Rasgulla is a popular Bengali sweet, which is a milk based sweet prepared with freshly made chenna or paneer and cooked in sugar syrup. Serve chilled with chopped nuts on top.

Ingredients:

Yields around 20 to 25 rasgullas

• 1 litre or 4 cups – Milk ( i used 2% milk)
• 2 to 3 tbsps – Lemon juice
• Few ice cubes
• Chopped pistachio for garnishing
• Few pinches of saffron for garnishing

For sugar syrup:

• 4 cups  - Water
• 2 cups – Sugar
• 2 pinches – Cardamom powder

Preparation method:

Making of chenna and balls:

1. Take a hard bottomed vessel, pour milk and bring it to boil. Reduce the flame to low and add lemon juice slowly. Continue boiling till it starts curdling, keep stirring until the whey completely separates. Make sure the milk is not vigorously boiling. Switch off the stove and add few ice cubes in it.
2. Take a big bowl, cover it with clean cheese cloth or pure cotton cloth and strain the chenna.
3. Wash the chenna in cold water for atleast  2 times. It helps in removing the citric taste from it. Put a knot to the cheese cloth and hung in the kitchen counter or just above your sink. Squeeze out the extra water and allow them to sit for about 30 mins till all the whey completely drips.
4. Now knead them gently for 7 to10 minutes until it looks like a soft and smooth dough. This is a very important step in the process of rasgulla making.
5. Make a small gooseberry sized ball out of the dough without any cracks. i received around 23 to 25 balls out of the dough.

Making of sugar syrup and rasgulla:

1. While making balls, start preparing sugar syrup by side. Take a wide vessel, add water and sugar, bring it to boil and cook until the sugar dissolves completely. Bring it to a rolling boil and add cardamom powder.
2. Slowly add the rolled chenna or chenna balls to the boiling sugar syrup one by one. Cover immediately with a lid and let the rasgullas cook. keep the flame to a medium and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until balls are doubled in size (as shown in the picture) and well cooked.
3. Take off the lid every 3 minutes at regular intervals and close it back. The balls will double in size, become light and springy on touch. If you feel that the balls are not cooked yet, place lid and cook for another 5 minutes over medium heat.
4. Once done, bring them to room temperature, refrigerate and serve chilled with saffron and chopped pistachio's on top.

Notes:

• Keep stirring the milk while it is becoming hot. You need to do this to prevent it from getting burnt at the bottom.
• If cheese cloth is not available, use a clean cotton cloth for straining.
• To check rasgullas are done perfectly, there are three ways. First method is to place the rasgulla in a cup of water. if the rasgulla sinks to the bottom and stays there, its cooked. Second method is to press a small portion of the rasgulla with your finger. if the pressed portion bounces back to its original shape, its done. Third method, while the rasgullas are simmering. Just take one rasgulla with a spoon and cut it with knife or spoon. You will see nice pores inside the rasgullas and it is done perfectly.
• Kneading the chenna to soft dough consistency is very crucial step in this recipe because it helps in making of perfect rasgulla balls without any crack on it.
• I used 2%milk for making rasgullas but you can use 3 % milk to get perfectly perfect rasgullas.
• Cover the chenna balls with a moist muslin or kitchen towel until cooking, to avoid drying.