I am a big fan of all things sweet but rasgulla holds a very special place in my heart. Growing up, I used to live with my grand parents. My grandpa loved sweets. I think I have inherited my sweet tooth from him. There were cows in the house which meant that rasgullas were made on a regular basis. I know I am one lucky girl who has had rasgulla almost daily growing up. I was so addicted to the soft, melt in the mouth, spongy rasgullas that I have never been able to enjoy store bought ones.
This recipe is very special to me, because it is my grandpa’s recipe. He learnt to make it on his own, with his experiments and many failed attempts, before cookbooks were abundant and internet could teach you almost everything.
When he would make rasgullas, I was the help. I would make the balls and I took this role very seriously! I think I saw the process so often at home that when I finally decided to make it all by myself, it wasn’t very difficult for me. Intuitions kicked in and I did a good job in my first attempt. It gave me a little too much confidence and I have made many mistakes after that, and in the process, learnt what to do and not to do.
So, first things first, I am sharing some key points that you should know for making a good, soft rasgulla!
- Firstly, for making rasgullas, lets talk about the kind of milk that will give you best results. Use a full cream milk. Skimmed/toned milk will not make soft chhena and your rasgullas will be harder. Also, use fresh milk. A2 milk or pasteurised milk will work. Do not use ultra-pasteurised milk or milk from a tetra pack.
- The trick to making melt in the mouth rasgullas is a soft chhena. How do you know your chhena is soft? It is from the colour of the whey. When the milk starts to curdle in the process of making chhena, the whey initially is yellowish and then starts to turn greenish. The chhena initially is soft and as the colour starts to turn green, the chhena starts to harden. What I do to ensure that the chhena is soft is that I add the acid gradually to the milk and stop once the milk has just curdled. The whey at this point should be yellowish and the curds in small lumps. Once you have made a soft chhena, it will ensure soft rasgullas.
- One other indicator you can look for: when you start adding the acid to the hot milk, initially you will notice very small curd particles. As you add more acid, you will notice these getting bigger. Stop adding more acid once you notice them forming bigger clusters and the whey looking clearer rather than cloudy.
I generally use citric acid for making my chhena. If you want to use lime juice or yogurt, follow the same steps. Do not dilute these but ensure that you add the acid gradually and give the milk a stir after adding the acid. Stop adding the acid once you have the curd as explained above.
One drawback of making soft rasgullas is that they don’t hold their shape. What I do to ensure somewhat round shape is that I take off the lid after 7-10 minutes once and give the rasgullas a gentle stir in between.
When you start cooking your rasgullas, the sign of them cooking properly is that they start swelling and can reach anywhere from double to triple of the initial size. The size reduces slightly once you take it off the flame.
I do not like my rasgullas very sweet, so I make the sugar syrup with 1 parts sugar and 3 parts water. It is the perfect sweetness for me. You can start with this ratio and adjust it slightly based on whether you would like it sweeter or less sweet. Do not cook the syrup too much before adding the balls. Just let the sugar water mixture come to a boil and add in the balls.
Now with all these things sorted out, let’s see how to make these delicious treats.
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