Home-made Rasgulla/ Roshogolla

I told you about my huge sweet tooth in my last recipe post. But i wasn't always this fond of sweets, and definitely not when i was a kid, so i pondered about it some more. I think my love for all things sweet came from my stay in the eastern state of West Bengal for four years, two years for study and two years in my first job. Until my stay in Kharagpur, i was this good, traditional South Indian girl who always finished her meal with rice mixed in plain yogurt, with maybe a pickle or chutney on the side. And in Kharagpur i discovered mishti doi (yogurt prepared in an earthen pot with melted sugar mixed into the milk) and i was converted. So much that during my first semester holidays back home, i refused to eat plain yogurt with rice anymore and insisted on adding sugar to it in a small cup to enjoy as a dessert. Till date that is how i enjoy eating yogurt, with some sugar or honey sprinkled on top. And only because i don't have a Bengali sweet shop around the corner to sell me some mishti doi.

Now about Rasgulla, or Roshogolla as pronounced in Bengali, that's another love affair. There was this little sweets shop in the Kharagpur IIT campus that served freshly made warm rasgullas in small cups stitched out of dried leaves. I still remember the delicious, warm, juicy sweets that i ate there. And did i mention the rasgulla eating competitions in the hostel during Diwali. Oh, we had some fun times alright. All this nostalgia isn't too bad. I have too many memories and too little space to fit them all in here without becoming boring. So i will stop here and tell you that if you are not in Bengal and are craving for some juicy rasgullas, its very easy to make them at home. If you are in Bengal, why would you want to wait for 2 hours when the nearest sweet shop is probably only 2 minutes away. Unless of course its the middle of the night and that shopkeeper has gone to sleep, and you forgot to pick some up in the evening. In that case, go ahead.

 

The few recipes i checked out before making my rasgulla at home said that they had to be chilled before serving, but fresh warm rasgullas are quite delicious. Do try them. 
Having found out that Anita made these, I tried them adapting the ingredients and method from here and here.

Ingredients

• 1/2 litre milk
• juice of 1 lime, nearly 2 tablespoons
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 pods cardamon, crushed (optional)

Method

Boil milk in a saucepan on medium heat for 5 minutes. Reduce to low flame, add the lime juice and stir gently until the milk curdles. Leave it on the stove for 2 more minutes and then remove from flame. Allow to cool down for 5 minutes or add some ice cubes into the curdled milk mixture to cool it faster. Strain the mixture using a cheesecloth (or simply using a very fine sieve like i did). Press the curds to remove as much of the whey (transparent liquid) as you can. Knead for 5 minutes to make a soft dough. Take small pieces of the dough and roll into balls (i got 10 small balls from 1/2 litre milk). Make sure not to have any cracks in the dough balls, there won't be any cracks if you knead the dough enough.

Boil sugar and water in a saucepan, stirring occasionally and add the crushed cardamon including the skins. When the sugar has melted completely, gently add the dough balls and allow to cook undisturbed for about 20-25 minutes on medium-high flame with a partly covered lid. Turn off the flame and serve warm or cold. You can add garnishing of slivered almond or pistachios if you like.

La's Notes: The curds will be much softer than any normal dough you might have worked with and will only require kneading with your finger tips, especially if using only 1/2 litre of milk. Also, next time i am going to pressure cook the rasgullas for one whistle for faster cooking, instead of directly on flame. Oh yes, there is going to be a next time, and i will be making a double batch too.
Linking this to Krithi and Denny's Festival Potluck, to Radhika's event Diwali Special - Sweets and Savouries, and to Khushi's My diwali My Way.