Recipe of Rabri – How to Make Rabri at Home

Below we are describing, how to make Rabri at home, using ingredients that are easily available in your neighborhood market. However, various chefs have come up with many of their innovations & modifications, while preparing a Recipe for Rabri, hence the reader’s discretion is advised.

1. Full cream milk/Buffaloes’ milk – 1 liter (4 cups)
2. Sugar – 3 to 4 tablespoons or according to taste/personal choice
3. Dry fruits (according to personal choice – here we have used walnuts) – 2 tablespoons
4. Cardamom powder/any food essence – 1/4^th teaspoon or 3 to 4 drops of essence
5. Saffron strands (optional) – 10 to 12 strands

• Take 1 glass of normal boiled water in a bowl & dip the dry fruits, as described in ingredients used in Recipe of Rabri above, in it for softening.
• Put an iron-made wide vessel/non-stick Karahi on a low medium flame burner. Pour the described amount of milk in it & allow it to boil. Stir occasionally, so that the milk doesn’t get burnt from the bottom. Take care that the milk doesn’t get spilled over from the vessel.

• Take 3 to 4 tablespoons of hot milk from the above-mentioned boiling milk & put it in a small bowl. Add the saffron strands to the milk. Leave it like that for 30 minutes, till the saffron color gets mixed with the milk. However, all those who want to know how to prepare Rabri should keep in mind, that this step is optional.

• For making Smooth Rabri, keep on stirring the boiling milk in the Karahi/wide vessel pan, with a spatula. This makes the cream/malai content come up to the upper part of the boiling milk. Further stirring again mixes the cream rising with the still liquid milk, being boiled. This process is continued till the milk becomes much more concentrated and becomes 1/4^th of its original volume.
• Next mix sugar in the previously mentioned amount, to the concentrated milk preparation, uniformly. Now switch off the burner & allow it to cool at room temperature.

• For making Lachha Rabri, all the above-mentioned steps are the same, the difference being only on the step of boiling the milk where – when the cream/malai starts rising to the top, it is carefully lifted, with the help of spatula & stuck to the margins of the upper part of Karahi, where the liquid boiling milk wouldn’t reach.

• This procedure is repeated and the rising cream/malai is raised above by spatula and stuck to margins of the upper part of the vessel. This is done till the milk becomes 1/4^th of its original volume. To the remaining milk add sugar (in amounts described previously) and switch off the burner.
• Add the previously described saffron-colored milk preparation (previously prepared) to this boiling sweetened milk preparation and mix them uniformly. Later allow it to cool a bit.

• Now scratch the cream/malai adhering to the margins of the vessel, (known as Lachha) and mix it with the sweetened milk.

• If the malai/cream adherent to the margins of the upper part of the vessel becomes very hard then spread a little hot milk on it, to soften it. 

• This Lachha is again to be mixed with the hot sweetened concentrated milk as described previously.

• Now to the final products obtained for both (Smooth Rabri & Laccha Rabri), add cardamom powder/essence with the Rabri and allow the preparation to cool at room temperature. Keep it like this for approximately 2 hours (in winters this time would be much shorter).
• Transfer the dish produced to a serving bowl. Take out the now softened dry fruits from the hot water and cut them very finely and spread it on the upper layer of the Rabri preparation. The dish is now ready for serving.

• The Rabri prepared can be taken with Puri or Paratha, or with Jalebi/Gulab Jamun/Faluda, or according to individual preference.

1. For the boiling of milk wide vessel pan should be used  – a cast iron Karahi is usually preferred.
2. While boiling the milk, stirring should be done after every 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Earthen pot is best for serving the Rabri, as the earthen smell gives a particular appeal to this sweet.
4. Full cream milk or buffalo’s milk is preferable for the preparation. Cow’s milk or toned milk is not recommended as it is light, so it can’t give the desired result/texture.