Rasgulla

I found the recipe on this page. I really couldn't believe that it was such a simple recipe. I looked up on you tube for the video recipes and found that it was almost the same with small variations. So i decided to give it a try. All the recipes called for Full Cream Milk. Full Cream Milk has 6% fat. The day I made this the first time, I could only get milk with 4.5% fat. I still decided to give it a go. It came out really well. Yesterday, I made it again with Full Cream Milk. I prefer the rasgullas that were made with the 4.5% fat. Those were spongier. The one's with the 6% fat milk were slightly creamier and rubbery while chewing. I later read online that if you are using full cream milk, you should remove the fat twice or use cow's milk since it has less fat. I decided that the next time I make this, I would use the 4.5% fat milk. No fuss and very simple.

I made slight variations to the preparation based on various expert advice found online and hence am sharing what I think is the best way to make Rasgullas. Obviously, I am always open to better advice :-)





Ingredients

• Milk (4.5% fat) - 1.5 litres
• Whey - 1/2 cup
• Curd - 1 tbsp
• Lemon - 1/2
• Sugar - 4 cups
• Water - 6 cups
• Crystallized Sugar (Kalkandam) - 1 each for every rasgulla
• Cardamom Powder - 1 pinch (optional)
• Rose Water - 3 tbsp (optional)

Method

1. Boil the milk together in a large pan. Once it boils, add the whey, curd and lime as required to curdle it. Make sure you do not add too much lime because the sour taste sticks on to the rasgullas.
2. Once the milk has curdled fully and you see the water separate from, add ice cubes (the recipe says this is to stop the milk from curdling further. I have no clue about this, hence I followed the advice very sincerely)
3. Stain in a muslin cloth and run under cold water, washing well so that the lemon's flavor disappears.
4. Squeeze all water out and hang it for 45 minutes or till dry. Paneer/chenna or cottage cheese is ready in a crumbled form.
5. Knead the cottage cheese very well till it all sticks together and looks like a maida (white flour) dough.
6. Divide into equal portions and roll into equal sized balls. While rolling, you can add one crystalized sugar candy per sweet.
7. Heat water and sugar in a cooker.
8. Once the syrup starts boiling, add the paneer balls into it and cook for 1 whistle.
9. After 1 whistle, keep on low flame for 5 minutes.
10. Let the steam disappear. Open,cool and Refrigerate.
11. Add Cardamom and Rosewater if needed.(I did not do this)
12. Serve Chilled.