plain reason being that cleaning is easier.
- Avoid non stick cookware since the laccha would not form. Laccha is the milk layers on the sides of the pot while you are reducing milk.
- Avoid using cast iron pots for making rabdi. Due to high heat conduction properties of cast iron, the milk can burn easily.
- Rabdi thickens substantially while it chills. Make sure that you dont overcook it.
- You can add rose water or any flavorings of choice to the rabdi.
- For a nut free version - Simply skip all the nuts and cook the rabdi extra 5-6 minutes to achieve the consistency.
- Dont over sweeten the rabdi. Such milky preparations can taste very heavy if they are too sweet. Sweeten wisely especially if you plan to serve it with mithai (indian sweets).
- If your rabdi thickens after chilling, not to worry! Just thin it out with little warm milk. Do keep in mind that it will again thicken while you store it and that okay.
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