My first post is a sweet one. The no-fry,no-ghee Indian dessert loved by most and relatively low-calorie as far as desserts go!
Rasgullas- the soft and squeezy delight from Bengal
Hailing from the eastern state of West Bengal, these light-delights are so loved that one sees rasgulla eating competitions at weddings. I have seen a participant, who eventually was declared the winner, down three dozen at a go!!
Here is a recipe very close to my heart, perfected after more than half a dozen trials till I reached close to perfection. Rasgullas are now almost a weekly affair in my house. Two months back I wouldn’t have dreamt of making them at home!!
You follow the directions below and get perfect rasgullas at home 🙂
Let me warn you-making rasgullas is very addictive! Once hooked to making them, you just aren’t able to stop!
RASGULLA
For the Rasgullas you need
1 Litre cow milk, cream removed (I buy the milk an evening prior, boil,cool and refrigerate. Next morning, remove the cream and proceed to make chenna/paneer)
1-2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice/Vinegar / 3-4 Tbsp curd
Tip- Off late I have started using curd for splitting the milk. You don’t need to wash the chhena and it gives perfectly round rasgullas.
To Make Chenna
(Here is a step wise guide to making paneer/chhena at home)
Bring the milk to boil, add 1-2 tbsp lemon juice gradually so that the milk mass and whey separate completely.Add 10-15 ice cubes. Rest for a minute.
If using curd, simply keep adding the curd till the milk splits. Strain and drain the chhena well and proceed to make rasgullas. No need to put the ice cubes and wash the paneer!
Strain in a colander lined with muslin/cheesecloth. Wash thoroughly with fresh water to remove the lemony sourness. Drain the water by squeezing. Knot the muslin cloth and hang it to get rid for any excess whey/liquid.After about 10-15 minutes, remove. The chhena you get will be crumbly like in the picture below.
If it is too wet, it is not drained well and will be impossible to knead. So, make sure chenna is crumbly and slightly dry and yet a little moist.
Rub the chenna with fingers and heels of the palm till the chenna gives out some fat/ ghee/chiknaayee. It takes me about 5- 7 minutes to get there. By now the chenna is like a dough ball that comes together easily, neither too hard nor too soft.
Take pinches off the dough and make small balls, you should get about 15. Remember, they are going to double up on boiling so size them accordingly.
For the Sugar Syrup
For the Light Sugar Syrup to boil the rasgullas
1 cup Sugar
5 cups Water
1/2 tsp fine cardamom (ilaichi) powder
For adding to the Light sugar syrup after boiling the rasgullas
1/4 cup Sugar (I keep the sugar very low. Please increase the sugar to 1/2 or 3/4 cup here to get sweeter rasgullas)
1/2 cup Water
8-10 saffron strands (optional- I haven’t used here)
1-2 Tsp rosewater/gulabjal (optional- I haven’t used here)
While you make the paneer balls, bring to boil 5 cups of water with a cup of sugar (light sugar syrup). Add half a tsp fine cardamom powder. Just as the syrup comes to a rolling boil, add in the rasgulla balls. Boil covered for 12- 15 minutes on medium flame.
I make my rasgullas in two batches so that the rasgullas get enough space in the water to expand and also keep their round shape. If the syrup is less or there are too many gullas in the liquid, they will either become flat or lose their shape.
You may uncover to check every 5 min minutes.
To check if the rasgullas are cooked, drop one in plain drinking water. If it sinks, it is done. If it floats, boil for a couple of minutes and check again. Switch off the gas.
Transfer gently to a big bowl full of clean drinking water. There should be enough water for the paneer balls else they might lose their shape.dd one fourth cup sugar and half a cup of water to the same light sugar syrup in which the rasgullas were boiled and give it a boil so that the sugar melts. Add in the saffron strands (if using) when the syrup becomes warm, do not add while it is hot.Let the sugar syrup cool to room temperature ( takes about 30 minutes)
Remove the rasgullas from the plain water, squeeze gently and drop into the sugar syrup.
Chill for three hours. You may top with some finely slivered pistachios and almonds.
Enjoy!
Problems and possible reasons and solutions
Tricky buggers, but delightful once tamed! And super addictive! My friend Suchitra commented yesterday on the numerous successful rasgulla attempt on CAL- my food group on FB. Sadly, some misses too :(. I know how disheartening it is to not get it right. I got into the kitchen last night and made a fresh batch
Just tried one- perfect! No lemony taste, just the right amount of sweetness, no kich kich sound when you bite in.
1. The right milk is the first step, I cannot say that enough!! Fresh cow milk from the dairy works best. I always use that, never had a failed attempt with that. In case you do not have access to that, try with a good brand of cow milk. People have tried with Amul and got good results. A friend in the UK gets perfect results with Tesco green milk
And try, try, try till you figure out what milk works
People living overseas should give them a go with 2 % milk.
For people living in the US– My friend and co-blogger, the brilliant Sonal Gupta has done a fantastic detailed post on rasgullas. The post has exhaustive notes on the right kind of milk and how to go about making rasgullas. Find this very helpful post here on Sonal’s blog simplyvegetarian777.wordpress.com. A big shout of thanks Sonal 🙂
2. I remove the malai/cream and then proceed to make chhena because my trial with full cream milk gave me greasy Rasgullas. But your choice, you can go with full milk.
3. While making chhena, do not boil the milk after adding the lemon juice. That leads to chewy Rasgullas. Better still, use curd to split the milk. No washing required, but drain well. If the paneer is too moist, rasgullas will break. Paneer made with curd gives perfectly round rasgullas 🙂
4. Washing the paneer THOROUGHLY is vital, else you get the lemony taste in Rasgullas. I pour 3-4 glasses of drinking water and wash all of it with my fingers- very nicely!
5. Draining the chhena right is again,very important. Too dry and the Rasgullas go dry, too moist and the Rasgullas scatter in the syrup. This comes with handling the paneer. But a couple of attempts and you get it right.
6. I do not add any binder– sooji,maida,cornflour or arrowroot. Nothing against binders but I wanted to do it without them for the fasting community in my family 😉 Also, I got softer Rasgullas without the sooji/maida- yeah, I did try making them with both.
7. Kneading well is important! The chenna has to be crumbly to start with. Knead it till you get a smooth non-sticky dough like consistency. Knead till it leaves out some ghee/fat/chiknaayee. And stop then.
8. Make smooth, crack free chhena balls.
9. I transfer the chhena balls to water at room temperature to stop the cooking process. This also ensures I don’t get chewy Rasgullas due to over cooking in the residual heat. Keeps their shape well while I cook batch 2 of the Rasgullas in the same syrup.
10. I cook the chenna balls in light (less sweet) sugar syrup to get spongy Rasgullas. Later add more sugar and water to the SAME sugar syrup. Then cool the syrup to room temperature and add the cooked chhena balls which were put into water at room temperature. We are using the same syrup and not making two syrups here.
11. I always leave them in the syrup for 3-5 hours before serving so that they soak in the sweetness. Eating immediately is fine too, only they will be little less sweet.
12. The water sugar ratio of 1:5 gives medium sweet Rasgullas. If you want them sweeter, you can increase the amount of sugar
13. I make them in an open vessel. People use the pressure cooker too. I felt they get a little yellow in the cooker. Also I enjoy watching them double up, hence the open pan with a lid works beautifully! 😉
14. Sometimes Rasgullas shrink after they boil and double. Usually happens because of the wrong milk in my experience. They do shrink a wee little bit once taken of the heat, but not remarkably so.
15. If you get flat or shapeless rasgullas, it is because they aren’t getting enough space to expand. Use a deep and wide vessel. I make the rasgullas in two batches so that they have enough space and also because it gets done in less amount of sugar syrup- no wastage. If you want to make them at one go- you may double the amount of sugar syrup.
16. I keep the sugar low in the rasgullas. If you like them sweeter, please add more to the syrup after having boiled the rasgullas once. If you feel they are less sweet even after the second soak for three hours- remove the rasgullas, add sugar to the syrup, give it a boil, cool and soak the rasgullas again for a couple of hours.
17. And, above all- pray! I always do when I make them 😀
CafeGarima 
I tried this recipe today and it has helped me to a large extent and I am thoroughly happy with the result. Thank you Garima.
That’s lovely to hear Pratima 🙂
Dear Garima, thanks for the recipe. They came out nice and soft but for some reason they are all most flat. There was plenty of syrup and I didn’t put too many. Doubled up in size but are flat. So I’m turning them into rasmalai. Could you tell me where I’m going wrong.
Hi Mekhla
Try with another brand of milk. Try adding a tsp of sooji while kneading.
Incase we take 2 litre milk should we double the amount of sugar also?
Yeah you will need more syrup to cook them. Maybe make it one and a half times
Thanks a lot for a detailed recipe! I tried it out yesterday and got the best rasgullas ever!!! Special thanks for the tips at the end. I think these tips made all the difference!
Thanks a ton for writing in Shonali. I’m so glad the recipe worked for you 🙂
Can we add pinch of baking powder to make it more fluffy and soft or it destroyed it
Hey Rashi
Never tried so cannot say. But I never felt the need 🙂
Hi garima ji; while boiling the rasgullas they wer nice and round. We closed the lid and checked after 10 mins. They become big in size but some broke.. Wat cud be the reason? Out of 8 rasgullas 4 broke and other 4 had little cracks. Plz let me know so that we take care in future.
Hi Abhisha
The dough seems to have been too moist. Drain the paneer well next time you make them
Cheers 🙂
Thank you Mrs.Garima. It was amazung feeling to make the rasgullas. I had never even imagine I could make them. Feeling super happy. Credit goes to you:-) 🙂
Thanks so wonderful to hear Sakshi 🙂
Hi , Thanx a ton for this amazing Blog.
I tried Rasgulla today,and the result was lovely.My water while boiling rasgulla turned cloudy ! what can be the reason ? is it normal ?https://tupperwareanubha.wordpress.com/
Yeah Anubha
It’s okay for the water to be cloudy 🙂
Thanks for cooking from my blog 🙂
i have tried to make Rasgullas they came out nice but after reading all your cooking steps i am sure next time i will be able to make better thank you.
Thanks for visiting Naeema 😀 Happy cooking!
Hi Garima
I tried your rasgulla recipe 2 times. Both the times, the taste was good. But i faced 2 issues:
1) They were not spongy. .
2) And after chilling, the outer part becomes Lil hard, they r soft though from inside
Please tell me what can b the reason
Thanks in advance
Shikha
I am sorry Shikha as the milk is different everywhere, the results differ.
Try with another variety of milk . Hope you find success 🙂
Ok..Thanks for replying 🙂
can you tell me the way through one can use milk powder to make dough directly instead of making chenna…
Sorry, I have never tried that.
garima
thanks for this receipe, i followed urs but have 2 observation ::
a) rasgullas does not double its size like urs but it did pass the sink/float test.
b) it does make kich kich sound while biting
can you tell where i am going wrong
Hi Sagarika
Kich kich happens when you keep boiling the milk even after it splits.
As for doubling, try a different kind of milk maybe. I live in Bombay and use Aarey milk to make them. They come out well.
one more question, after left my rasgullas overnight to cool down, when it was warm, it was softer but when it cools down , it was harder 😦 thiswas my fifth attempt and still not successful
Awww
Sorry to hear that dear. But really I’m not sure what makes them work.
I follow the exact same method to make them as I have shared in the blog post. It works 9 times out of 10.
Once in a while I have a bad outcome too 😦
I prepared rasgulla according to your way…they become double of the size
But only problem was they have a taste of raw paneer and chee chee sound.
Pls help me
Hi Ritu
The reason for both the problems is over boiling of the milk.
You need to stop as soon as the milk splits.
I have been eyeing this recipe even before it came on this blog,from the rasgulla fever in CAL and made it today…I am extremely happy with the result…Thank you Garima
Yeyyy!!
That’s awesome Anju 😍😍
Hi i tried rasgulla recipie.2 queries.although they increased in size but not doubled.secondly they were not very soft ….pls help what went wrong
Hi Ridhima
Try with another brand of milk and see. It’s all about the milk.
Happy cooking
Hi Garima,can I use pasteurised and homogenised milk to make rassgullas .it’s called pride of cows milk,comes in 1lts plastic bottle supplied early day from Pune to Mumbai.
Another thing that after boiling the rassgullas ,you said drop it in room temp water and gently squeeze out the water ,won’t it get compressed and go small???
Garima Ji.. I tried your recipe and took all the steps into consideration .. And I guess paneer was a little moist.. Now.. I already kneaded the dough and for experiment I dropped 3 rasgulla in the boiling syrup.. They are all falling apart.. I am totally clueless how to correct my rasgulla.. Please reply..ASAP.. 😢
Hi Pranshu
You haven’t drained it enough.
Now I don’t think anything can be done.
Please drain more when you try the next time.
So nothing can be done now ?? 😢😢
I am glad you replied so fast.. 😊..
I am afraid nothing can be done now.
Sorry about that 😦
That’s ok.. May be next time I will strain for a longer period.. For now I will make paneer bhurji from this.. 😬😬 thank you so much for your input
Ha ha yaah! Bhurji is perfect!
See you need to find the balance. Neither too dry else syrup won’t get soaked, nor too moist, else they scatter.
Hi garima. First heartily congratulations on start of ur blog. I make my rasgulla often. This time followed your tip to cook 2nd batch in same sugar syrup. As already I noticed after my first batch done, the syrup got little thick.so added more water in same syrup for second batch, boiled n dumped rasgulla balls. But at end I noticed that the syrup was really much sweeter than needed. So finally got 2 batches of different taste. Little disappointed. Help me out what should I do when I next time make them….. Thanks in advance
Hi
I boil them in light syrup and then transfer to plain water.
Later add them to the same syrup. Keeps the taste uniform.
In case you found it too sweet, reduce the quantity of sugar.
Hi Garima
Very nicely explained. I followed this exactly
My little buggers are cooling away now. Not really round but that’s how I roll :p
This was my second try, i live in the UK and I tried organic homogenised milk- bad idea
Got myself fresh non homogenised farm milk and it worked. I hope they taste good and dear husband doesn’t smirk at my attempt no 2
Thanks for the detailed recipe
Vrinda
xx
Hey!
Hope they came out well 😀
Hi Garima, they become rather flat any idea why? Anyway I made rasmalai out of it.
It was amazing.
Treasure this post and the tips ,abs invaluable …TFS so generously !
❤
Hey Garima, how are you? I am wondering if you can measure the temperature of syrup when you add rasgullas to boil. Reason for asking this is because “medium flame” can be quite unpredictable especially for users like me who live abroad. Our gas burners are very different to those in India, so flame that comes out on our burner;s medium is not so high. So temperature of syrup on medium flame would be great.
Thanks!
Hi Garima
I have never really measured the temperature and do not own a measuring device too. The idea is basically to get it to a rolling boil and then reduce the heat a little ( say two levels down) and let the paneer balls cook for about 10-12 mins. Hope that helps 🙂
Hello Garima….. I tried the recipe but only one change I did is using market paneer instead of homemade chena but I am facing the problem of non increase in the size while boiling. Have you ever tried making rasogulla with paneer?
Thanks for sharing the recipe dear 🙂
Hey I’ve never tried with ready made paneer.
Hello garimaji I have made ur Karachi biscuits, n they are a hit in my home. Thanks for d recipe.
I tried rasgulla, 3 times but they flatten. Today tried with cows milk, but still flatten.
Please guide where I must b going wrong.
I am not sure dear. Try with a different brand of milk maybe
Hi Garima, my rasagullas texture is perfect but there is khich khich sound while eating … You mentioned it’s bcoz of boiling milk even after it started splitting. I used yoghurt for splitting and I noticed that it took a long time for whey to separate.. the splitting initiated but it took a while by the time it was properly separated.. I am thinking if any thing specific about yoghurt used?
Happy to help!