RasGulla | RoshoGolla

If you are an Indian, RasGulla needs no introduction. ( soft, spongy balls of Indian Cottage Cheese ( paneer ) soaked in chilled sugar syrup, no doubt a favourite amongst all of us. They melt in your mouth and leave you wanting more. The Bengalis ( from eastern India ) sure know their sweet making!

Rasgulla ( Ras translate as Syrup and Gulla as round cheese balls ) are considered as a traditional Bengali sweet, however many argue that this dish is originally from Orissa not west Bengal. In earlier days, Oriya cooks were hired by Bengalis in Calcutta and that's how it became popular in Bengal. It is one of the most popular Indian sweets all year round in India and abroad. The Bengali call them Roshogolla and are sold in clay pots in Calcutta, and highly appreciated in summer where they are served chilled. 

Process of making rasgulla at home is not very difficult once you get hang of it, took me some time but with little patience and determination end result was good, and now most of the time we do get soft, spongy and yummy rasgulla to relish

You will need:-

• 2 cup home made Paneer 
• 4 cup water
• 3 cup sugar
• Pinch of Saffron

Method:-
First make sugar syrup, add sugar and water in a deep and wider pan, prefer flat bottom. 
Bring it to boil and simmer for 5-6 minutes and switch off the heat.
Now knead the paneer until smooth and very creamy. I use my food processor to smooth out the paneer, you can knead the paneer with hand too.
In half paneer dough, I added saffron threads . 
Once done, divide paneer dough into small portions and roll them into balls without any cracks on the surface. It has to be very smooth.
Cover them with kitchen paper or clean cloth, so they don't get dry out.
Cheese balls will get double in size once they are cooked in sugar syrup.
Now heat sugar syrup on medium heat and very gently and carefully drop only few cheese balls into syrup. If you have too many, better cook them in batches .
Cover the pan and cook for 10-15 minutes, Rasgulla will be double in size.
Test Rasgulla by doing this...take out one ball, drop it in a bowl cold water if floats it needs further cooking. 
Once each batch is done, remove rasgulla with little sugar syrup. 
After couple of batches, sugar syrup does get thicker, just add little boiled water to bring it back to the original consistency.
When they all done, put all the rasgulla in the syrup, add saffron threads (optional ) and turn off the heat.
Leave it to cool at room temperature.
If you wish you can chill them in the fridge.
Enjoy and enjoy the day !
Note:- Making Rasgulla is tricky, however it is an art and it comes with practise.
Just in case any rasgulla left, you might want to make Homemade soft RasMalai with them.