Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Blog warming - Spongy Rasgulla


My excitement is high, as this is my first recipe post and that too on my own blog. I feel like a new mom. Just want to celebrate. In India, every special occasion serves sweets. So, on this special day of my BLOG-WARMING(I think I coined this word) I am offering you a delicious, mouthwatering and spongy mithai......................a recipe , ofcourse, mercilessly tempting you to make your own.
Rasgullas, they say, were born in Orissa and then gradually made it's way into west Bengal. The Bengalis may want to hurl something at me right now, because they believe otherwise. Let us not be a part of that arguement...............I maintain a neutral stand and right now, let's just celebrate and enjoy this delightful treat.
By the way...........this recipe is not as hard as it looks. This took me hardly 25 minutes. Trust me. If I can, you can too.
This snap is participating in the click contest for feb 2009

Ingredients:(makes 12-14)
  • 4 cups whole milk
  • 2 tbspns of lemon juice
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar
  • 4-1/2 cups water
  • 1/2 tspn cardamom powder
Directions: (for paneer)
  • Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, making sure not to burn milk.
  • As the milk comes to a boil, add the lemon juice gradually and stir.
  • When the milk solids separate from the whey, turn off the heat and drain using a strainer lined with cheesecloth.The milk solids left on the cloth is called paneer.
  • Rinse the paneer under cold water, and squeeze well.(This process takes out the lemon flavor from the paneer)
  • Squeeze out all the water from the paneer. (To check if the paneer has reached the right consistency, take a little piece of paneer on your palm and rub with your thumb for 30-40 secs. After rubbing the paneer , you should be able to make a firm but smooth ball off it. If you cannot form balls, it means you will have to squeeze out more water from the paneer)
  • Once the paneer is drained, put it in the food processor and run it for about 15-20 secs. ( you will notice the paneer will first crumble and break into small pieces in the processor and then it slowly forms one big lump just like chapathi dough)
  • As an alternative to using the food processor, you can knead the paneer with your hands. Place paneer on a dry, clean surface and knead it for 9-10 minutes until it comes to a smooth and pliable dough consistency. This takes a longer time. That's why I use the mixie. Knead the paneer well as you would do with chappati dough ( if the paneer is too crumbly, add a 1/8 teaspoon of water.)
Directions: (for rasgullas)
  • Divide the dough into 12-14 equal parts and roll them into round balls or pat them into flat discs(like I have done) with the palms of your hands. ( the balls/discs should be smooth and they should not have cracks, otherwise they will break when they are cooked.)
  • Combine sugar, water and cardamom in a pressure cooker on medium high heat and bring to a boil.
  • When the sugar dissolves, add the paneer balls and close the pressure cooker.(Make sure the pressure cooker is large enough to accommodate the finished Rasgullas, as they will double in size while cooking and soaking in the syrup)
  • Turn the stove heat to high.
  • If you have made paneer balls then after one whistle, reduce heat to low and cook for about 2 additional minutes. Then turn off heat. If you have made paneer discs, then after one whistle, turn off heat (wait atleast 7-8 mins. and let the pressure be released completely before you open the pressure cooker.)
  • When the rasgullas are done they will be spongy. (There will be alot of dilute syrup left in the pan) Don't worry. Transfer only the rasgullas, carefully, to another dish. Then put the syrup, left in the pan, on low-heat and simmer it for 10-15 mins till you get a thicker syrup. Then return the rasgullas to this syrup and refrigerate it.
  • Serve Rasgullas chilled.
ENJOY!
Luv 'n' Luc'
Smitha

27 comments:

  1. Congrats on ur first ever recipe post, and wish many many more to come. Let u know after trying this out......

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  2. MMmmmmmmmmmmm...Rasagulla looks yummy...I'll try this and let you know the results soon...

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  3. Hey Smitha,

    Cool blog! My paneer never gets the correct consistency. Will try out your tip with the mixer next time. When it comes to cooking I need all the help I can get so looking forward to more recipes from you :-)

    Cheers,
    Gillian

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Gillian. I hope the recipes never fail to impress and help you

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  5. Hi Smitha,
    I tried rasgulla..instead of whole milk i used 2% milk..I followed exactly the same way what you said...when i tried to squeeze the water from paneer,the paneer started to come out of cheese cloth,so i stopped in that stage,but little bit water remained in paneer.(this is the first time i'am making paneer,so i don't know exactly how to make it in proper way)somehow i managed to make small balls and cooked in pressure cooker.The result is i got flattened disc with no rasgulla taste.It tasted like non sugary paneer.Can you give me some tips fo correction?!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi jay,,
    Sure, your next try will be successful. If the panneer comes out of the cloth while squeezing, it means the cloth is too thin or the pores in the cloth are too large to hold the paneer. Try folding the cheese cloth into 2 layers or even better is to use a thin cotton cloth with tighter pores.(like a large,new white cotton hand-kerchief).
    All the water must be removed from the paneer because only then will it have the capacity to soak in the sugar syrup when it is boiled. If the paneer has water in it, it will not soak syrup and will taste bland.
    And follow the tip which I have given in red fonts, on how to check if the paneer is of right consistency.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jay,
    I also forgot to mention that the balls flattened out because the paneer had too much water in it. SO, the main step in the recipe is to squueze out all the water.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "happy blog warming"...the day i saw this recipe i added it on my "to do list"..looks like today is the day, i'm gonna giv it a try....why not?if u can i can right??i bet this is gonna be a home run!!!..wish me luck my dear pal!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ofcourse priya, u surely, surely can. Lady luck will surely send a luck-storm your way.

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  10. Thanks smitha,
    I'll follow ur tips and let you know the results soon...

    ReplyDelete
  11. I made ras malais many times but it was not always successful....sometimes a hit and sometimes a miss....next time i plan to make this,m definitely going for urs...:)thx 4 the recipe..

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  12. Hi shabs,
    I'm always thrilled when someone checks out my blog and I'm ecstatic when when they stop a moment to leave a comment. Juz keeps you going. Thank you and happy that you liked my recipes. Sur ethis time your rasgullas will be a stunner :) Cheers!

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  13. Didnt know that you had a rasagulla recipe....Will surely try ur method....Looks like it'l work. Will let u know once I try it! Thanks for the info :)

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  14. I have tried making rasgullas many times..
    ->once by just making small paneer baals and I kept lid over it. ... but all were broken
    -> next I added little maida to it and made the balls and again cooked it but they were not good.. not sugary...and not spongy from inside ...wwhen I pressed it ... they felt to be spongy but were not wen we had it... :(

    Please suggest how do I make it

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  15. Hello!!!

    Well.delecious yummy rasgullas!!!

    ----------------------------------------------

    Kanyakumari Hotels

    ReplyDelete
  16. You have a very nice blog,the pictures are gr8 too.I tried making rasgulla twice now and each time the chenna has a lot of moisture in it in spite of leaving it hanging in a muslin cloth for more than an hour,and squeezing out the water several times.Today it looked good when i untied the muslin cloth i was actually able to take a small amount and roll into tiny balls,but then i made the mistake of putting it in the mixie,it crumbled and then disintegrated and turned to mush.Please help me resolve this,i would love to get the rasgullas right,my hubby loves them and so do i.

    ReplyDelete
  17. HI Smitha,

    Thanks for the recipe...I made the rasogullas..they where soft but not spongy and did not grow to double the size :( ... could you please suggest, what must have went wrong ?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Smitha,

    Thanks for the recipe...I made the rasogullas..they where soft but not spongy and did not grow to double the size :( ... could you please suggest, what must have went wrong ?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Let me make your day by saying you're too good :) Guess who ??

    ReplyDelete
  20. Rashogolla, like the most sweets in India will always and forever be a Bengali thing. Remember that Bengali households still are known for their amazing food culture and this fact is known world-wide :)

    tanSEN was bengali my dear friend, so were a lot of other people! want to see the entire list as it stands today? so was subash chandra bose and sri aurobindo :)

    and i can name a million others and i am proud to say our greateness can be exerted beyond our national borders.
    we are the fifth largest speakers!

    here are two lists to shut your mouth

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_people

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bengalis

    these guys are not just making India proud but half the world knows about these guys dude :)
    c'mon

    we bengalis have won pretty much every award in the world stage
    you name it we have it and we are damn proud of what we have :)
    its the only country in the world which took rebellion because it couldn't speak its mother tongue and it won! and won so hard that the UN had to adopt that day as the international language day, which celebrates languages from all over the world.

    did you know that the FAMOUS SEARS TOWER is architectured by another bengali?

    ~KAMONASISH AAYUSH MAZUMDAR

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The eminent Hindi writer, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' on the poison of Bengali regionalism (prantiyata) in an essay published in 1925-26:
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      <(prantiyata ka zahar) had spread all over my veins, but instead of rendering me unconscious in this intoxication, it started to alert me--every minute--to each and every trick of the Bengalis. That was the benefit I got from the Bengalis. I started to get comfortable at seeing through each element of their twisted rhetoric (pecida bat asani se suljha lene laga).>>
      .................Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' (On Bengali regionalism)
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Delete
  21. LIES, DAMN LIES & NOBIN DAS!

    K. C. Das website: http://www.kcdas.co.in/history.php

    According to the K. C. Das website itself, friends of this supposed culinary Einstein advised him to patent his famous creation, the rasgulla.

    According the website: “Contrary to the advice of his friends and admirers to take out patents, he taught the intricacies of Rossogolla-making to numerous sweetmeat makers.

    Except that there was no patent law in India those days! The first ever legislation to protect intellectual property law had just been introduced in India! It was Act VI of 1856 on Protection of Inventions. It granted “exclusive privileges” to the inventor. The legislation was designed only to safeguard British colonial interests. Not surprisingly, the first petition was filed by an Englishman – a certain civil engineer by the name of George Alfred DePenning for his invention, “An Efficient Punkah Pulling Machine”. Mr. Pennington went on to file the second and the fourth petitions too.

    The first real patent law enacted in India was the Indian Patents and Designs Act 1911. Even this law was to safeguard British colonial interests and not meant to protect Indian inventors. Following independence, the government of India enacted the first truly Indian patent act, the Indian Patents Act of 1970. This was the first patent law designed to protect the likes of Indian inventors such as Nobin Das. It was a century after the K. C. Das website claims Nobin Das tried to patent the rasgulla.

    To claim that way back in 1858, Nobin Das & Co. thought about patenting the rasgulla proves that the entire story is a utter nonsense concocted by the K. C. Das website!

    ReplyDelete
  22. We are the top leading supplier of rasgulla making machine in India . We supply rasgulla making machine model all over the India at very reasonable prices. If anyone interested then you can visit our website.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Tried rasgullas many times till date , but failed to get perfect ones.I think the secret is not unveiled yet.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks for sharing this post. After a long time, such a post has been seen, it is a very interesting subject, people like it. When someone shares this kind of article, the mind is happy Thank you for this article

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