If you from Indian subcontinent Rasgulla word will bring in an image of soft spongy juicy white balls. Rasgulla is a milk based Indian sweet, which is made by curdling milk to form chenna. This chenna is then cooked in sugar syrup, giving the spongy texture to the chenna balls and soaking in the sugar to give juicy sweet taste. Sharing this rasgulla recipe where everything is made from scratch. I look forward to a hardcore bengali rasgulla fan to say if its best or not.
Table of contents
What is Rasgulla
Rasgulla is a popular milk based sweet from east of India. Rasgulla is made from chenna and to make chenna, curdle the milk to separate chenna aka paneer and whey, using a muslin cloth. Then make small balls from chenna. Finally cook these balls in sugar syrup to get the balls in soft and spongy shape,
Origin of rasgulla
Most of the people believe that rasgulla originated in Bengal, however, now its confirmed that rasgulla originated from orissa / odisha.
Today this rasgulla is popular across pan-india and is no more restricted to bengal or orissa. I must confess that the rasgulla that you get in Kolkata in the earthen pots is something to die for. Those rasgullas are out of the world in the taste.
How should a good rasgulla look like
Sign of a good rasgulla is that it should be spongy and return to its round shape when squeezed. It should not be rubbery or chewy in taste.
Method of making Rasgulla (Best and original rasgulla recipe)
Rasgulla recipe is divided into two parts:
1. Making of paneer / chenna
- First of all take a heavy bottom pan and pour 1.5 litres of milk in it. Put the pan on medium heat and let it boil, stirring in between. After the first boil comes, switch off the heat and keep the milk for 10 minutes to cool down.
- Now add vinegar to the milk, whilst stirring the milk. Once milk curdles completely (it will take 1-2 minutes), add 8-10 cubes of ice to it. This will help in cooling down the temperature of milk and curdled milk will combine together to form big chunks.
- Strain this on a strainer lined with Muslin cloth. You can keep the strained water(whey) to add in your curries or to knead flour as it is a very good source of protein.
- Now wash this curdled milk with the running water under tap for 8-10 minutes. This helps in removing the sour taste due to vinegar. Gather the muslin cloth from all the corners and squeeze the extra water gently. Don’t squeeze hard otherwise the curdled milk will also come out with water.
- Hang this for 30 minutes so that extra water present will also drop down. Now take out the curdled milk onto a plate. Your paneer (chenna) is ready. This would be little granular and dry in appearance.
2. Making chenna balls and cooking them in sugar syrup
- Knead the paneer with the help of your palm and fingers for 10-12 minutes and make a soft and smooth dough of it.
- Now take one tablespoon of mixture and knead again and make a round ball of it.
- Repeat the above process and make the balls of all the mixture. In the end you will have around 17 -20 balls.
- Now put 2 cups of sugar with 5 cup of water in a pressure cooker on gas for a boil. After it boils, add these balls to it and put the lid on.
- After the pressure cooker whistles once, simmer the flame, and keep it on sim for around 10-15 mins
- Open the cooker after its pressure is released, by then ball size would have doubled.
- Take out all the balls one by one and giving them a little squeeze to release the extra sugar syrup and keep them in cold water for half an hour.
- Now cook the left over sugar syrup for 10 more minutes and cool it down. Once the syrup cools, add kewra water and gently put the balls again in it taking out balls from water.
Pro tips for making bengali rasgulla at home
- Always use full fat fresh milk / whole milk. Avoid using tetra pack or long life milk.
- Chenna should be knead till it is smooth in texture.
- Over kneading will make chenna sticky, and balls will shrink when cooked in sugar syrup.
- Take out water from chenna. If water is left, it will lead to balls breaking and if chenna is dry, it will lead to hard balls with cracks.
To get white bengali rasgulla
- Do not use yellow looking chenna. Some milk may give yellow chenna. Milk color depends on feed of cows / buffalo and freshness and processing of the milk.
- Use white refined sugar.
Serving suggestion
Refrigerate theese bengali rasgullas and serve them chilled as dessert.
If you like bengali rasgulla, you may like to check my other popular sweets like Rose Rasmalai and Pista Rasmalai.
Recipe card
Rasgulla Recipe
Most popular sweet from East of India, these soft rasgulla are juicy balls of chenna. Almost loved by everyone.
Ingredients
- 1.5 Litre Full Fat Milk
- 2 Cup Sugar
- 2 Tablespoon White Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Kewda Water
Instructions
Making paneer / chenna
- First of all take a heavy bottom pan and pour 1.5 litres of milk in it. Put the pan on medium heat and let it boil, stirring in between. After the first boil comes, switch off the heat and keep the milk for 10 minutes to cool down.
- Now add vinegar to the milk, whilst stirring the milk. Once milk curdles completely (it will take 1-2 minutes), add 8-10 cubes of ice to it. This will help in cooling down the temperature of milk and curdled milk will combine together to form big chunks.
- Strain this on a strainer lined with Muslin cloth. You can keep the strained water(whey) to add in your curries or to knead flour as it is a very good source of protein.
- Now wash this curdled milk with the running water under tap for 8-10 minutes. This helps in removing the sour taste due to vinegar. Gather the muslin cloth from all the corners and squeeze the extra water gently. Don't squeeze hard otherwise the curdled milk will also come out with water.
- Hang this for 30 minutes so that extra water present will also drop down. Now take out the curdled milk onto a plate. Your paneer (chenna) is ready. This would be little granular and dry in appearance.
Recipe for making and cooking chenna balls
- Knead the paneer with the help of your palm for 10-12 minutes and make a soft and smooth dough of it.
- Now take one tablespoon of mixture and knead again and make a round ball of it. Repeat the above process and make the balls of all the mixture. In the end you will have around 17 – 20 balls.
- Put 2 cups of sugar with 5 cup of water in a pressure cooker on gas for a boil. Once it begins to boil, add these balls to it and put the lid on. After the pressure cooker whistles once, simmer the flame, and keep it on sim for around 10-15 minutes.
- Now open the cooker after its pressure is released, the balls would have doubled in size.
- Take out all the balls one by one and giving them a little squeeze to release the extra sugar syrup and keep them in cold water for half an hour. This stops the balls from overcooking.
- Cook the left over sugar syrup for 10 more minutes and cool it down. Once the syrup is cooled, add kewra water and gently put the balls again in it taking out balls from water.
- Keep rasgullas in fridge and serve them chilled.
Notes
- While making rasgulla, kneading part is very important, if its not kneaded well can lead to hard or breaking rasgulla in syrup.
- Make sure you don’t make thick syrup. If that happens then rasgulla will not come out perfect. You would need to wait till the sugar dissolves in water.
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Rasgulla Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 123
Calories from Fat 18
% Daily Value*
Fat 2g3%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 1g
Cholesterol 1mg0%
Sodium 1mg0%
Potassium 1mg0%
Carbohydrates 24g8%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 24g27%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 1IU0%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 1mg0%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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well explained
Thank you Reena, I hope it helped…