Rasgulla

Rasgulla
Photo Credits: Ravi Talwar

Syrupy and yummy dessert originated from Bengal-India and locally called ‘Roshogulla’, this dessert makes you crave for more! No oil – no ghee usage further entices everyone including the health conscious.

To read some interesting facts about Rasgulla, visit India-Infofacts

Ingredients

  • Full cream milk                                1 litre + 1/2 cup
  • Sugar                                               2 cups
  • Cornstarch                                       1 tablespoon
  • Lemon Juice                                     From 2 lemons
  • Water                                              As required

Procedure

  1. Put a pot on medium heat with 1 litre milk in it to boil. Keep stirring occasionally so that it does not get burnt from base and no layer is formed on surface. Turn off the heat after the milk is nicely boiled.
  2. Let the milk cool down a bit and then pour in lemon juice slowly, spoon by spoon while stirring gently but constantly until milk starts to curdle. Once the milk starts curdling, stop adding more lemon juice.

Tip: Never add lemon juice while milk is on heat. Always let it cool for awhile or add some cold water to bring the temperature down and then start pouring in the lemon juice. This way you get real soft cottage cheese otherwise it may go hard which is not good for making rasgullas.

  1. Stir the milk until it is fully curdled; then pour it out onto a sieve covered with a big cheese cloth or muslin cloth. Press the separated cheese gently to squeeze out the water from it.
  2. Pour in some fresh water onto cheese and wash it gently to remove the sourness of lemon juice.
  3. Collect the edges of the muslin cloth from all sides like a pouch and squeeze it tight. Then hang the pouch, for 15 – 20 minutes so that entire water is squeezed out.
  4. Transfer the squeezed cheese onto a flat platter and kneed it rubbing gently to give it a smooth texture until it starts leaving grease. Add the corn starch to it and kneed for 8 – 10 minutes again.
  5. Divide the cheese into 8 or 10 parts and roll them between your palms into small smooth balls of the desired size.

Note: Keep in mind that the final size of the rasgullas will be almost double the size of the balls you make here.

  1. Put a big deep pan on high heat with 8 cups of water and add sugar in it.
  2. Keep stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the solution starts boiling.
  3. Add remaining 1/2 cup milk to this and stir until the impurities of the sugar are separated and come to the top of the boiling solution. Collect and discard them with the help of a slotted spatulla.
  4. Drop the cheese balls in to sweet syrup and cover the pan with a lid.
  5. Keep boiling for 10 minutes. From time to time check if the syrup is getting thicker; if it is, add some more water into the pan spoon by spoon so that the temperature of syrup does not come down as well as it does not turn thick.
  6. Boil for 10 minutes more while gently stirring the solution to change the sides of the rasgullas.

Tip: Always boil the cheese balls at high heat till end; that will yield soft and spongy rasgullas.

  1. Turn off the heat and let the rasgullas remain in the sweet syrup so that they absorb the sweetness.
  2. Refrigerate to chill; serve.

Preparation Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Serves: 2

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