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Rasmalai mini pancakes on a plate with sweetned milk, saffron strands, and pistachios along with a pitcher of saffron cardamom milk in the background.

Rasmalai Pancakes | Mini Sweet Saffron and Cardamom Milk Pancakes

Shri Repp
These fluffy pancakes, inspired by the Indian dessert rasmalai, are made with batter infused with saffron and cardamom sweet milk. They're served with that same saffron milk, which is poured over, allowing the spongy pancakes to soak up the delicious flavor.
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Cook Time 40 minutes
Course Breakfast
Servings 32 mini pancakes
Calories 73 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
 

Sweet Saffron and Cardamom Milk

  • 3 cups (720 g) milk any type will work for this recipe
  • 5-7 cardamom pods
  • 15 - 20 saffron strands
  • ½ cup (117 g) sugar
  • 2 teaspoons (6 g) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon (2 g) sea salt
  • 1.5 cups (213 g) all purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons (42 g) unsalted ghee or butter melted
  • 1 egg

Other Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted ghee for griddling
  • 2 tablespoons roasted and salted pistachios finely chopped, for topping

Instructions
 

Prepare the Sweet Saffron Cardamom Milk (Kesar Milk)

  1. Add the 3 cups milk, 5-7 cardamom pods (lightly crushed), 15 - 20 saffron strands, and ½ cup sugar into a saucepan on medium-low heat until the milk comes to a rolling boil, rises, and foams. Immediately turn off the heat. This should take roughly 10-12 minutes.
    A saucepan with milk, saffron, cardamom, and sugar to make a saffron cardamom milk.
  2. Let milk cool for at least 10 minutes, meanwhile work on assembling the rest of the pancake batter. During this time the cardamom and saffron in the milk continues to steep in the milk. The milk will be a light yellow color and should smell of infused saffron and cardamom. Make ahead: You can make the saffron milk 1-3 days ahead of time and refrigerate to allow the spices to really infuse into the milk. The milk will taste even better with a longer steep time.

Make mini pancakes

  1. Mix Dry Ingredients: Mix 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon sea salt, and 1.5 cups all purpose flour in a large bowl.
  2. Pull out the cardamom pods from the saffron milk. You can either fish them out with a slotted spoon or filter the pot of milk through a tea strainer. It is ok if you filter out the saffron strands by using the tea strainer method but I prefer to keep them in to allow the saffron strands to continue to steep in the milk and adorn the milk.
  3. Pour half of the 3 cups milkof saffron milk into a medium bowl. Save the remaining half of the milk to pour over the pancakes as a syrup. Double check that the saffron milk in the bowl is cool enough to touch and ensure that the eggs don't scramble in the milk. If not, put the saffron milk into the freezer for 2-3 minutes to bring the temperature down.
    Two bowls with saffron cardamom milk.
  4. Whisk the Wet Ingredients: Add 1 egg, melted 3 tablespoons unsalted ghee or butter, and the cooled saffron milk and whisk until the egg is completely beaten and combined with the saffron milk.
  5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined and no dry spots remain. Do not over mix or else the batter will be chewy. Don't worry if there are some lumps in the batter. The batter will be thick in consistency.
  6. Heat a pan over medium-low heat (there are a lot of sugars in the batter so avoid using high heat for the pancakes).
  7. Add ~½ tablespoon of ghee or enough ghee to have a thin layer of ghee covering the pan. Scoop out 1 tablespoon of batter onto the pan for every mini pancake or ¼ cup for a regular sized pancake.
  8. Cook pancakes on the first side until you see bubbles on the surface and lightly lift the edge to ensure the underside is golden brown. Flip the pancake and cook until the other side is a light brown.
    A spatula lifting up a pancake to reveal a golden underside. The top of the pancake has bubbles and is uncooked.
  9. Rewarm the reserved saffron cardamom milk if it is cold.
  10. Finely chop 2 tablespoons roasted and salted pistachios and sprinkle on top of pancakes. Serve warm pancakes with the side of warm saffron cardamom milk to pour on top.
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Notes and Tips

  • Sweet saffron and cardamom milk can be prepped 1-3 days before you make your pancakes!
  • Remember to make your pancakes over medium-low heat as the pancakes have a high sugar content and can caramelize and then burn with high heat.
  • Here are other tips for making these pancakes.
  • Helpful readings: What is saffron? , What is ghee?

Nutrition

Calories: 73kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 2gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.001gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 91mgPotassium: 51mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 46IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 46mgIron: 0.4mg
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