Saturday, November 11, 2006

Rasgulla & Rasmalai !!

Paneer/Cheese balls cooked in sugar syrup
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Dear Foodies,

Rasgulla's

I was sooo excited after digging my teeth into one of these lovely, juicy lil fellas that I had to put it up on the blog immediately. Will get back with photos detailing the recipe later this weekend.

But if you cant hold on until then, then jump over to Priya's blog for her recipe.
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Rasgulla
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After seeing Priya's post on rasgulla's I was really tempted to try it out. So this weekend a friend and I tried making this absolutely delicious sweet and I have to say it is a cakewalk making them. Thank you soo much for the recipe Priya.

I am not going to detail the recipe as it is very similar to how Priya made it. I just made a few changes that. I used a gallon of whole milk (Vitamin D milk). I learnt that the best way to split the milk is to add the lemon juice right when the milk is boiling and begins to rise ( a timely tip from a friend). After filtering out the water and looking at the amount of paneer left my friend and I sadly estimated the no. of rasgullas to be 20 lil ones. I did not have a cheese cloth and used one of the many free t-shirts we get around the campus, it took the paneer just about an hour to dry out completely. I totally forgot about using the blender which Priya mentioned and kneaded it by hand as given in one of the links she provided. We kneaded it for about 15 mins and I would have added about 4 teaspoons of all purpose flour. We then started to make tiny balls out of it and thats when we realised it was becoming a never ending process...the estimate of 20 slowly became 40, then 50 and finally stopped at 60 rasgulla's !! While making the balls don't apply too much pressure, knead it well and lightly press to get the shape you desire. I pressure cooked 20 rasgulla's in one batch. I made the syrup with 1 cup of sugar in 3 cups of water, but I had to add more as the sugar vanished once the rasgulla's were cooked. So taste the syrup to make it a little sweeter than you really want the as the sugar got absorbed into the rasgulla's leaving the syrup bland. I added a few drops of rose essence in one batch and 4-5 elaichis in the other, both of them were excellent. The rasgulla's were extremely fluffy and soft, when flattened with a spoon they immediately bounced back to shape taking in more syrup. yummmmm :-)

I pressure cooked the rasgulla's for a little more than one whistle in a Hawkins pressure cooker got from India. I turned off the heat 2 mins after the first whistle, basically I saw to it that I dont hear the second one.
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Rasmalai
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I had a little more paneer left after two batches of rasgulla's and so made rasmalai with the rest. I reduced 2 cups of milk to half the quantity, in the microwave, added 2 tablespoons of condensed milk and 1/2 cup sugar, then dunked the flattened balls into it and microwaved it covered for 15 mins. I was a little lazy to use the cooker again and so microwaved the rasmalai. You can follow the same timings as for the rasgulla to make these. After you have reduced the milk, drop-in the paneer balls with room for them to grow and pressure cook for a little more than one whistle.
I added 4-5 powdered elaichis and sliced pistachios to the milk for additional flavor. Even this one was a winner, tasting super yummy.

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Thank You Time !!
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(Paneer balls ready to get transformed into fluffy Rasgullas)
This post is going to be my platform to finally say my Thank you's to all those who made me the foodie I have become !! The first Thank You is surely to my Mom and Dad. If not for their enthusiasm for good food I wouldn't have been such a foodie. My mother, I think is THE best cook. My lunch box at school always found friends other than me to empty it. She constantly experimented with different cuisines and churns out wonderful dishes. Any dish I make is perfect only if it tastes just like how my mom makes it and that I have learnt is extremely difficult :-P !! Even now when I am so far away from her kitchen I still continue to pester her to make my favorite dishes so that I can post them up on the blog here, and she has been doing it soo wonderfully with my Dad capturing them through photos. (Well the secret is, I want the recipes..and blogging is an excuse to get the secret ingredients from her ;-) shhhh) My Dad is a great foodie too, we used to compete in setting the salad plate for dinner and it used to be soo much fun. He would also neatly chop the fruits of that season and leave them in the fridge for all of us to gobble them up with out any trouble :-) Well....I could go on and on about the two of them. So I will end now with a huge Thank you and loads of hugs to you :-) Love you ! Today (14th, Nov) is my Dad's b'day, Happy Birthday Nana :-)

My roomies and friends and my brother who got trapped once, are the poor souls on whom I have been testing my experimentations all throughout. If not for their words of encouragement even for the worst turnouts in the kitchen...I wouldn't have dared to start this blog !! They are always pouring out praises that boost my confidence and I end up torturing them even more with my new experiments ...hehehe I know you guys repent it now...but its tooo late, the damage has been done. :D Thank you guys :-) ( Applause )

There are also the wonderful bloggers who share their tried and treasured recipes, so that newbies like me can flaunt the recipes at parties and with friends and take all the praise too. Thats a perfect example for 'having the cake and eating it too'...it couldn't have been any easier. Each one of the bloggers has re-defined cooking as not just a chore, but as a way of showing your love and affection towards your family and friends. Cooking should be done with a consciousness to make delicious and healthy food is what many of them have showed through their blogs. I also started the Treasure Trove section to thank all the bloggers for sharing their recipes and now I am going to say it here too. Thank You !

I was tempted to put a stat counter after reading Indira's post about her reaching a blog milestone ( Congrats to her again) a few days back and I was shocked on seeing the results !! I thought there were just a bunch of fellow bloggers who came to my blog and I always took the no. of comments to be the sole yardstick for readership !! I realized that apart from bloggers there are soo many others who come here, some who either leave their footprints through comments and many who are silent visitors. Thank you all soo much for dropping by, it really means a lot to have you guys visit me :-)

And most importantly, I'd like to thank Meeta, the person who gave us a chance to Give Thanks. Her blog is a delight not just for foodies but also to those who enjoy beauty. Each one of her photos is a masterpiece in itself and she has constantly been raising the bar for good pics !!

30 thoughts:

Anonymous said...

Nice pic! They look purrfect. And they are one of my fav desserts...and have been seeing them on blogs too often now!! Gotta make my own...drool.

Anupama said...

The rasgullas do look heavenly. I particularly want to thankyou for the Bisi Bele Huli Anna Recipe. i did not know how to make it. I will definitely make it now.

recipestoshare said...

amazing..i must try this one

Nabeela said...

oooooh, LOVE those rasgullas!! I wish I had whole milk. I recently bought 2% :(

Praba Ram said...

Hi Priya -

Can't wait for the recipe!! Cute little ras babies!!:-)

FH said...

Thank you and you are welcome!

Great entry and great dish!:))

Anonymous said...

rasgullas look great. I don't think i have the courage to try this recipe. Maybe i will try one day.

great blog

thanks

Sumitha said...

Birthday wishes to your Dad from me too!I love Rasmalai and must give this a try!

Anonymous said...

Hi Priya,
Great recipes and great writeup too! My birthday wishes to your dad.Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Rasgulla & rasmalai look absolutely delcious Priya !!

Iam glad you like it, making them is so easy isnt it ! except for those spheres u have to roll :)

And my Birthday wishes to your Father.

Rajesh &Shankari said...

A very nice thank you to your parents! The pics look very appetizing priya.

Lakshmi said...

such a nice write up, and a wonderful dessert. even I prepare the same way Priya, i know it so delicious, yummy yummy rasmalai

Anonymous said...

Hi Priya, what a wonderful birthday presents. You are a sweetheart!

Thanks for the mention and also the for the wishes.
Yes, installing stat counter(sitemeter) is a good thing to keep track of blog's progress.

Priya said...


@ Anita: Do try making them at home Anita, they are sooo easy, you wont believe that something soo yummy can be prepared at home in a jiffy.

@ Anupama: Thank you Anupama, glad you liked the recipes, the bisi bele is one of my favs.

@ recipestoshare:Do try it, you'll love them. I could actually call them a relatively fat-free sweet as they need just milk and sugar water.

@ Nabeela: hehe I got the milk from the bookstore in the Univ at 1:00am in the night !!!

@ Prabha: Prabha, now that the recipe is here, invite these fellas to your place :-)

@ Foodie's hope: Definitely a great dish, Asha, you have to try it out :-)

@ Dilip ji: Welcome to my blog, and please do try making them, these rasgulla's will totally take you by surprise. I could'nt belive they were sooooooo easy to make !!

Priya said...


@ Sumitha: Welcome back to my blog Sumitha. I'll pass on your wishes to my Dad and you surely have to give these darlings a try :-)

@ Lakshmiammal: Thank you, and I'll pass on the wishes Lakshmi :-)

@ Priya: Thank you sooo much for the recipe Priya, just loved them, I could'nt belive these were so easy to make. And the spheres do take a loooong time. My friend and I were hoping the time would get fast forwarded like in the TV shows and we would have a plate filled with the spheres !!!

@ Shankari: Thank you Shankari! I had soo much more to write about them but I had to stop myself from making the post a never-ending one :-) And like I have said to everyone here, DO try the recipe !!

@ Lakshmi: Thank you Lakshmi, I never knew making them was so easy, I always thought rasgullas were sweets you can never make at home :-)

@ Indira: Hi Indira, Welcome to my blog, I guess this is your first comment here and I am honored to have you visit :-)
I couldn't thank my parents enough, they are the true sweet hearts :-D The sitemeter is surely shocking me with its numbers, I never imagined soo many ppl reading my blog. It was just a near n dear affair for me until now :-)
And just like I told all the others, do try making these treats, they are absolutely yummy :-)

Mandira said...

Wow, what treat rasgullas and rasmalai... both my favorites :) they look delicious.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Priya sweetie, with these rasgullahs and ras malai my door will always be open to you. Lovely recipes and maybe I might even have a go at trying these myself. You know THANKS to my fellow Indian bloggers I have become more experimental with my Indian cooking. So THANKS!!

Thanks for those lovely words too *blush blush*!
Hugs

Mamatha said...

Priya,
You have a lovely blog there. The rasmalais and the rasgullas look irrestible! Just one question, how long do you pressure cook them - do u cook with or w/o the weight? Thanks.

toujoursmardi said...

Oh my gosh YUMMMM...

I just found your blog and I love it. I am a foodie through and through.

Priya said...


@ Mandira: Try them out at home and you will love them even more :-)

@ Meeta: I'm packing my bags rite away :D and Thanks to you for single handedly introducing all of us to knew ingredients and styles of cooking and not to mention good photography :-) (time for a few more *blush* *blush*'s )

@ Faffer: Welcome! Welcome!
I pressure cooked each batch of 20 rasgullas for one whistle and a few minutes, that is not until 2 whistles, in a Hawkins pressure cooker(got it from India).

@ toujoursmardi: Welcome to the foodie bandwagon ! Hope to see you more often, you have a nice blog too !

Pooja said...

Hi,
this is my first time visit to your blog.
you have a great blog with good pics and recipe here.
these rasgullas looks so yummy...
I am very much fond of it, but ut usually i dont make it at home, now i might give ti a try.
thanks
-Pooja

Anonymous said...

Looks yummmm.. Thnx for this recipe. this is one of my fav sweets. Will try it out and let you know how it came

Bong Mom said...

The rasgullas look perfect. Inspite of being a Bong I have never attempted making rasgullas out of fear, I always thought the kneading part is a big job
Kudos to you :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Priya..... My first time here.... and I must say, you have a beautiful blog!!!! And the rssgullas look absolutely fantastic!!!!! Great going!!!

www.mykhazanaofrecipes.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Hi, my name is Tanu. Great work here with the recipes! Thank you for sharing. I tried the rasgulla recipe but am afraid the rasgullas didn't come out too well. They didn't puff up at all and were really hard. I wonder where I went wrong. I followed the recipe properly--except that I used an old T-shirt to strain out the paneer and used 21/2 spoons of maida instead of 2. Please help! Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

hi Priya,
As I was looking from a long time for Ragulla, I was very happy to find here and tried them out. when i put them in the boiling water, they looked as if they are puffuing up..but when I took them out, kept it in the fridge for cooling, they became flat like the rasmalai ones. Any idea as to what might have gone wrong. Your site is wonderful. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Your rasgullas look fabulous.I hit upon ur blog after I made a massacre of my rasgullas last weekend.They were not sponsy and fluffy as yours.On applying pressure, they were crumbling and the taste was just a little way from raw paneer balls:o((.I had not put the flour.Can u suggest what might have gone wrong?

Priya said...


Madhumita, I used 2 % milk once and the rasgulla's did not fluff up as usual, but they did hold shape. I am not sure if the fat content could be the culprit. I think the key is in kneading them until you can feel the oiliness in your palm and adding flour as required. The uncooked balls of paneer themselves will be a little springy/spongey.
Also if they felt raw and you know you cooked them long enough, then either the sugar syrup was too thick to get absorbed into the balls or the balls were too dense and so not allowing any liquid in. I hope these pointers make sense to you and help you find the error. Let me know :)

Anon & Sirisha, I'm sorry for not responding to your comments, I am seeing them only today :(

Sheuli said...

Do visit http:// sheulicooks.wordpress.com for more interesting varients on the rasgullas

Rumela said...

My father is a huge fan of Rasgulla with Rasmalai and I always try to make one for him whenever we see my parents. He has yet to be fully blown away by any of the recipes i've tried. Simplicity is key, and yours looks perfect! Can't wait to try it.

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