KESAR RASGULLA
Kesar Rasgulla is a traditional, sweet, spongy, juicy, delicious Indian Sweet made from paneer or cottage cheese balls in a sugar syrup.
Ingredients
- 1½ litres full fat milk
- 2-3 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
- 1 cup refined sugar
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- ¼ tsp saffron
- 4 cups water
Instructions
Preparation of the Paneer/ Chenna:
- Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat till it comes to a boil.
- Take the pan off the heat.
- Add 2-3 tbsp of lemon juice and mix gently. Allow the milk to rest for 2-3 minutes.
- Put the pan back on medium heat. The milk will begin to curdle.
- When you see the whey or the greenish liquid, take the pan off the heat.
- Gently stir the mixture with a spoon or spatula. Curdled milk will gather up into lumps.
- Drape a colander with a cheesecloth.
- Pour the curdled milk mixture into the cheesecloth.
- Wash the paneer or chenna under running cold water. This stops the paneer from cooking further and also removes the lemon juice or vinegar.
- Gather the ends of the cloth and squeeze the chenna gently to remove excess water.
- Place the chenna with the cheesecloth in the colander again. Cover the chenna with the cloth.
- Put a small flat lid or plate on top of the bundle of covered chenna. Place a brick or something heavy over it. This helps to remove the excess water faster.
- Leave for about 30 minutes.
Preparation of the Chenna/ Paneer Balls:
- Remove the chenna from the cheesecloth into a big bowl or tray.
- Knead the chenna using the heel of yoru palm till its soft smooth and it no longer sticky. This takes about 5-10 minutes.
- Divide the chenna into 12 -14 parts.
- Roll each part into a ball that is completely smooth without any cracks.
Preparation of Rasgulla:
- Take a big wide pan with a lid.
- Add water, sugar, cardamom and saffron.
- Place the pan over medium heat and bring the water to a rolling boil.
- Add the chenna balls gently to the boiling sugar water.
- Allow the chenna balls to boil for 20 minutes.
- Switch the heat off after 20 minutes. Don't be tempted to open the lid as the ragullas may deflate.
- Allow the ragullas to cool down in the syrup without opening the lid for at 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- For chilled rasgulla, put in the fridge with the syrup for about 30- 60 minutes.
- Serve Kesar Rasgulla with a little syrup drizzled over it.
Notes
- Make sure the chenna mixture is smooth and not sticky after kneading it.
- Don't use less water otherwise the syrup will become thick and the rasgulla will not cook properly.
- If you don't have lemon or vinegar to curdle the milk use ¼ cup plain yogurt.
- Make sure the rolled balls have no cracks.