What do you do when milk gets spoilt? You can make paneer (cottage cheese) and use that as the main ingredient for a variety of dishes. Or you could go one step further and make some mouth watering rasgullas out of them.
This recipe was shared by my sister-in-law who has rolled out some amazing dishes from her kitchen. Made from curdled milk, Rasgulla is a traditional Bengali sweet that is soft and fluffy. These beautiful white balls made from paneer are dipped in sugar syrup, are light and spongy in texture. Do give this recipe a try.
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Total duration: 60 minutes
Type of meal: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian, Bengali
Makes about 25 servings
Ingredients:
- Milk: 2 litres
- Sugar: 1 cup
- Water: 5 cups
- Lemon: 1
- Cardamom: 2 (optional)
Instructions:
- In a large vessel kept on medium flame, boil 2 litres of milk. Once the milk starts boiling, add lemon juice.
- The milk will begin to curdle. Keep stirring on low flame till the milk curdles completely and turns pale yellow.
- Switch off the gas and pour the contents into the muslin cloth and add one cup water. This helps remove the sourness. At this point you have fresh homemade paneer (cottage cheese) ready.
- Squeeze out the excess water from the muslin cloth and let it rest for 1 hour.
- Empty the paneer into a bowl and using your palm mash the paneer well by bringing it all together for about 8 – 10 minutes so that its texture changes from being crumbly to soft. You must knead nicely such that the dough is smooth.
- Make small balls of it. There should be no cracks in them. Keep it covered inside the muslin cloth and ensure that the cloth is slightly damp so that the paneer doesn’t dry up.
- In the meantime, in a saucepan, add 1 cup of sugar, 2 cardamom pods (optional) and 5 cups of water and stir well till the sugar dissolves completely. Let it boil for 5 minutes.
- Add the paneer balls slowly into the sugar syrup. Cover and let it boil for 10 minutes. The balls will double in size. Stir it well and ensure that the balls are completely submerged in the sugar syrup.
- In a bowl, add ice and some cold water and put the rasgullas in them. Putting them in ice cold water helps retain their round shape.
- Let it cool down completely. Soft and spongy rasgullas are ready to be devoured.
- Store them in a container and keep it in the refrigerator. Rasgullas are best served cold.
Notes:
- Make you neither over heat the milk nor over knead the paneer as otherwise it tends to get hard and rubbery.
- Adjust sugar based on your level of sweetness. You may add more sugar if you want the sugar syrup to be really sweet.
- The paneer balls should be fully submerged in sugar syrup while boiling as that way they will absorb all sweetness from it.
Bon Appetit!
