Rasgulla/Rasmalai /Chamcham

Author Rekha Gupta

Rasgulla, our humble sweet dish, claimed by both Bengal and Orissa as theirs. Well, we just love this zero guilt, healthy sweet dish. And I know it has been on many blogs and Fb groups, but don’t get bored yet as Im going to be presenting a 1-in-3 dessert for you . With simple minor variations, Voila, you will have something totally new. Sometimes I do wonder to myself how chena/paneer based sweets developed? Did someone mistakenly get curdled milk – and instead of dumping it must have thought of innovative way to use it ? Well thats anyones guess….What I know is that the minute one says Rasagulla , eyes and mouth start rolling together C@Rg

When one makes rasgullas at home ,a common concern is that either they do not turn out very soft or that they become hard once they are kept in the fridge. The technique of cooking these is both simple and tricky as well. It only requires passion and patience and following the tips to the T more than the recipe . I promise try once and you’ll never again eat the market bought rasgullas because they only appear spongy but they actually are rubbery. Tips are in bold capital letters or in brackets . I make cooking a fun time involving my children and the full family ,thereby a good way to maintain our age old recipes and pass them on to generation next. .C@Rg

Rasgullas are made from Chenna- home made paneer in ball shaped dumplings that are cooked in a light syrup made of sugar .

Rasmalai -If the same dumplings are shaped flat then by soaking in thin rabri [evaporated sweetened milk] you alter the same dish into a grand dish and call it Rasmalai .

If you shape the dumplings as oblong it is then called chamcham . Split this Chamcham into 2 in the centre and stuff some sweetened khoya and what you get is Kheer Mohini . Amazinng no? and the list can go on……..

As you all maybe aware by now I use unrefined sugar (for its medicinal properties) so its Rock Sugar (Dhaga Mishri ) for mer. Its the rawest form of sweet with all the nutrients intact and its taste is completely different as its not biting sweet and is naturally aromatic . You are free to use regular refined sugar as well. For best results Rasgullas are best cooked with cow’s milk(Amul cows milk ) as its lighter. Please note for best results chenna has to be home made .C@Rg

U S P -My dishes have to be healthy and tasty both hence no short cuts.

Ingredients : For portion Size: 8-10 rasgullas (1”diameter appx)

Cows Milk -1 litre . (After trying almost all kinds, I feel Amul cows milk, fresh packet is the best)

Juice of 2 lemons + 2 tblsp water added to dilute

arrarowt -1 tea sp.,

Sugar Syrup – Rock sugar (Mishri) or Sugar – 1.5 cups or 300 gms.+ Water- 6 cups .

Steps :

1) Pour milk in a heavy base steel pan and keep on high flame to bring it to a boil, stirring it from time to time 3-4 times in between . Make sure that malai doesn’t form on top. (If malai forms then remember your chenna will be harder).

2) When milk boils remove from flame , and keep stirring it for 5 minutes so no malai forms on top , and also to cool the milk a little so that the chenna is soft .

3) Juice of 2 lemons thats diluted with 2 tbl sp water. Add 1 tsp of this mix to the milk and stir it in. Gradually add another tsp and stir, keep adding till milk curdles and chenna is separated from whey [milk water] . Wait for 2 minutes and keep stirring, for it to curdle completely.

4) On top of a bowl place a strainer on it ,with a big muslin cloth on the strainer .Pour the curdled milk over it , chenna will remain in the cloth on strainer , whey will drip in the bowl below. [use this whey in a curry as its very nutritious and its loaded with vitamin D ] Keep this whey bowl aside to use it later in something else and you may need to add this whey a spoon or more to chenna if it gets too tight & dry.

5) Now put another bowl under the strainer ,and wash the chenna with water 5 to 6 times to remove the sourness of lemon from chenna and washing it also helps in making chenna soft.

6) Leave the chenna in cloth for 15 minutes till there is no extra water in chenna left. [Do not squeeze out the water by wringing the cloth as that will dry the chenna ,whereas we want moist chenna ]C@Rg

7) Meanwhile keep the mihsri and water in a very big steel kadhai/wok [ big kadahai as the balls will double in size while cooking ] on medium flame to bring it to a boil. Cover it and let the mishri dissolve completely in water. just bring it to a BOILING POINT . ( NO thread chashni/ syrup, )

8) Meanwhile put the chenna in a thali / big plate and rub the chenna lightly with your palm to make it creamier and smooth. [NO pressure of the palm as the heat generated could harden the chenna ] It will take about 5 to 8 minutes when it will leave the thali and come together like a big ball. [to test make a small ball it should have NO cracks, if cracks appear then the chenna is too tight and NOT sufficiently moist ,so add 1-3 tblsp of whey or plain water and rub the dough again till its smooth ,test by making a ball]

9) Make about 8-10 balls , lightly keeping in between your palms , do NOT apply any pressure.

10) Check the syrup if the mishri has dissolved and when it reaches a boiling point , on HIGH FLAME ,drop one ball at a time , WAIT for 5 seconds then drop the second ball and so on because we want to retain the boiling point . COVER the wok .They have to be cooked on HIGH FLAME all the time otherwise the rasgullas can disintegrate or will not be as soft as you want them to be . Do NOT TOUCH them . [ If you drop all the balls at once then the syrups boiling temp . will drop and the rasgullas will not be soft]

11) After 5 min. or so you can open the lid to see and then immediately cover again.

12) Meanwhile keep one cup water in another pan to boil on another flame.After it boils leave it boiling on low flame.

13) After 10 min, uncover and pour two tblsp. BOILING water SLOWLY from the sides of the wok. The BOILING TEMP. of the syrup should not lower at any stage . Cover again immediately.C@Rg

14) After another 5 min. [that is they are cooking for 15 min.now] again pour 2 tblsp. of BOILING water SLOWLY from the sides, this is done so as to make the rasgullas SOFT and because the syrup is evaporating so as to avoid the syrup from getting thicker. [ taking syrup from the center ,pour syrup on top of each rasgulla ] Cover immediately.

15) After 5 min flame off ,so total cooking time in the syrup is 20 minutes . keep the wok on the slab as the burner is very hot and we do not need extra cooking. Let them cool to room temp on their own . Do not touch for atleast 3 to 4 hours as they can break.

Remove in a glass bowl and keep in the fridge. Ready to be enjoyed . They stay well for 5 days in the fridge.

If you wish to eat them as rasmalai then remove them from the syrup and soak them in rabdi for 6 hours. C@Rg

RABDI – Its sweetened reduced milk with layers of malai ,flavoured with Saffron or cardamom. Easy to make but time consuming. yummy delicious a complete sweet in itself served with a garnish of dry fruits .When served with sweets like Malpua , Jalebi ,it adds so much more taking them to another high.

Remember Rabdi for Rasmalai is a little thinner than the usual Rabdi .

Ingredients

Cows Milk -1 Litre

Rock Sugar /Sugar – 1/2 cup or adjust it according to your taste

Saffron- 20 strands soaked in one three tbsp boiling milk.

STEPS

1) Pour milk in a heavy base steel pan and keep on high flame to bring it to a boil.

2) When boils ,leave it to simmer on low flame stirring it from time to time till it reduces to one third .This process takes more than an hour.

4) Add sugar ,stir and when sugar dissolves ,let it simmer for another 10 min .

5)Add the soaked saffron and stir , Remove from flame.

6) Let it cool to room temp. 2 hours before serving add rasgulla to it and keep in fridge to cool. Serve garnished with pistachos.

Remember to offer Bhog to Bhagwanji before enjoying this yum sweet.🙏

Author Rekha Gupta