Mughal-E-Azam

Yes, this post sounds like a super hit bollywood movie, but rest assured it is not about the movie :) 

This recipe is an attempt to replicate a delicious sweet from my favorite Bay area's Indian Sweet shop. Yes, Rangoli Sweets!! They have the fresh, best, and delicious assortment of sweets I have ever had after Brijwasi and Chappan Bhog in Mumbai. I tried to make quite a lot of popular sweets this week, and will be posting each of the recipes soon. With all festivals lined up, you have an opportunity to prepare and impress your family and friends :)

Mughal-E-Azam means Emperor of Mughals and this is also one of my favorite sweets sold at Rangoli Sweets :) Probably the flavor, color, and presentation gives it this rich and wealthy name.

Below are few of my favorite songs from the movie 'Mughal-E-Azam' which might give you an idea of the kind of Mughal food and lifestyle.

This recipe will make around 20 pieces.

Boil 8 cups (2 liters) milk. I had used whole milk, but you could surely use 2% milk to make the base Rasgullas.
I use this my Robostir, a battery operated stirring device that stirs the food while I can sit back and relax or multitask. :) If you have liked my facebook page, you have already seen my use and review for this product.

When the milk boils, add 2-3 tbsp. of lime juice little at a time for the milk to curdle. 

Eventually milk will separate into milk solids (cheese) and whey.

Keep a strainer lined with cheese cloth to strain curdled milk.

Wash and wring and let paneer rest for 20-30 minutes to remove the moisture content form the fresh cottage cheese which we call it a Paneer.

Dry, crumbly paneer. Knead it well till it forms a soft dough.

If your paneer has too much water content or is moist, Rasgullas will break or form lots of cracks.

Depending on the yield, divide the dough into 15-20 equal parts and form slightly flattened balls. 

Meanwhile boil 1 cup sugar with 4 cups of water in a pressure cooker.

Gently drop 7-8 paneer balls into the boiling syrup.
Depending on the size of the cooker, you may add more or less balls to cook. These balls expand and double in size as they cook and might tend to break or turn squarish. So I like to cook them in parts. I have learned to be patient and to dump all the balls in together :)

Cover the pressure cooker and cook on medium heat till you hear 1 whistle blow.
Let the cool and then open the pressure cooker.

Dissolve pinch of saffron to 3 tbsp. warm milk. Soak few halved pistachios. 

Gently remove each ball and squeeze it slightly to remove the syrup.
Lay it on a flat plate and refrigerate for 4-5 hours.

Looks like my paneer was softer than needed, which resulted into few cracks on the edge.

Anyways it did not matter to me because they doubled in size and were super soft.

Lay chilled rasgullas on a flat surface to decorate and garnish them.

Whip 1 cup chilled whipping cream with 4 tbsp. powdered sugar and 1 tsp. cardamom powder to form stiff peak consistency. Instead of cardamom powder, you could use, vanilla or saffron or almond or rose extract for flavor. You could also add food color to the cream.

Use a piping nozzle and a bag or a ziplock bag to pipe the cream over base Rasgullas. 

You dont have to pipe, just spread a table spoon of cream with a butter knife. 

Garnish with chopped pistachios and pistachio soaked in saffrom milk.

As the saffrom milk spreads into the nooks of the creams, it spreads flavor and color. Garnish with more saffron strands.

Important: Whipped cream and Rasgullas should be nicely chilled before assembling. Assemble in a cool place away from heat, as heat might result in cream melting.

Refrigerate for few hours before serving.

Chill and Serve in a Mughal Style!

A Delicious, Soft bite it was!!