Rasgulla is a traditional Indian sweet, popular all across the globe. They are cottage cheese balls soaked in sugary syrup. Its widely available in all sweet shops in India. You can also buy them in cans, which makes them available in Indian stores even outside India.
I am a member of a Food Group on Facebook Chef at Large . It is one of the largest food groups in India. Its members are very talented and inspire everyone to cook better and new things every day, every minute or I should say every second :P. That is where I came across this easy recipe to make rasgulla. Its Garima Sarolia Narera’s most popular recipe. I am sure all the members would have tried it at least once and I am not kidding 🙂 So I thought why shouldn’t I also give it a try. After all who minds delicious rasgullas.
Making them was easy as the recipe is very well written with tips and tricks to make mouth melting rasgullas. Here is my take on them.
Directions:
To Make Chenna:
1. Boil milk in a milk boiler. I used full fat milk, let it cool and removed all the cream. Then reboiled it.
2. When the milk comes to a boil put the flame off and put in it lemon juice to curdle the milk. You can even use distilled white Vinegar.
3. The milk mass and whey will start separating like this. If it doesn’t happen you should add more lemon juice or vinegar till it starts to curdle. Add ice cubes and let it rest for a minute.
4. Strain this in a mesh colander. You can even line it with a cheese cloth. I did not.
5. Let the entire whey pass through the colander and you will be left with a crumbly milk mass. Do not throw whey away. You can use it to make dough for rotis. It makes nutritious Rotis.
6. Put the colander under running water and with the help of your hands thoroughly rinse the milk mass. You are looking to remove the sourness and taste of lemon from the cheese.
7. Once clean you can transfer it on to a cheese cloth and tie it tightly and hang it so that all the liquid seeps out. You can even give it a squeeze before hanging it. It should take 10-15 minutes.
8. The chenna should be dry enough to knead into a ball. If it is wet it will not com together.So it should be dry and just a little moist.
9. Transfer it to a smooth surface where you can knead it with your fingers and palm ends into a smooth dough. It will take 5-8 minutes. You have to knead till the fat comes out. It will be like grease coming out.
10. This is the most crucial step. The right texture of rasgulla depends on how well you knead. It should come together like this ball.
11. Divide the dough into more or less equal sized balls. Try to make them crack free balls. I failed 😛 It should ideally make 15 balls. You can make them bigger or smaller. Word of caution:the balls will double up in size on boiling. You can line them up on a kitchen towel and cover them up till your sugar syrup gets ready. You don’t want them to dry out.
For the Sugary Syrup: We will make two types of syrup for the rasgullas. Both made with sugar but with different consistency. One Light Sugar Syrup and the other little more Sugary. The same light sugar can be made into more sugary syrup after boiling the rasgullas.
12. So for the light syrup add water, sugar and cardamom powder to a wide container. You can use a milk boiler also. I used a wok which can make room for more rasgullas in one go. Remember they double up. Cook till sugar dissolves.
13. Just as the light syrup comes to a boil add the balls to it, cover the lid and cook for 12-15 minutes. I never wanted to crowd the space so added 8 of them for the first batch.
14. The test to determine if the rasgulla balls have properlycooked is to drop one of them in a bowl or glass full of water. If it sinks to the bottom consider it ready. If they float you will have to boil them further for a couple of minutes more. Remove them from the vessel into a bowl full of plain drinking water. There should be ample water to accommodate all the rasgullas for they will loose their shape.
To make thicker Sugar Syrup
15. Add more water and more sugar to the light syrup. Boil the water till sugar dissolves and then turn the flame off. At this stage you can add saffron strands and or Rose water. I only added rose water for that wonderful aroma. Let the syrup cool down and come to room temperature. It should take 30 minutes or so.
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16. Carefully squeeze the water from the rasgullas and drop them gently in sugar syrup.
17.Refrigerate them for 3 hours before serving. I garnished them with Saffron and chopped pistachios.
If you looking for more Navratri or Vrat recipes you can checkout Sabudana Khichdi, Makhaney ki Kheer, Swang ke Chawal ki Khichdi, Gajar ka Halwa, Kaddu ka Halwa.
[whohit]Rasgulla[/whohit]
- 1 litre boiled milk, cream or malai removed.
- 1-2 tsp lemon juice or white distilled vinegar
- 10-12 Ice Cubes
- 5 Cups water
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground Cardamom, I used two crushed pods
- Additional 1/2 Cup Sugar, You can increase of decrease sugar depending on how sweet you like.
- Additional 1/2 Cup Water
- 2 tsp Rose water, optional
- 8-10 strands Saffron,optional. I did not use.
- Saffron Strands,optional
- Chopped Pistachios,optional
- Boil milk in a milk boiler. I used full fat milk, let it cool and removed all the cream. Then reboiled it.
- When the milk comes to a boil put the flame off and put in it lemon juice to curdle the milk. You can even use distilled white Vinegar.
- The milk mass and whey will start separating like this. If it doesn’t happen you should add more lemon juice or vinegar till it starts to curdle. Add ice cubes and let it rest for a minute.
- Strain this in a mesh colander. You can even line it with a cheese cloth
- Let the entire whey pass through the colander and you will be left with a crumbly milk mass.
- Put the colander under running water and with the help of your hands thoroughly rinse the milk mass. You are looking to remove the sourness and taste of lemon from the cheese.
- Once clean you can transfer it on to a cheese cloth and tie it tightly and hang it so that all the liquid seeps out. You can even give it a squeeze before hanging it. It should take 10-15 minutes.
- The chenna should be dry enough to knead into a ball. If it is wet it will not com together.So it should be dry and just a little moist.
- Transfer it to a smooth surface where you can knead it with your fingers and palm ends into a smooth dough. It will take 5-8 minutes. You have to knead till the fat comes out. It will be like grease coming out.
- This is the most crucial step. The right texture of rasgulla depends on how well you knead. It should come together like thi
- Divide the dough into more or less equal sized balls. It should ideally make 15 balls.You can make them bigger or smaller. Word of caution:the balls will double up in size on boiling. You can line them up on a kitchen towel and cover them up till your sugar syrup gets ready. You don’t want them to dry out.
- We will make two types of syrup for the rasgullas. Both made with sugar but with different consistency. One Light Sugar Syrup and the other little more Sugary. The same light sugar can be made into more sugary syrup after boiling the rasgullas.
- So for the light syrup add water, sugar and cardamom powder to a wide container. You can use a milk boiler also. I used a wok which can make room for more rasgullas in one go. Remember they double up. Cook till sugar dissolves.
- Just as the light syrup comes to a boil add the balls to it, cover the lid and cook for 12-15 minutes. I never wanted to crowd the space so added 8 of them for the first batch.
- The test to determine if the rasgulla balls have properlycooked is to drop one of them in a bowl or glass full of water. If it sinks to the bottom consider it ready. If they float you will have to boil them further for a couple of minutes more. Remove them from the vessel into a bowl full of plain drinking water. There should be ample water to accommodate all the rasgullas for they will loose their shape.
- Add more water and more sugar to the light syrup. Boil the water till sugar dissolves and then turn the flame off. At this stage you can add saffron strands and or Rose water. I only added rose water for that wonderful aroma. Let the syrup cool down and come to room temperature. It should take 30 minutes or so.
- Carefully squeeze the water from the rasgullas and drop them gently in sugar syrup. Refrigerate them for 3 hours before serving. I garnished them with Saffron and chopped pistachios.
- For People in US Sonal from simplyvegetarian777.wordpress.com recommends 2% skimmed milk : 1/2 Gallon or 1.89 L. Use organic or hormone free brand. She used Kroger’s Simple truth Organic.
- For People in UK Tesco British Semi Skimmed Milk is recommended by Garima.
- Using milk after removing the cream makes it non greasy.
- Do not cook further after adding lemon juice for the texture of rasgullas will become chewy.
- Rinsing the curdled milk thoroughly is very important for a sourless rasgullas.
- After hanging the cheese ensure it hasn't dried a lot..It should not be very dry but not wet also.