Rasgulla is a syrupy, popular and delicious dessert made from ball shaped dumplings of chenna (Indian cottage cheese) and cooked in light sugar syrup.  The spongy white rasgulla is believed to have been introduced in present-day West Bengal.  The traditional Odisha rasgullas are softer and creamish in colour than Bengali rasgullas. The Bengali rasgullas are whitish and rubbery. 

Rasgullas stays good for upto a week in the refrigerator.  Rasgulla recipe involves a) boiling and curdling of milk, (b) taking out or separating chenna from the whey, (c) kneading the drained chenna and rolling out into balls and (d) finally cooking the balls in sugary syrup.

The balls can be cooked either in a pressure cooker or a wide pan.  It is  better to cook in a wide pan as it is easier to see them boiling and cooking, especially if you are a beginner.   The balls sometimes turn rubbery or overcooked in a pressure cooker. 

If you are looking for sweet recipes, do try

Gulab Jamun

Carrot halwa

Dudhi halwa

Kaju katli

coconut ladoo

HOW TO MAKE OR PREPARE SPONGY HOMEMADE RASGULLA RECIPE

Boil the milk in a broad vessel on a medium flame.  Keep stirring the milk continuously in between.  This helps to avoid browning of the milk at the bottom.

Once the milk comes to a nice boil, lower the flame.  Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix well.  Keep stirring continuously using a spoon or spatula.  The milk will start curdling soon and solid milk portion will be separate from the green liquid whey portion.  If the milk does not curdle, add another teaspoon of lemon juice and stir well.  Once the milk is curdled, switch off the flame.  Leave aside for a minute or two.  The whole of the milk will get curdled well.

Spread a muslin cloth  over a bowl or vessel.   Pour/transfer the curdled milk over it and drain the liquid whey.  Rinse it again by adding 2-3 glasses of plain water.  This helps to remove the lemony taste and remove the sourness.

Squeeze the excess water from the chenna with your hands.  Hang it for 30 minutes to remove the excess moisture.  (Rasgullas break if there is excess water or moisture in the chenna).  So ensure to hang for half an hour.  Alternatively, you can place some heavy weight on the chenna for 10 minutes to remove the excess water.  (The green liquid whey water, as shown in the pic, is very nutritious and can used for kneading the dough for making chapatis or rotis.)

After half an hour, transfer the chenna to a wide plate.  The chenna should not be too dry or have too much moisture in it.  Crumble the chenna with hand and start kneading for about 10 minutes.   This process is very important as it decides the softness of the rasgulla.  Knead the chenna to a soft dough.  When your palms starts getting greasy or little oily,  while kneading, it means now the dough is ready.  You can stop kneading the dough.

Make small balls from the kneaded dough as the balls tend to swell or increase in size, after boiling in sugar syrup.

Heat 1 cup of sugar in 2 cups of water in a large vessel and cook on medium flame.  Add cardamom powder and stir well.  Keep the flame on medium and make the sugar syrup.

Once the sugar syrup comes to a nice boil, gently slide 10-12 balls in it.  Cover the vessel with a lid and cook on medium flame for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes, remove the lid and gently stir with a spatula.  Cook again for another 3-4 minutes on a medium flame.    The rasgullas would have increased in size.  Switch off the flame and remove the lid.

You can repeat with the remaining balls and cook in the similar manner.  I cooked in two batches by using the same sugar syrup for the second batch.

Transfer the rasgullas to a large bowl and allow them to cool down.  You can then refrigerate and serve it later.

Garnish with saffron strings and serve delicious and spongy rasgullas chilled, as a dessert after lunch or dinner.

NOTES/TIPS

Always use good quality fresh full fat milk for better results.

The ratio of water to sugar varies from person to person.  For a less sweeter version,  use 4 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar.  If you have a sweet tooth, you can take equal portion of sugar to water..2 cups of water for 2 cups of sugar.

Proper kneading of the chenna is also very important for getting soft rasgullas.

Ensure not to overcook the balls.  Otherwise the balls become rubbery or may break.

You can also add rose essence or kewra essence to the sugar syrup.

Liquid whey is very nutritious.  It can be used to knead the dough for chapatis or rotis or used in dals or kadhis.

Do not overcrowd the pan with too many balls, while boiling in sugar syrup.

If you are cooking in pressure cooker,  pressure cook the balls in the sugar syrup for 7-8 minutes on a medium flame without putting the whistle on the lid.