RASGULLA

Rasgulla - A very popular Bengali sweet, which is soft, Juicy & Spongy made from milk and the most popular sweet delicacy in Calcutta as well as rest of India and the world.Yesterday I happened to go through the cooking Manual which has been sent by my friend and found this delicious recipe for rasgullas.Immedietly decided to make for RCI.For these we have to make paneer using milk and cook it in sugar syrup. Here we go with the recipe....

INGREDIENTS:

Milk – 1/2gallon
Lemon juice or vinegar – 1/4cup
Sugar – 1cup
Water – 3cups
Saffron (optional)

METHOD:

In a heavy bottomed pan, put milk and bring it to boil. When it starts boiling add lemon juice/vinegar and stir continuously until the milk curdles completely. As soon as you see the water is clear while curling add some ice cubes and switch off the flame to stop the process of curdling. The intention here is to make soft paneer. Let it cool and set. Then drain using a cloth/strainer so that just the solid part remains, looked like paneer.

Hang it under the sink or put the cloth-covered paneer in a bigger bowl, which will collect the water dipping from the mixture. The intention here is to separate the solid curdled milk from the water or liquid part. Keep it for at least a couple of hours and squeeze the excess water by pressing the cloth. Make sure that there must not be any water remaining or the paneer balls, will break when put in sugar water.

When the water is completely drained, remove the paneer from the cloth and take it in a bowl. Now rub it well using your hands to form a smooth mixture. If the paneer is too dry, add a few drops of water, using the water squeezed from the paneer.You have to rub it for a long time to make it really smooth. Make the dough into equal parts and roll each part into a ball taking care to see that there are no cracks on the surface.

For sugar syrup mix the sugar and water in a in a pan on medium high heat and bring to a boil. Add all of the balls in one shot and close the lid. Cook for about seven minutes. Make sure the pan is large enough to accommodate the finished Rasgullas as they will expand to about double their size while cooking in the syrup. Close the heat and wait a few minutes before you open the lid.The Rasgullas should be little spongy. Serve the Rasgulla chilled with sprinkled saffron.

A Spoon for u!

Sending these Rasgullas to RCI-Bengal hosted by Sandeepa of "Bong Mom's cookbook".