Rasgulla - Rashogolla

Rasgulla or Roshogolla however you want to call it... Rasgullas are always a favorite dessert among Bengalis and is also very popular throughout India and other parts of South Asia. Since childhood I always brought rasgullas from my nearest sweet shop,never ever thought I would ever prepare it at home and it will turn out so good. It was only after moving out of India and non availability of good rasgullas in local Indian restaurants (or canned ones in some Indian grocery stores) made me take a shot at preparing them at home for the first time.To be precise Rasgullas are made from ball shaped cottage cheese dumplings cooked in light sugar syrup.Just follow the the below mentioned steps rasgullas will really come out well.Believe me preparing rasgullas are not at all difficult.

Prep Time : 15 mins+ 30min for draining excess water from the chhena.

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

• 2.5 ltrs milk
• 1 1/2 cups lemon juice
• 3 cups sugar
• 4 1/2 cups
• Pressure Cooker
• Strainer
• Muslin cloth/cheese cloth

This will prepare 20 pieces of medium sized rasgullas

Step by Step Illustration

Paneer(Chhena)

Boil the milk in a heavy bottom pan ,stir occasionally so the milk doesn't burn.

Once the milk comes to boil add the lemon juice and stir the milk.The milk fat will start seperating gradually. Once the milk fat is separated, turn off the heat.

Drain the excess water using a muslin cloth on the strainer.Wrap the chhena in a muslin cloth and rinse under cold water to remove the sourness of the lemon.

Squeeze the wrapped paneer to remove excess water as much as possible. Keep it under a heavy pan for 30 mins.
Take a little portion of paneer on your palm and try to make a small ball within 10 secs, it should be smooth and firm. This is important for understanding the right consistency and texture of the paneer.

Place the paneer on a clean surface and knead it for about 4- 5 mins  by dragging the palm of your hand hard on the paneer,keep pushing it back together and knead more,until the paneer becomes smooth soft dough (do not add any water to make a dough). If it seems that the paneer is crumbling and very dry then add only a few drops of water and knead more.

Rasgulla
Divide the dough into 18 - 20 parts and roll them in between your both the palms into smooth balls.Make sure there are no cracks on the balls, this is very important otherwise while boiling it may crack. Also make sure the pressure cooker is large enough as the paneer balls will expand to double in size when boiled in the next step.

Make the syrup by mixing the sugar and water in the pressure cooker with medium high heat and bring to boil. Add  the paneer balls and close the lid.

Once the cooker starts steaming cook for about 7 - 9 minutes. Pour cold water over the cooker before opening, to release the pressure.

Rasgullas should be spongy.After the rasgullas are refrigerated the sponginess will reduce and the texture will be soft. Serve the rasgullas chilled or hot, in both ways they are just yummy.

Note:
Instead of lime juice you can use diluted vinegar