GUR RASGULLA

Gur rasgulla are chenna (homemade cottage cheese balls) in jaggery syrup. It is a Bengali sweet prepared mainly in winters, during Makar sankranti. The amber coloured spongy balls in an ochre coloured syrup made from jaggery tastes delicious.

The first time when I was successful in making these rasgullas, I couldn’t stop myself from showing off the sponginess and the beautiful colour of my gur rasgullas (very unlike me). Once again I realised that only hardwork can yield you good results.

I tried different recipes which suggested adding suji or semolina, cornflour. I was never happy with those results.

There are a few things which should be kept in mind for a spongy rasgullas. Firstly always use the homemade, fresh chenna or cottage cheese. Secondly, the chenna or cottage cheese shouldn’t be too moist or too dry.

Rub the chenna till there are no cracks when shaped into balls. The process of mashing should be done with heels of your palm. This may take 10 minutes. This step is very important.

Cow’s milk is considered to be best for soft and spongy rasgullas.

Recipe for Gur Rasgulla

Ingredients for Gur Rasgulla

• 1 litre cow’s milk (yields 180 to 200gms chenna)
• 2 lemons/ 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 ½ cups + 1 cup jaggery
• ¼ tsp cardamom powder (optional)

How to make

Bring milk to boil. Lower the heat. Add lemon juice or vinegar and give it a gentle stir.

If the milk doesn’t split add more lemon juice.

Remove from heat when you can see the curdled milk and clear whey separated.

Pass it through a sieve lined with muslin cloth. Wash the chenna under running water. This will cool down the chenna and also remove the traces of lemon juice.

Squeeze to get rid of the moisture. Remember too less or too much moisture is not good for rasgullas.

Rub the chenna with heels of your palm so that it becomes like soft dough.

Divide into 12 to 16 portions. Rub the portions between your palms and shape them into balls. If you find that the balls are having cracks, mash them again for some more time. Cover with moist cloth and keep aside.

Take 4 cups or 1 litre of water in a pressure cooker. Add 1 ½ cups of jaggery to it. Bring it to boil.

Drop the chenna balls in boiling syrup. Cover with lid and weight.

Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Let the pressure come down.

Transfer the rasgullas to another bowl with a cup of syrup.

Add one more cup of jaggery to rest of the syrup. Bring it to boil. Add cardomom powder (optional). Simmer for 15 minutes or until the syrup is thick and shiny. Pass the syrup through a sieve. Transfer back the rasgullas to the thick ochre coloured syrup.

 Let it sit into the syrup for minimum 6 hours before serving.