Our very own Rasgulla

Rasgulla is a syrupy dessert very popular in India and we all love to eat rasgullas. A commonly seen dessert in weddings/parties. I have seen my mother making rasgullas when I was a kid. And I somehow exactly remember how she used to make it. And I exactly follow the recipe whenever I make my rasgullas. I have seen many people complaining about the chenna not binding properly or the rasgullas not becoming soft & fluffy. But thanks to god & my mom's recipe that as of now , my rasgullas have always been a success. While making rasgulla, a good quality milk plays the crucial part. I have made them with both Tetra pack milk and packaged milk as well and never disappointed. After making the chenna from milk, process of kneading the chenna should be perfect. You just can not ignore this step , in short there is no short cut for this step. Lastly the time required for the rasgullas to get cooked in sugar syrup. I cook them in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Some cook the same in pressure cooker as well.

Ingredients:

Milk: 1 ltr
White vinegar: 2 tsp
Maida: 2 tsp

for the sugar syrup

Water: 2 cups
Sugar: 4 tbsp.
Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp
Kesar: few strands

 Method:

In a saucepan boil the milk. After the first boil, add the vinegar and put the flame off. Keep it undisturbed for about 5 minutes so that the milk curdles.  

Through a colander lined with a muslin cloth strain the paneer/chenna that formed and wash under cold tape water very nicely so that the sourness due to the vinegar is removed. Drain off water by squeezing and tie a knot in the muslin cloth and  leave the paneer hanging for about half an hour.

 

After half an hour, take out the paneer/chenna which will be crumbly and dry with little moisture. Now the major part of making rasgulla is to knead the paneer/chenna well with your fingers and palms of your hands. At this stage I added the maida (if you donot feel like, you can avoid it). Mix them well and knead till it forms a dough. This whole process would take about 10 minutes.
Now divide the dough into equal sized portions and make balls without any crack on them , not very big sized as the rasgullas will double up while on boiling.

While making the balls, boil water in a heavy bottom saucepan. Put the rasgullas in the boiling water in batches so that they get enough space to double up and sinks well in water and cover with lid for about 10 minutes or so. After 10 minutes you will see the rasgullas becoming double their original size. Now its very important to know whether the rasgullas are cooked well.

I took the idea of a dear sister Garima, a blogger (her blog's name is Café Garima) having magical hands in the field of cooking, experimenting..that if you want to check whether your rasgullas are cooked, take plain cold water in a glass and drop the rasgulla. If it sinks, it is done. If it floats, boil for a couple of minutes and check again. And yes it works fantastically. Thanks dear sister. :)

Make the sugar syrup by boiling the mentioned quantity of water and sugar in a big heavy bottomed saucepan. Now add cardamom powder & saffron strands. Squeeze out the rasgullas from the water and drop in the sugar syrup. I keep it in boiling mode for about another 5-7 minutes. Put the flame off and let it cool down and serve.


Cooking in Pressure cooker:

Once your chenna balls are ready, boil water and sugar in the cooker and make the syrup a bit thick. This will take about 2 minutes or so. Then add the rasgullas carefully in the syrup. Close the lid and , keep the flame in low and pressure cook for at least 10-12 minutes. Put the flame off. Don't wait for the pressure to release on its own. Place the pressure cooker under running water or on a water bath so that the pressure releases immediately. Open the lid an transfer the rasgullas with the syrup to a bowl.

Serve hot if you like that way or keep in refrigerator to enjoy it chilled.