Rasgulla / Mini Rasgulla - Step by Step Recipe

I am fond of sweets and rasgulla is no doubtedly in my favorite list. The first time I tried rasgulla at home was during diwali time, but was not completely satisfied with the result so didnt post here. After almost 2 months when I tried last week with little variation, I could reproduce the exact shop taste and texture.

I took the measurements from Sailus food, for method I referred hers but followed ammas cook book too.

I am not sure what went wrong but the pressure cooking method which I tried for the first time didnt work out perfect for me, the rasgulla texture was very chewy and not like the shop ones. So followed ammas cookbook method this time and got perfect rasgullas.

I did reserve few rasgullas for rasmalai and the post is ready too :) Both were very tasty and was emptied in a jiffy.I made them as mini rasgullas and they were looking cute as snow white balls :) So here goes the step by step recipe from my kitchen, hope its useful who wants to try your hands on rasgulla.

Ingredients:

• Milk - 1/2 litre
• Lemon Juice - 1.5 tbsp (or) Curd - 2 tbsp
• Water - 1 and 3/4 cups water
• Icecubes - 4 to 5
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Cardamom powder- A generous pinch
• Pistachios - 3 to 4 chopped finely for garnishing

Heat milk, bring it to boil and simmer it. Take 1.5 tbsp lime juice from a lemon and keep it ready.

When milk starts boiling, add the lemon juice to the boiling milk and stir properly. Stir continuosly till the whey water clears and the milk curdles completely. Before adding icecubes you can take some whey water which can be reserved for future use which is what I did. Now switch off the stove, add ice cubes and allow it to melt completely.

Take a muslin cloth and pour the curdled milk,filtering the whey water completely.Wash it well in running cold water to remove the lemon smell. Squeeze the excess water and hang it aside for 30mins without disturbing it.

After 30mins, the paneer would be crumbly in texture. Now knead it well for 10mins. Once everything comes together to a smooth pilable dough, form them into smooth mini/normal lemon sized balls and keep aside. I made around 13-15 mini balls.

Heat water in a wide bottomed vessel, then add sugar and keep stirring till sugar dissolves completely. When the sugar syrup boils and starts bubbling, add the balls slowly one by one and simmer it for 3mins.

The balls will go to the corner, move them to the middle. Keep in medium flame and close with a lid. Cook for 10mins opening the lid every 3-4 mins this is to ensure the vapour passes out not allowing the sugar syrup to ooze out. After 10 mins, the balls would be closely doubled in size.

This is the stage when your rasgullas are done. Cool it completely, add chopped pistachios and chill it for an hour and serve chilled. This method was from ammas cookbook and I find it easy as you can open and see the rasgullas now and then.

Though amma kept on saying to try with whey water to make the paneer as that is the traditional bengali style of making rasgullas, this time I am completely satisfied with the results. But sure to make it once with whey water and update it here with my feedback.

My Notes:

• The whey water can be used for making chapathi dough which makes chapathis very soft. It can also be used to curdle milk while making rasgulla next time which is the traditional bengali method.



• After the lemon juice/curd is added stir well and continuosly till the whey water clears out completely.



• The smoother the balls you make, the rasgullas will not crack out when getting cooked. Also Make sure to simmer once the balls are added for the first time.



• I felt adding curd better as I could feel the faintest smell of lemon juice which noone else felt at home.



• The rasgulla texture purely depends on the way the balls are getting cooked so follow the procedure as mentioned.