Shankar Bhattacharyya wrote:
> "Jean B." <jbxyz@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
> news:6br1eeF3dlipfU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>> Has anyone ever discovered a shortcut to making rabdi that doesn't
>> skimp on flavor? I have seen Tarla Dalal's version with paneer,
>> but I'm not sure that is what I'm looking for.
>
> Since I have seen neither the recipe nor the book, for that matter, I
> offer this suggestion with no context whatsoever: You have to be careful
> to ensure that you and your audience share the same understanding of the
> word "rabdi".
>
> To me rabdi identifies the following dessert:
>
> Milk is simmered down as in making kheer, with as little agitation as
> possible, using a kadahi of preferably shallow curvature. A fan is waved
> over the surface of the kheer to promote the formation of the malai
> (skin, more or less) so earnestly avoided in making kheer itself. As the
> skin develops enough texture to allow this, it is moved over to the
> sides of the kadahi, above the surface of the kheer, where it gets drier
> and acquires some texture. Periodic additions of newly developed malai
> to the sides, with the accompanying fluid, keeps the texture from
> getting leathery but does produce definite layers of drier material,
> with wetter stuff in-between.
>
> Too gentle a simmer will take too long. Too rapid a boil will break up
> the skin as it forms and make for a less structured rabdi. Given the
> memory of a reasonable rabdi or that of a standard Indian, the right
> boiling/simmering conditions are not difficult to divine.
>
> If the right amount of sugar is added at the beginning, you wind with a
> moderately sweet modified cream ****tion and a considerably sweeter
> kheer ****tion.
>
> At the point when the stuff in the bowl of the kadahi is clearly kheer
> and the stuff on the sides is clearly yearning to become rabdi, the
> material on the sides is cut up with the spatula, while still on the
> walls, insto sections a few cm on the side and scraped down into the
> kheer.
>
> There exists some range of opinion as to how thick the kheer should be
> at the end. If you intend to refrigerate it, the kheer should be
> relatively fluid. If you intend to serve it up at room temperature or
> slghtly above, it can be boiled down a bit more.
>
> I regret to say that I see no reasonable way to simplify this.
>
> I have not made rabdi in perhaps twenty years. It took some practice to
> get it right.
>
> You will find rabdi made with completely unnecessary flourishes, such as
> ground almonds and pistachio and who knows what else. Rabdi does not
> need any of these adulterants.
>
> You will find short-cuts involving bread. Preserve your soul from these
> blasphemies. I have nothing against bread puddings but they ain't rabdi,
> as they say in the American.
>
> - Shankar
Thanks again! So, there is no good shortcut?
BTW, the bread came in as part of another dessert!
--
Jean B.
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