Malai

clotted cream top

The cream that rises, gathered by hand.

What it is

Malai is the thick, clotted cream that forms on the surface of whole milk as it is simmered and cooled — skimmed and gathered, richer than ordinary cream. It is the region's own clotted cream, used to enrich and to crown.

Where it comes from

Made across the subcontinent wherever milk is simmered, malai is gathered over repeated boilings into a rich layer. It tops a sweet lassi, enriches Mughal sweets and gravies, and lends its name to dishes built on its richness.

What it's called

Malai · clotted cream (loosely). The reduced, layered sweet is rabri.

In the kitchen

Spooned over a sweet lassi, folded into rich sweets (rabri, malai-based desserts) and into gravies (malai kofta, malai-rich kormas) for luxurious body. It is richness, added where a dish wants to be plush. Clotted cream is the nearest Western equivalent.

What we know about the claims

Malai is concentrated milk fat — rich, and best treated as the indulgence it is. No caution beyond that.

Choosing and buying

Gathered at home from simmering whole milk, or approximated with clotted cream (UK) or a thick cream (US). Not usually sold as such outside South Asian sweet shops.