This vegan Ras Malai is inspired by the traditional Bengali dessert that’s made with dairy. This is a completely veganised version and it is going to blow your mind. It is perfect for sharing with your friends and family to celebrate any festival or happy occasion!
Inspiration to veganise Ras Malai
One of the things I missed the most after turning vegan was being able to enjoy Indian desserts because they are usually filled with dairy. Ever since I honed my cooking skills and learned more about vegan substitutes, things have been quite easy. This recipe goes on to prove that anything can be veganised. The easiest way to replace milk in most recipes is with soy milk. And that’s how I rocked this one! Go soy milk!
How to make Vegan Ras Malai?
The base of a Ras Malai is chena (fresh cheese or paneer) usually made from scratch. It is formed into flattened balls and boiled in a sugar syrup, then soaked in spiced malai (cream). You can watch me make it here.
Vegan chena/paneer:
You can easily sub this with tofu. The key to this recipe is soy milk. You can use a curdling agent like lemon juice. Once, it is formed, mix it with a bit of corn starch to get a doughy consistency that can be easily shaped.
Sugar syrup:
In this step, heat up water, add sugar and cardamom to it, then bring it to a boil. Now drop the ras malai shapes in the sugar syrup so that they can soak up the syrup and turn sweet.
Malai (cream syrup):
Blend together soaked and softened cashews, pistachios, soy milk, sugar, cardamom, and soaked saffron strands. You can skip the saffron strands if it is not available but make sure to add cardamom, at least.
This recipe is fairly simple to make and you can serve it chilled on a hot summer’s day. Let me know how you liked this recipe and if you do try it don’t forget to tag me @beextravegant. Check out my other reels and recipes on Instagram.
Check out other desserts from my page:
Let me know if you try this vegan ras malai recipe. Tag @beextravegant on Instagram.
Vegan Ras Malai
Ingredients
Vegan chena/paneer (sub with tofu):
- 5 cups soy milk
- 2-3 tbsp lemon juice for curdling
- 2-3 tbsp corn starch
Sugar syrup:
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp crushed cardamom
- 4 cups water
Malai (cream syrup)
- 1/3 cup cashews
- 1/3 cup pistachios
- Hot water
- 1/3 cup soy milk
- 5-6 cardamom pods shelled
- 5-6 strands saffron
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
Vegan Chena (the fresh cheese):
- Bring to boil 5 cups soy milk (making sure not to burn the bottom). Once it comes to a boil, add lemon juice and turn off the heat. Let the milk curdle.
- Pour into a cheese cloth and hang for 45 minutes.
- Squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
- Add corn starch (add more if required), mix well and form little flat round shapes and set aside.
Sugar syrup:
- Bring water, sugar and crushed cardamom to a boil.
- Bring it to a simmer and slowly add the vegan chena balls into the syrup and let it cook for about 3-5 minutes. Take them out and set aside.
Vegan Malai:
- Soak cashews and pistachio in hot water for 30 minutes. Soak saffron and cardamom seeds as well and let them infuse.
- Pour everything into a blender with water and sugar and blend well. It should form a viscous liquid. (If not, heat it on a pan and reduce it to the right consistency)
Assembly:
- For best results, pour the Malai onto all the chena balls and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, it comes out AMAZING. But, if you are in a hurry, just pour immediately onto the chena balls and serve.
That is such an interesting recipe! Definitely tried it and its excellent.
Turned out so well, thanks for the recipe. I’m making it a second time now 🙂
How much tofu would you use in place of the chena? Thank you!
This recipe came out amazing! My mom has wanted vegan Ras Malai since she turned vegan 27 years ago. When I found this recipe, I thought that it would be perfect. My mom loved it. The only hard part was that after curdling the soy milk, it took over 2 hours to fully curdle, and it only made 4 disks. I think I did something wrong, even though I only put 2-3 tbsp of lemon juice and also only put 5 cups of milk. I think it was my error though, so I will make this again
It came out good
So happy to hear that!!!!