Rasgulla Recipe/Soft and Spongy Rasgulla Recipe.

Rasgulla a famous Bengali sweet is  nothing but a Soft and spongy balls made from cheenna is boiled and dipped in sugar syrup .It is a simple and a yummy dessert. .I have always been a big fan of bengali sweets be it mava sandwich cham cham etc and when my cousin gave me bowl full of chenna i thought of trying rasgulla this time.. I love milk sweets and also love to eat the spoiled milk which is cooked with sugar ..Whenever there is spoiled milk at home i always add sugar and enjoy it but this time i thought i  will make rasgullas out it..

I was very happy with the out come soft and spongy homemade rasgullas turned out just perfect...I actually thought of making ras malai too but the rasgullas were vanished in no time..

Ingredients
1 litre full fat  milk
1 tbsp lime juice/vinegar
2  cups sugar
5 cups water
few strands of kesar(optional)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Method

• First and foremost start by curdling the milk .Boil 1 litre milk in a pan and switch off the flame bring it down and  add 1 tbsp lime/lemon juice .and mix ..you will see milk has curdled and whey  has collected and the milk is curdled.
• Now keep a strainer /seive ready lined with muslin cloth/handkerchief drain all the curdled milk on the cloth. and pass 2-3 glass of clean water over this so that the lemon/vinegar taste goes off...I skipped this step since I already had spoiled/curdled milk .

• Now once all they curdled milk has been collected in the cloth tr and remove as much of water as you can by pressing the cloth.Then tie the cloth and hang it for 2-3 hrs till all the water has been drained out completely.

• Now you will see that u have  Nice thick ball of chenna ,take a plate and with your palms knead this chenna well...

• Make small balls out of this and keep aside.

• Add sugar and water in a pan and place it over the flame add 1/2 tsp of milk so that the scum comes up add the cardamom powder to the syrup

• Once the syrup begins to boil add the saffron if using and the balls and cover the pan with the lid and simmer and let it cook for 8-10 mins.The balls must have tripled in size.

• Switch off the flame and keep the lid covered for 20-30 mins then transfer the syrup and balls in a container .let the rasgullas get soaked completely in the syrup for about 6-7 hrs ..refrigerate and enjoy homemade spongy rasgullas.

notes

•  use full fat cream milk,skimmed milk won't give you the desired results
• there should be no water left in chenna ,if it is the balls will break while boiling.
• kneading is very important step to get soft spongy rasgullas.
• you will see some flattened yellow balls in the pic..i had added saffron to half of mixture and kneaded for making rasmalai ..hence the flat shape.