Ras is the syrup. Malai is the cream. Rasmalai starts with milk curdled by a squeeze of lemon. The fresh curd, chhena, is kneaded smooth, shaped into small discs and poached in syrup, then left to soak in milk reduced with saffron and cardamom.
Who made it first is still argued over. The K.C. Das family in Kolkata says it was theirs, and a Bengali advertisement for “rossomalai” was in print by 1932. Across today's border, the Sen brothers' Matri Bhandar in Comilla, Bangladesh, has made its own since 1930. Both cities were part of old Bengal, and both make it beautifully.
The saffron is the precious part. Each crocus flower gives three threads, picked by hand at dawn before the flower wilts. It takes around 150 flowers to make a single gram.
“a sweet two cities still argue over, and a spice picked one flower at a time.”
The filling is made the day before, the dough rests overnight, and every cookie is filled and closed by hand. Then it's baked the morning you pick it up. No preservatives, because it was never meant to sit on a shelf.