March 17, 2014

Rasgulla


Happy Holi to all my friends who celebrate the festival of colors!

Growing up in India and spending the early part of my childhood in Delhi and Bangalore I was fortunate enough to play and enjoy Holi. I used to look forward to playing with my pichkari (water gun) and slathering friends and family with gulaal (colored powder). One of my favorite and unforgettable memories from those days was a Holi party my parents taking me to. My sister and I were super excited. I remember barely being able to contain my excitement as we reached the venue that as soon as the car door opened I was off running. The huge stereo speakers were blasting out Amitabh's Rang barse bhige chunar wali rang barse song and people were splashing colors and dancing to the tunes. Well, being in my heightened levels of excitement as I ran towards the center of the party hall I dint notice the water tank filled with colored water and guess what, yes, I tripped and fell right into it. I was literally drenched in color and my friends had a great laugh over it. I was not a happy camper anymore and the rest of the day my main objective was to lure my friends near the tank and trying to push them into it. Unfortunately I was not too successful but I must say, I did immerse my self well into the Holi spirit...


Let's celebrate Holi at LifeScoops with some Rasgulla. It is a traditional Indian sweet made of homemade cheese dumplings soaked in sugar syrup.

Rasgulla originated in the state Odisha (formerly known as Orissa) centuries ago. Soon it gained popularity in Bengal and has now become one of the most sought after sweets in India



Recipe mostly adapted from Manjula Aunty

Yields: 18- 20 Rasgullas
Ingredients
6 cups - Milk (full fat or at least 2%)
3 tablespoon- Lemon juice
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 cups water
1/4 Teaspoon - Cardamom
Cheese cloth
Pressure cooker

Granish (optional)
Pistachios
Saffron 
 
Directions
To make paneer/ chenna
  • In a small bowl mix lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of water and keep it aside.
  • Add milk to a sauce pan and allow it to boil. Keep stirring it to avoid the milk from burning
  • When the milk come to a rolling boil, add the lemon juice mixture. You will notice that the milk will curdle and turn into cheese/paneer/chenna.
  • Line a huge strainer with cheese cloth and strain the paneer from the whey
  • Run cold water on the paneer and wrap it in a cheese cloth squeezing out water.
  • Hang the cheese cloth or keep a heavy dish on paneer to drain out remaining water.
  • Once the paneer is dry knead it for at least 5 minutes. You should have a pliable dough.
  • Divide the paneer into 18-20 balls and roll in between your plams to make them smooth. (These balls will almost double their size during the cooking process)
To make Rasgulla
  • Mix the sugar, water and cardamom powder in a pressure cooker and bring to a boil.
  • Once the sugar syrup has thickened a little add the paneer balls carefully
  • Close the pressure cooker and after the first whistle cook for about 8 minutes
  • Take the pressure cooker off the heat and run cold water on it to stop the cooking process.
  • Once the steam has died, open the cooker
  • Refrigerate the Rasgulla's
  • Serve chilled
Notes and Tips
  • During the cooking process the Rasgulla's almost double their size so make sure you use a big pressure cooker. If you have a small one I recommend you cook them in batches.
  • Use 2% or full fat milk

27 comments :

  1. Awesome rasagullas and sweet memories:)) Love ur pics Shema.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Holi to you too Shema! Love the pics and recipe :-) DELICIOUS

    ReplyDelete
  3. HAd to be the first one to comment, these look absolutely gorgeous

    ReplyDelete
  4. can't stop drooling at those rasgullas... perfect!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The rasgullas look perfect Shema and in my house these won't stay for more than a few minutes! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I guess every festival back in India is much fun...happy holi...
    Spongy and soft rasgulas must have been amazing with festive spirits

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful pictures and the rasagullas look too good...feel like grabbing few off the screen

    ReplyDelete
  8. shema...u r a pro in food photography..i cant take my eyes off those..sooo pretty !

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy (belated) Holi, Shema!
    I often buy Rasgulla and laddus at a South Asian store - but I have never made them - your recipe and pictures are making my mouth water!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love rasgullas & I can eat almost 10 in one sitting:) your pics are killing me & I am drooling.... Slurp...

    ReplyDelete
  11. I I love Rasgullas & I can eat almost 10 in one sitting:) loved your clicks & they are killing me. I am drooling over these... Yummmmm

    ReplyDelete
  12. These rasgullas look super yumm.. Nice lovely clicks..

    ReplyDelete
  13. Happy Holi (Belated) Shema, beautiful write up and Rasgulla looks way too tempting with beautiful shots :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Never made rasgullas. But now you tempted me to try it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Shema your rasgulla's are saying eat me, i want to dive straight in to it! stunning stunning picture!

    ReplyDelete
  16. such beautiful memories to associate with Holi ... belated Holi wishes...

    Rasgullas look amazing...... mouthwatering here... never tried it myself but these are really calling me out

    ReplyDelete
  17. Lovely rasgullas.
    Amazing clicks!
    Love your storytelling :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I might be the only one to say I'm not a fan of rasgullas in plain sugar syrup...more the ras mali fan here :-) But your shots are superb and loved your sweet lil'story there :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love this recipe nice shot shema

    ReplyDelete
  20. I can gulp down the whole bowl in one go.. I so love white rasgullas over gulab Jaumns. And yes, that tray is very charming :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. thats a funny story. I miss the hopi celebrations back home - they were so much fun. These rasgullas look awesome.. Im trying not to eat too much sugar, but its hard to resist such amazing pics.

    ReplyDelete
  22. The festival always looks like so much fun to me. Your rasgulla are a new food and one to try out soon. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Such a perfect finishing,lovely they look,You have got an awesome space,inviting you over to mine sometime :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. The rasgullas look great and loved reading about your holi "mis"adventure! But that's the whole fun of holi. To truly enjoy it you have to get dirty! Hope you ha d a fun holi!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I made it...hmmm.....awesome recipe...................

    ReplyDelete
  26. Love rasgollas, You are amazing to make it at home! I usually just buy a can from the Indian store when the cravings hit.

    ReplyDelete
  27. A fabulous dessert! I'd love to taste it...

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete

First of all thanks a lot for stopping by my space. I would be very happy to hear from you and would love to see your comments and feedback :)
Thanks a bunch,
Shema

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...