My mom wanted to make rabdi for laxmi pujan. I thought why make a plain one when you can improvise. So I came up with this recipe. Enjoy!

Rabdi is a sweet dish made by reducing milk and then adding sweetening and flavoring agents, so that the end product has a thick creamy (molasses-like) consistency.

Ingredients :

Full-fat Milk – 2 1/2 Cups

Sugar – 1/4 Cup for the rabdi and 1/4 Cup for the caramel

Apple – 1 no. grated

Almonds and Pistachios – 2 Tbsp. toasted and slivered.

Method :

How to make Caramel :

Take 1/4 cup sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add 1/4 cup of water to it and keep it on medium heat.

You can stir it at this point to make sure the sugar has melted.

Remember that you cannot stir this after the sugar has melted as it will lead to something other than a caramel – you’ll end up with a hard caramel flavored candy, which BTW I learnt the hard way 🙂

Keep the pan on medium heat till the sugar starts to burn and turns amber. At this point you should remove it from the heat as the sugar will continue to burn because of the heat of the pan.

To make the rabdi :

Heat milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan,bring to a boil and simmer. Keep stirring the milk so no skin is formed on the surface. Simmer till the milk has reduced to half the original quantity. This usually takes about 20-30 minutes.

Then add the 1/4 cup sugar and again reduce for a further 20 minutes. Add this hot mixture to the caramel slowly and keep stirring till all the caramel is mixed into the milk. Add the grated apple and then cook for about 10-15 minutes to get the desired creamy molasses-like consistency. Pour this into individual bowls and garnish with the nut slivers.

You can serve it at room temperature or serve after refrigerating it for a few hours.