Malai Sandwich with Kesar Mousse and Cardamom Crumble
Malai Sandwich with Kesar Mousse, Cardamom Crumble and Passionfruit Coulis is my twist to the classic Indian dessert RasMalai. Lots of flavours complimenting together to make this pretty plated dessert.
Bring a litre of milk to rolling boil. Once boiled switch off the gas. Add few drops of lemon juice. Stir. Add some more lemon juice. Stir. Keep on adding lemon juice and stirring until the milk splits completely to form paneer and whey.
Strain the water by passing it through the cheesecloth so that you collect the paneer in the cheesecloth. Do not throw the water(whey) away.
Tie the cheesecloth at the ends and pass it under running tap water to remove the acidity aka the lemon juice smell. Once washed squeeze a bit to remove the excess water, sandwich the cloth between two plates and put some weight on top of it. Let it be like that for 8-10 mins.
Take the paneer out of the cloth and start kneading until it comes together as a dough and your hands starts feeling greasy. About 5 minutes.
Meanwhile in a pot add the water, sugar, orange zest and vanilla and bring it to a boil.
Once the dough is formed divide it into 12 equal balls and press lightly to give it a patties shape.
Once the water is boiled and the sugar is dissolved completely, add half of the patties to it. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. You will see that the balls have doubled in size. Remove from the pan along with some of the water and transfer to a bowl. Cook the remaining half of the patties in the same way.
Keep these patties in the fridge until required.
For the Chantilly Cream.
Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla bean seeds until soft peaks form.
Put the cream into a piping bag with star nozzle and keep it in the fridge.
For the Kesar (Saffron) Mousse
Whip the curd until smooth and lump free. Keep aside.
Melt the chocolate and keep aside.
Crush the saffron strands a bit in a mortal pestle and add this to the warm milk. Once the milk is at room temperature again add it to the curd and mix until lump free.
Add two tbsp of melted chocolate (should not be hot) to the saffron mixture to temper it. Now add this to the remaining chocolate and mix until well combined.
Whip the cream along with icing sugar until soft peaks; add half the chocolate saffron mixture and mix until combined. Add the remaining mixture to the cream and combine everything well.
Pour this to silicone mould cups and fill it half way. Cover with cling wrap so that it touches the mousse and freeze overnight.
For the Cardamom Crumble
Remove the seeds from the cardamom and crush it to a fine powder with a pinch of sugar.
Take the flour, sugar, pistachios and freshly ground cardamom in a bowl. Combine everything. Rub in the butter until there are some large and small chunks of flour mixture.
Bake this in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 9-12 minutes until golden brown in colour.
Let it cool completely before using.
For the Passion fruit Coulis
Remove the seeds and juice from the Passion fruits and take in a saucepan. Add sugar and star anise.
Bring this pot to a boil stirring to dissolve the sugar and then reduce the flame and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Strain the mixture using a sieve and let it thicken naturally.
To Assemble
Take a plate. Add the coulis to a sauce bottle and using bottle make a random oval shape with the sauce.
De-mould the mousse from the silicone moulds. Place it to the left top corner as shown in the image. And using a spoon scoop some to the bottom side of the plate. (Refer image)
Cut the base of two cottage cheese patties. Fill it with some cream. Place them on top of the mousse. (Refer image).
Place another cottage cheese patties on bottom side. (Refer image) Make a rosette on top.
Sprinkle the cardamom crumble in between and garnish with rose buds and pistachios.
Impress your family with your gourmet style dessert plate.:)
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