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Khira Sagara

The chhena marbles are not fried at all: they go into the thickened milk raw.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (chhena), dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

Method

  1. THE CHHENA MARBLES ARE NOT FRIED AT ALL: THEY GO INTO THE THICKENED MILK RAW. Its article says marble-sized balls of chhena soaked in sweetened condensed milk, and the absence of a frying step is the whole difference from its neighbours. Rasabali, as on its own page, deep-fries flattened patties; Chhena Kheeri, as on its own page, deep-fries cubes. Here the curd never meets oil, so the balls stay white, soft and faintly squeaky, and what you taste is fresh cheese against sweet milk rather than anything browned.
  2. THEY ARE MARBLE-SIZED AND THAT IS SMALL. Its article says marble. A centimetre and a half, rolled smooth. At rasgulla size they would need cooking through; at marble size they only need warming and soaking.
  3. THEY ARE POACHED BRIEFLY IN THE MILK, NOT BOILED IN SYRUP. Five minutes in the thickened milk at a bare simmer, which sets the surface just enough to stop them dissolving. Any longer and they swell and go porous.
  4. THE MILK IS REDUCED TO THE THICKNESS OF A RABRI FIRST. Its article is explicit that the milk base here is thicker, acquiring the consistency of rabri -- so it is reduced before the balls go in, not around them. A litre and a half down to about a litre, forty minutes.
  5. SO THE ORDER IS: REDUCE, SWEETEN, THEN ADD. Sugar once the milk is down, then the balls. Sugar from the start over forty minutes catches on the base.
  6. THE CARDAMOM IS CRUSHED FROM PODS AND THE SAFFRON IS STEEPED. Its article names both as the typical seasonings. Both go in at the end.
  7. IT IS SERVED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE OR ONLY SLIGHTLY CHILLED. Its article says exactly that, and it matters: fridge-cold, the reduced milk stiffens and the fresh curd goes firm and loses the contrast the dish is built on.
  8. THE NAME IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. Khira sagara translates as ocean of milk, which describes a bowl of white balls in thick pale milk more usefully than any ingredient list.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes