Shital's-Kitchen: Rasgulla

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Rasgulla

It is the second last day of Ganpati Pooja and we had our friends over for Arti. Such a fun evening as always to spend time with Parinaaz and Cherag, not to forget their wonderful kids Tia and Kyron! A busy week-day for her too, but I so appreciate them taking time off their busy schedule to participate in our festival. Love you guys! 

To share my Rasgulla recipe here, has been on my to-do-list since quite some time. Finally made them again today to share it with you all! Last summer experimented with variables to gain perfection in this sweet. And you all know how picky Snehanshu is! Used variety of milk, used various cooking utensils and finally reached to the conclusion, a recipe I like!

Rasgulla, as the name suggests, cottage cheese ball cooked in a light sugar syrup! This soft, spongy, sweet ball is a specialty of a Bengali cuisine, (an eastern state of India). Rasgullas are tricky to make but, nevertheless worth trying out and the pleasure of succeeding is tremendous! Next on my to-do-list is to make a big batch of these for Parinaaz :)

Boil 4 cups of milk. I have experimented with both 2% as well as whole milk and I think I like Rasgullas made with 2% milk better but, can be made with whole milk too.


As the Milk comes to boil, add few drops of lemon juice. Stir and in a minute or two you would find milk curdling. The cheese obtained is called Paneer.









Strain the whey from the solid. Wash lightly and let the cheese cool.

Remove in a plate or a clean, flat surface.


Use a paper towel to press and remove excess moisture.



Or, remove on a clean paper towel or a cheese cloth. Press it lightly to remove excess water.





Knead the paneer/cheese well for 8-10 minutes to form a soft dough.











Divide into 12 equal parts and make smooth, soft balls.


Mix 1 cup sugar 2 1/2 cup water in a pressure cooker. Bring sugar syrup to boil.

 While sugar syrup boils, add cheese ball one at a time.


Cover with a tight lid to seal the steam.

Over medium heat, cook for 10 minutes. let the steam cool before you open the lid. Do not suddenly shock the little cheese balls/rasgullas with temperature change. They may break or may get distorted.


Gently remove in a bowl with some syrup. Chill and serve!


Thanks Cherag & Parinaaz for the wonderful chocolates to offer Lord Ganesh! 


Mangal Murti...Morya!

23 comments:

  1. Hi Shital,

    I really love your recipes and also strictly follow them. I also deeply love your forte in arts & crafts.

    I had a question with respect to the decor that you have done for Ganpati. Could you please tell me where did you get the fabric that you used as your table cloth along with the silver embellishments?

    Also could you give me some Diwali Decoration ideas.

    I highly appreciate all your help.

    Thank You,

    J

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello J,
      Firstly thanks a lot for the wonderful comment! :)

      The printed fabric is a table cloth made in India sold in the US market. I then put a chunri on top which is made of net fabric with all the embellishments on it. Most of my decor is either bought from Mumbai, India. or I like to shop from Cost Plus World Market.

      I will share pictures and ideas for Diwali soon.

      Happy Cooking!
      Shital

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    2. Hi Shital,

      Thank you for all your help!!!

      I am eagerly waiting for the Diwali ideas.

      Once again thank you!!!

      Regards,
      J

      Delete
    3. You are most welcome...I am compiling my pictures from past Diwalis and will put them as a new page for decor. :) Meanwhile, I normally start collecting small mirrors, crystals and any bright colored traditional objects to place them around the food. I paint a lot and I mean A LOT of diyas and put tealight candles everywhere.

      Delete
  2. Hi Shital,

    I love trying out your recipes they are really tempting.
    I tried rasgullas and rasmalai over the weekend but both times my rasgulla didn't turn out very light n spongy.could you pls advice what could have gone wrong.What should do next time to make it lighter.

    Thanks,
    Dipti

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry Dipti. maybe you need to need the dough more. Did they at least double in size after cooking. Mine sometimes triple in size on cooking. Hope your rasgulla turn out well too.

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    2. The second batch I made for rasmalai did increase in size but not double. .the first one didnt increase at all.
      how many whistle do you take to makr them fluffy.

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    3. Dipti, squeeze the water well and knead it till it becomes like a soft dough. Add the balls to boiling syrup. Then just keep it on till one whistle. Do not open the pressure cooker till it has almost cooled down. Temperature difference could also shock them.

      Hope it works for you...what type of milk are you using?

      Delete
    4. The first batch I squeeze d the paneer until all the water drained out but yes I didnt wait until firat whistle. SECOND batch I left lil water and took one whistle and didnt open the cooker until it cooled down.I used whole milk.

      thanks Shital for responding.

      Delete
  3. Would thank you for putting this recipe in very easy steps..the ragullas turned out to be so good that all the 16 that I made disappeared within 2 -3mins...hubby loved them :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is amazing! Thanks so much for trying it. :)

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  4. I tried them yesterday with lots of kneading amd they turned out simply awesome..thanku so much for all your recipes..

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  5. Hey Shital can you tell me why my paneer came out too sticky unlike yours������

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Squeeze and try to get most of the water out. It should be nice and crumbly at first.

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  6. " Rashogolla, like the most sweets in India will always and forever be a Bengali thing. Remember that Bengali households still are known for their amazing food culture and this fact is known world-wide :)

    tanSEN was bengali my dear friend, so were a lot of other people! want to see the entire list as it stands today? so was subash chandra bose and sri aurobindo :)

    and i can name a million others and i am proud to say our greateness can be exerted beyond our national borders.
    we are the fifth largest speakers!

    we bengalis have won pretty much every award in the world stage "

    KAMONASISH AAYUSH MAZUMDAR
    (MBA, IMT Ghaziabad, 2013)
    Bengaluru, Karnataka
    in.linkedin.com/in/7thsense

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pls suggest the type of milk used. I used organic full fat milk and it came out chewy. :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Smriti. I mostly use 2% milk for that. But my friends in India have used full fat milk and theirs turn out good.

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    2. hey shital.. thanks for ur response..
      i live in tampa, florida.. any specific nationwide brand of milk u can suggest..
      i tried publix organic full fat milk o my first attempt..

      Delete
  8. " just changing the name from roshogolla to rasagulla won't make it Intellectual property of Oriyas.

    Rashogolla, like the most sweets in India will always and forever be a Bengali thing. Remember that Bengali households still are known for their amazing food culture and this fact is known world-wide :)

    tanSEN was bengali my dear friend, so were a lot of other people! want to see the entire list as it stands today? so was subash chandra bose and sri aurobindo :)

    and i can name a million others and i am proud to say our greateness can be exerted beyond our national borders.

    we are the fifth largest speakers!

    we bengalis have won pretty much every award in the world stage
    you name it we have it and we are damn proud of what we have :)

    its the only country in the world which took rebellion because it couldn't speak its mother tongue and it won! and won so hard that the UN had to adopt that day as the international language day, which celebrates languages from all over the world. "

    KAMONASISH AAYUSH MAZUMDAR
    MBA Aircel IMT Ghaziabad (2012 batch)
    Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka
    Home: Kolkata, WB
    in.linkedin.com/in/7thsense

    ReplyDelete
  9. hi shital...i love you recipes!! i tried the rasgullas and they are a big hit...however my rasgullas turn out flat (instead of round) and are a little stretchy....what could be wrong?
    TIA

    ReplyDelete