Rabri Recipe ~ Easy sweet recipes of India

Rabri aka Rabdi is a classic, traditional Indian sweet. A rich dessert that is a mixture of thickened creamy milk and bits of malai (top of milk) that is lightly sweetened with sugar and flavored with saffron and cardamom powder. The making of authentic rabri recipe is a laborious process that requires cooking full fat milk over a slow flame till it reduces to a thick mixture. The key to a rich and creamy Rabri lies in the quality of milk used and simmering the milk over low flame. Always use full cream milk while making Rabdi.

Rabri (Rabdi)

My family relishes chilled creamy Rabdi served over a dollop of ice cream. Yes, you heard right. It is one of the most awesome food combination you can think of. Another favorite of mine is mixed fruit rabri which is super simple to put together especially when you have a party at home. Just chop fruits like apple, pomegranate, grapes, strawberry into bite sized pieces, place them in a bowl, top them with chilled rabri and chopped nuts of your choice and you have a heavenly dessert. Rabri can be served both warm or cold. It is also served with Jalebi, Gulab jamun, Shahi Tukda and Malpua.

I hope you make this indulgent easy to make sweet to celebrate Holi. 🙂

Rabri Recipe

Prepare time: 5 min Cook: 120 min Serves: 8 Cuisine: north indian

Ingredients

Full cream milk 2 lts
Sugar 1/4 cup (for a sweeter taste you add another 1 to 2 tbsps)
Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
Saffron 7-8 strands (soaked in 2 tbsps of warm milk)
Pistachios fistful
Almonds 7-8, blanched and peeled
Kewra essence or Rose water few drops (optional)

Method for making Rabri Recipe

Sliver the blanched almonds, chop the pistachios and set aside.
Boil milk in a large heavy bottomed wide vessel on high flame. Once it comes to a boil, reduce flame to low and allow to simmer. Every 3 to 4 mts, push the top layer of malai (top of milk) that forms on the top towards the sides of the vessel. Continue to do this till the milk is reduced to less than half of the original quantity.
Keep scraping the sides of the vessel and combine it with the thickening milk.
After almost 1 1/2 hours, the milk would have reduced considerably to a thick mass. Add sugar and half of the chopped nuts and mix. Allow the sugar to dissolve and continue to simmer the mixture till it reaches a third of the original quantity. Add cardamom powder, rose water and saffron and mix well.
Turn off flame and allow to come to room temperature. Remove to a serving bowl. Garnish with the remaining chopped nuts and saffron strands.
Ladle into serving bowls and serve warm. You can even chill the rabdi and serve it chilled.

Tips

Do not keep stirring the milk constantly. Stir only at intervals to ensure that the milk does not burn. It is advised to use heavy bottomed vessel so that the contents do not burn.

To speeden up the process, you can cook over medium flame.

You can flavor with nutmeg powder instead of cardamom.

Left over rabri can be stored in the fridge for 3 to 4 days or frozen for a few weeks.

By Sailu Published: March 14, 2014 Rabri recipe, a rich dessert and one of the easy sweet recipes to make for Holi festival or Diwali. Use full cream milk, nuts and saffron for a rich flavor.