How Swati Piramal made Nitrogen temple rasmalai

Swati Piramal

The kitchen laboratory
That Swati Piramal is a lady of many parts, and some of these include horticulture, academics, science and food, is by now well known. But this week, when the wife of leading Mumbai industrialist Ajay Piramal combined two of these passions (food and science) and came up with Nitrogen temple rasmalai, one can understand the depths of her engagement. At a recent family occasion this week, this enigmatic dessert was served as Prasad to the guests.

"We took the rasmalai that is made as an offering each morning to the deity at the Radha Krishna temple in Chowpatty. Then scientists from my lab added nitrogen to make the saffron milk as light as air and piped it in a cold grill below which liquid nitrogen bubbled at minus 200 degrees C. The ice cold grill instantly froze the saffron cream and a tiny rasgulla was added and a lollipop stick," she posted about the experiment.

"The food didn't touch the nitrogen but was cold grilled! The nitrogen is inert and just vaporises into the air. The scientists could not make it fast enough as everyone wanted to taste this unique recipe," she adds. "I'm glad I paid attention in my chemistry class!" Indeed.