A lot of sweets and desserts in India are made using milk and usually they are also the most popular ones. One such popular sweet is rasgulla, it comes from the state of West Bengal which is famous for it’s mouth-watering desserts.
Rasgulla is made from “chena” which is obtained by curdling the milk. The chena is mashed, made smooth and then cooked in boiling sugar syrup. The main problem with making rasgullas at home is that it doesn’t always turn soft. Actually making this sweet at home is really easy, there are just few basic things which should be kept in mind and they will always turn out perfect.
– Use a wide pan for making the rasgullas. They increase in size when dropped in boiling sugar syrup so there should be enough space for the rasgullas to cook in the pan.
– Add some water to cool down the milk before adding the lemon juice/vinegar to curdle it.
– Squeeze out all the water from the chena before you start mashing it.
– Mash the chena with your hands for total of 10 minutes. It should be totally smooth by the end of 10 minutes.
– The water to sugar ration should be 4:1. So for 1 cup of sugar you have to add 4 cups of water and boil it at high flame.
– The rasgullas increase in size while they are cooking in the sugar syrup so don’t make them too big unless you want huge rasgullas.
– Drop the rasgullas in the sugar syrup once it’s completely boiling at high flame.
– The flame has to be high throughout the entire time when the rasgullas are cooking.
– To check if the rasgullas are cooked, drop them in fresh water. They will sink if done.
– Transfer the rasgullas from the fresh water to the sugar syrup once the sugar syrup has cooled down.
– Make a day in advance, they taste the best the next day when the rasgullas have soaked the sugar syrup well.
I will definitely update this post with step by step pictures when I make rasgullas again. Since I made these in India and it was too hot in the kitchen, I couldn’t keep up with clicking pictures side by side.
I have made these rasgullas twice already in the past 1 week and they always come out perfect. So give it a try and enjoy these soft and delicious homemade rasgullas.
* Use whole milk for best results.
* If you think the flame is too high on your gas stove and you are afraid the rasgullas might burn, you can cook them in another way. Let the sugar and water come to a boil, drop the rasgulla into it and then lower the heat to medium, cover and cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the cover, flip the rasgullas, cover and let them cook for another 15 minutes on medium flame. But remember to boil the sugar syrup before adding the rasgullas.
Rasgulla
Ingredients
- 1 litre whole milk
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Heat milk in a heavy bottom pan.
- Once the milk comes to a boil, switch off the flame and add 1/2 cup of water to bring down the temperature a bit.
- Add lemon juice till the milk curdles.
- Drain the curdled milk using a muslin cloth. You are now left with what is known as "chena" or "paneer".
- Squeeze the muslin cloth to remove all the water from the chena.
- Take the chena in a plate and add cornflour to it.
- Mash the chena with your hands for 10 minutes to make it soft and smooth. This is an important step to make sure that the rasgullas are soft.
- Make small balls from the chena after the mashing is done.
- Meanwhile in a pan mix the sugar and water and let it boil at high temperature.
- Put the rasgulla balls in the boiling sugar syrup.
- Cook the rasgullas in sugar syrup for 18-20 minutes on high flame.
- Refrigerate the rasgullas with the syrup and serve chilled.
Nutrition
Bengali Rasgulla
Hi Manali,
I tried this, My Rasagolas came fine, but it’s soft and in a defined shape. I felt it was not like we bought from the store, which is a bit chewy.
Is that to be soft and less chewy? which is the proper texture we should have?
this homemade version is definitely on the softer side but it should have a chew to it. A lot depends on which milk was used, and how the chena was prepared. Add to the cooking time a little next time if you want rasgulla to be chewy.
Thank you for your tips. Question – can we drop the rasagullas in ice cold water to avoid shrinking and overcooking ? Or is it best to leave the rasagulla in the same hot syrup, which has been used to cooking. Thanks in advance for your answers.
we drop to check if rasgullas are done or not, if they sink they are done.
Hi my rasgulla’s were soft till it is hot but after getting cold they become hard not spongy.can you tell me why?
most likely they were overcooked or too much moisture was squeezed from the chena
Rasgulla broke into paneer again..became flat:(
too much moisture in chena is the reason
Hi Manali, I tried your rasagulla recipe twice for diwali and it turned out very soft. I have a query regarding cornflour. As recommended in the recipe, I added the flour and then started kneading the chenna. while kneading the dough would stick to my palm and plate. I continued to knead and after 10 min made tiny balls and added to the boiling sugar syrup. Despite the stickiness, both the times my rasagullas turned out soft.
Checking what is your texture when you start kneading after adding cornflour?
maybe you should have drained the chena bit more, it should not stick that much
Should I cover the rasgulla’s while cooking or keep it open?
Open
Can I add baking powder in chhena while kneading.
no rasgulla doesn’t need baking powder
Hi Manali!
Your Rasgullas look perfect.
I tried them for the first time.
I used full fat milk.
Everything was fine till I started kneading.
The chena was super sticky and I had to add maida in it. But after cooking them for roughly 15-18 mins, they shrank and became semi hard.
Can you please help me?
How much should I knead and how should I know when to start kneading? What is the ideal level of moisture that needs to remain in chena to start kneading?
Could you please help?
My guess is that the water didn’t drain properly from the chena, did you use a muslin cloth? they shrink when balls don’t have enough space in the pan they are being cooked. Since it was your first time, I would suggest to try again, this takes some practice.
Why did my rasgulla become hard after cooking, when I followed all the steps please reply me.
you squeezed way too much moisture from the chena, that’s why they are hard. Rasgulla takes some practice, try again
Rasgullas get flat after cooling down every time. Tried with only 4 balls in pan so its not overcrowded. What could be the reason?
could be that you squeezed too much moisture from the chena, that can also cause it to shrink.
After cooking the balls and bringing it to room temperature ..I understand that it is not spongy enough..Can I cook it again…
you can’t cook again, it will be hard and rubbery