Rasgulla

The balls are simmered in a light syrup until it has permeated them, and are never fried.

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

Ingredients

• 500 g Chhena, as on its own page, well kneaded
• 2 tablespoons semolina, optional
• 600 g sugar
• 1.5 litres water
• 1 teaspoon rose water, to serve

Method

1. THE BALLS ARE SIMMERED IN A LIGHT SYRUP UNTIL IT HAS PERMEATED THEM, AND ARE NEVER FRIED. Its article is exact: ball-shaped dumplings of chhena dough cooked in LIGHT sugar syrup until the syrup permeates the dumplings. Both halves matter and both separate this from almost every other chhena sweet. Nothing goes near oil, so the surface stays white and smooth instead of browning. And the syrup is thin -- six hundred grams of sugar to a litre and a half of water, which is barely more than sweetened water -- because a thick syrup cannot get inside the ball. It coats it, the middle stays dry and dense, and you have made something closer to a dumpling in jam.
2. THE SYRUP IS THIN ON PURPOSE AND IT STAYS THIN. Keep it at a gentle boil with the lid on, and top it up with a splash of hot water whenever it starts to thicken. A syrup reducing while the balls cook is the commonest way to get a hard centre.
3. THEY ARE DROPPED IN WHILE THE SYRUP IS BOILING AND GIVEN ROOM. The balls double in size. Cook them in two batches in a wide pan, with space between, or they weld together and the ones in the middle never cook.
4. FIFTEEN TO TWENTY MINUTES, LID ON, AND NOT TOUCHED. The lid keeps the steam in so the tops cook as fast as the submerged parts. A ball is done when it has roughly doubled and sinks in a glass of cold water instead of floating.
5. A LITTLE SEMOLINA IS INSURANCE, NOT AN INGREDIENT. Two tablespoons kneaded into five hundred grams of curd helps the balls hold together if the chhena is wetter than it should be. Well-made chhena needs none.
6. THE BALLS ARE ROLLED WITH NO CRACKS AT ALL. Roll each one between the palms until the surface is completely smooth. A visible crack is where it will split in the syrup, and a split ball dissolves.
7. THEY COOL IN THEIR OWN SYRUP AND ARE NOT LIFTED OUT. Off the heat, left in the pan until cold, which is when most of the soaking actually happens. Lifted out hot they shrink and go firm.
8. THE ROSE WATER GOES IN AT THE TABLE, AND ITS ARTICLE IS FUSSY ABOUT IT. A drop at serving, and it specifies edible rose water rather than rose perfume or a synthetic flavouring. Boiled in the syrup it would be gone.

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