Kesar Rasgullas | Saffron Flavored Indian Cottage Cheese Balls

Rasgulla or Roshogulla is one sweet delicacy which is synonymous to the Indian state of West Bengal. The soft and spongy cottage cheese dumplings cooked in sugary syrup, make for an ultimate delight for all those with a real sweet tooth. Though this palatable Bengali dessert is quite common and is easily available in every sweet shop throughout India, yet nothing can beat the satisfaction which you get making it with your own hands. But let me tell you, making this dessert demands a lot of patience and skill. I tried making the rasgullas couple of times, but every time the result was a disaster; either my rasgullas turned out to be flat, remained uncooked from inside or turned out to be hard with a thick sugar syrup coating. After about 5 to 6 tries and after seeing couple of recipes on the internet, finally I got what I was waiting for, the perfect spongy rasgullas with a juicy inner core. I flavored them with a little saffron that made them all the more delectable. One can absolutely skip adding the saffron and just infuse them with a little rose water for that soothing aroma and flavor, all up to you depending on how you want your rasgullas to taste.

As I told you, making rasgullas is not as easy as it seems, so I have shared a complete list of tips and tricks that I learnt from my series of failed attempts. Hope you follow them and your rasgullas also turn out to be as perfect !!

Kesar Rasgullas

Tips & Tricks for Perfect Sponge Rasgullas

• Always try to use full fat milk (preferably cow's fresh milk). No low fat, skimmed, tetra-pack or UHT milk would work in giving you good spongy rasgullas.

• Always add the lemon juice after cooling down the milk for 3 to 4 minutes once it's boiled. This will result in a soft chhena or paneer.

• Wash the chhena nicely under cold running water to get rid of citric flavor of the lemon juice.

• Draining the chhena off all the moisture is also very important, yet make sure that the chhena is not too dry, so hang it for about 25 to 30 minutes.

• Kneading also plays an important role. Knead the chhena gently with your fingertips till the time you see your hands turning greasy. As soon as you see some fat releasing from the chhena, that's an indication you need not knead it any further.

• Leave no cracks while rolling chhena into balls.

• The pot in which you will boil the rasgullas should be deep and wide as they need plenty of syrup to swell and keep their round shape. Normally I use 5 liter pressure cooker to boil the rasgullas. And yes, I remove the gasket and whistle from the lid.

• Also, do not over crowd the pot. I generally cook about 8 to 10 rasgullas in a single batch.

• Let the rasgullas cook for about 30 minutes without opening the lid. Also, all the while rasgullas are cooking, syrup should be bubbling. Keep the flame on medium-high all the time. Rasgullas will either turn flat or not swell properly if the flame is simmered.

• To check if the rasgullas are fully cooked, drop one in a glass of fresh water. If it sinks, it means it is cooked. If floating, cook for another 5 to 7 minutes.  

• When dishing out the rasgullas while they are hot, take a wide bowl so that rasgullas do not overlap because when just out of the pot or cooker, they are very soft and delicate so overlapping would cause them to deform and lose their round shape.

Hope these tips & tricks give you perfect spongy rasgullas. Now, on to the ingredients and method.

Kesar Rasgullas

Ingredients

• 1 litre full fat milk, preferably cow's milk. Do not use tetrapack milk.
• 4 cups sugar
• 12 cups water
• 1 tsp arrowroot powder (optional)
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• Juice of 2 lemons (about 2 tbsp)
• A few saffron strands (optional)

Note: The amount of sugar and water depends on the size of the pot you are using. As we need to fill the pot to about 3/4 of the height and because I used a 5 liter cooker, I had to use this much of sugar and water quantity. Also, always keep in mind to have sugar and water approx. in 1: 3 ratio that is 1 part of sugar and 3 cups of water.

Kesar Rasgulla

Method

1. Boil the milk and stir it occasionally in between. Once its completely boiled, switch off the flame, let it cool for a minute or two and then add lemon juice. Let it curdle.

2. Strain the cheese using a muslin cloth. Wash it under the running water so that sourness goes away.

3. Hang this cheese for about half an hour so that all extra moisture in it gets drained off.

4. After half an hour, take out the cheese from the muslin cloth, add arrowroot powder and knead well for about 10 to 12 minutes or until you see chhena releasing the fat.

5. Divide the cheese into equal parts and shape into small marble sized balls. From 1 liter milk, you will get about 15 to 16 balls.

6. Take a pot, add sugar and water and let it come to a rolling boil. Add cardamom powder.

7. Once water starts boiling and bubbling, gently drop in the cheese balls, preferably in batches of 8. Cover with a tight lid and let cook for 30 minutes until cheese balls double up in size.

8. After 30 minutes, rasgullas should be ready. Take some fresh water in a glass. Drop one rasgulla in it. If it sinks, it is fully cooked. If it floats, put it back in sugar syrup and cook all rasgullas for another 5 to 7 minutes.

9. Once cooked, add the saffron strands. Just because, I did not want my rasgullas to have a strong and intense saffron flavor, so added after cooking them. If you wish you can add saffron while boiling the rasgullas.

10. Let the syrup and gullas come to room temperature after which place them in refrigerator to completely chill, preferably overnight.

11. Devour them whenever you feel like.

Kesar Rasgulla

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If you happen to make this recipe, kindly leave me a comment or a feedback. You can also share your recipe pics with me on Facebook; I would love to see your creations!!