Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup

Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup

Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup is a saffron flavored rasgulla made by making balls from chenna (cottage cheese) and soaking it in the saffron flavored sugar syrup. It is a popular sweet from Eastern parts of India and is famous world wide. It is gluten free and can be enjoyed while fasting /Upwaas/ Vraat. It is enjoyed during festivals such as Janmashthami, Navratri, Diwali or Holi.

 

Making Rasgulla was on my list for quiet a long time. I have shared with you all the recipe of Paneer Rasgulla Kaju Masala 

In the above recipe I have added paneer rasgulla (The paneer ball is boiled in plain water and not sugar syrup) to the curry and served. The dish was enjoyed by my son and my husband to the fullest.

Since then I wanted to make rasgulla for dessert. Finally I made it and am happy to share the recipe with you all. You can make them for all the upcoming festivals.

I found making rasgulla at home easy then I thought. It is good to use cow’s milk to make rasgulla. But here at Sydney it is difficult to find cow’s milk and hence I have used the low fat milk. The process of rasgulla is divided into three stages:

  1. Boiling and curdling milk to make chenna (paneer/cottage cheese).
  2. Kneading the chenna to a soft dough and making  balls from it.
  3. Making sugar syrup and boiling the prepared balls in it.

Boil the milk at low heat and once it is boiled add lemon juice to it and stir till the milk curdles nicely and greenish whey and milk solids are separated.

Drain the milk solids on the cloth placing it in a strainer. Then wash the strained milk solids with fresh water to remove sourness of lemon. This step is important to prevent chenna from getting sour taste.

Squeeze out excess water from the chenna and let it rest for 30 minutes in the strainer placed in the bowl to remove excess water.

After 30 minutes, the excess water would be removed. Take the chenna in a plate and knead it nicely with your hands till it becomes soft. Break down all the crumbs of milk solid and knead it to a smooth dough. Knead the chenna for 7-8 minutes. At this stage for this recipe you can add a pinch of saffron food colour or tsp of saffron strands and knead the chenna to get light yellow color.  I have not added the food color here.

Make small balls from the kneaded chenna. When you make balls make sure there are no cracks in them or they will burst while boiling. Many people prefer to add some semolina or plain flour or arrowroot powder while kneading the chenna. I personally do not prefer adding any flour to the chenna.

So then these rasgulla are gluten free and also they can be enjoyed while fasting or upwaas or vraat.

I always used raw sugar at my home and hence have used it  to make the sugar syrup. This will give dark colour to the syrup. But at my home everyone are ok with this. You can use regular sugar.

While cooking the rasgulla in the sugar syrup, make sure they do not overcrowd the vessel otherwise they will collide with each other and break while cooking. I have hence cooked them in batches and then at the last mixed all the cooked rasgulla together in the vessel.

Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup

You can see how spongy the rasgulla are and after soaking nicely in the syrup they have gained nice bright saffron colour.

Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup

Friends I hope you enjoyed the recipe of making the rasgulla and do try them at your home and share with me your feedback.

Till then khao dilse, khilao dilse aur banoa dilse…

Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
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Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup

Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup is a saffron flavored rasgulla made by making balls from chenna (cottage cheese) and soaking it in the saffron flavored sugar syrup. It is a popular sweet from Eastern parts of India and is famous world wide. It is gluten free and can be enjoyed while fasting /Upwaas/ Vraat. It is enjoyed during festivals such as Janmashthami, Navratri, Diwali or Holi.
Course Dessert, gluten free, sweet
Keyword bengali, celebration, chenna, dessert, diwali, festivalfood, glutenfree, jamashthami, kesar, kids, mik, navratri, paneer, saffron, sugarsyrup, Sweet, upwaas, vraat
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 30 rasgulla
Calories 139kcal

Ingredients

Making Chenna

For Sugar Syrup

Instructions

Making Chenna

  • Put milk to boil on low heat in a heavy bottom pan stirring in between.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • Once the milk starts boiling, add lemon juice and mix well. Keep the heat low.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • The milk will start to curdle. Keep on stirring the mixture till the entire milk is curdled well and greenish whey is separated.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • Put cloth in a strainer. Pour the curdled milk mixture. Drain the water. This water is known as whey and is very nutritious. You can use it to knead chapati dough or making dal or soup. The solid mixture is known as chenna, fresh paneer or cottage cheese.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • Pour fresh water over the strained chenna to remove the sourness of lemon. Bring the edges of the cloth together and squeeze excess water.  Now keep the squeezed chenna along with the cloth chenna on the tap for 30 minutes.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • After 30 minutes, the excess water from the chenna would be removed and it will come together like a ball. Remove in a flat plate.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • Knead the chenna like dough till it becomes soft and all the coarse grains of the chenna are smoothen. Knead for almost 7-8 minutes. (Many people prefer adding semolina or plain flour at this stage while kneading the chenna). (Here you can also add few drops of saffron color or few strands of saffron to get yellow colour).
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • The chenna will become smooth and come together like a dough.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • Take small portion from the chenna dough and smoothen it between palms and roll into ball. There should be no crack in the ball.  Make all the remaining balls similarly and cover with a wet cloth and keep aside till sugar syrup is ready.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup

Sugar Syrup

  • In a big pan add water, sugar, saffron and cardamom pods. Mix well.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • Bring the mixture to boil stirring in between. Boil the mixture for 10 minutes. The sugar syrup is ready. Add rose water and mix well.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup

Boiling Chenna balls in sugar syrup

  • Add the prepared chenna./paneer /cottage cheese balls in the boiling syrup one by one. 
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • The balls will double in size.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • The rasgulla are ready. Keep them in the syrup and cool completely. They are ready to serve or refrigerate.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • Since I have made big quantity of rasgulla, I have boiled them in batches in sugar syrup. I have removed the rasgulla in a plate after they were boiled
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • I have cooked the other remaining rasgulla as above and after the other batch of rasgulla got cooked, I added the rasgulla that were kept aside and mixed well. The entire batch of rasgulla are ready. I have kept them aside till they come to room temperature and then refrigerate them before serving.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • The rasgulla is so spongy. 
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • Remove the rasgulla in a bowl and pour the prepare sugar syrup over it. Sprinkle some saffron strands and serve. (Once the rasgulla are cooled, they will get nice saffron color on them)
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
  • This picture is taken in yellow light.
    Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup

Nutrition

Calories: 139kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 47mg | Potassium: 137mg | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 160IU | Vitamin C: 0.7mg | Calcium: 117mg | Iron: 0.1mg

 

Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup
Kesar Rasgulla / Saffron Cottage Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup

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