Bring milk to a boil in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. At this point, add vinegar and stir. When milk starts to curdle, immediately turn off the heat.

Drain into a clean cheesecloth (I used my husband’s kerchief instead), pour cold water to remove the vinegar. You can save the whey water for future use, but I let it go in the drain—I’ll save it the next time.

Hang the cheese for about ½ hour to drain out any excess water.

In a large non-stick pan, boil milk until it simmers down to half the volume, takes about 45minutes – 1hour. Rub saffron with few drops of milk and add to the milk before boiling.

I followed the tip from the lovely ladies at Show me the Curry and kneaded my paneer in the food processor. I pulsed for about 1 minute and the paneer came out just perfect, soft & smooth.

Roll paneer between both the palms to make the balls and make sure they are as smooth as they can be with no cracks. Keep aside.

In a pressure cooker, take 5 cups water and 1 cup sugar; stir until sugar dissolves. Slowly drop the paneer balls and let them cook for 1 whistle. Turn off the heat and exactly after 5 minutes, set the cooker in the sink and pour cold tap water to cool the cooker.

When cool enough to handle, remove the now puffed up paneer balls into a container along with some sugar syrup. Let cool.

When the milk cooks down to about half, add sugar and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Finally add cardamom and chopped nuts.

When the paneer balls are cool enough to handle, gently squeeze out the sugar syrup and put them in a serving bowl. Pour ras on the top and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours. Enjoy!!