Rasagulla & Rasmalai

Rasgulla and Rasmalai are the probably one of the most popular sweets loved by the people in the East Indian state of West Bengal. The name Rasgulla is derived from “Ras” means juice or essence of, and “Gulla/ Golla” (from “Gol” for round) meaning “which is round or a ball”, describing the soft juicy sugar soaked round dumplings made of milk cheese.

Rasmalai simply is a slight variation on the Rasgulla as the same dumplings are flattened and served in a slightly thick, saffron and cardamom flavoured milk sauce. The initial part of making both the Rasgullas and the Rasmalai is the same, and the difference is in the way they’re served. Rasgullas are served in the sugary syrup that they’re cooked in.

We have put both the recipes in this post. Hope you make these lovely desserts and share it with your loved ones.

What you need for Rasagulla:

• Milk - 1 litre
• Sugar -1 1/2 cups
• Lemon Juice -4 tbsp

The Preparation Method:

• Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan in medium heat. Keep stirring to avoid  burning of milk.
• When milk comes to  boil, add the lemon juice and stir the milk gently. The Paneer or milk cheese will start separating from the whey , turn off the heat.
• Once the milk fat has separated from the whey, drain the whey using a strainer line with cheesecloth or muslin cloth.
• Wrap the paneer in a muslin cloth, and rinse under cold water, and squeeze well. it will help to get out the sourness from the lemon.
• To take out the excess water squeeze the cloth.
• To check the water is out of the paneer, take a little piece of paneer on your palm and rub with your fingers. After rubbing the paneer for about 15-20 seconds, you should be able to make a firm but smooth ball.
• Once the paneer is drained, place on a dry, clean surface and knead the paneer for 3-4 minutes until the paneer is almost rolls into smooth soft dough.
• Knead the paneer by dragging the palm of your hand hard on the paneer. Keep scooping it back to together and knead more. If the paneer is too crumbly, add a teaspoon of water. Your palm will be little greasy.
• Divide the dough in to equal parts of balls.
• Boil 4 cup of water. When it start boiling , dissolve the sugar.
• Add the Rasagulla balls in to the boiling sugar syrup
• Boil around 10 minutes in medium heat.The rasagullas will start expanding their size.
• Switch off the flame.Allow it to cool and keep it in refrigerator.
• Serve chilled .

What you need to make Rasmalai :

• Rasagullas - 6 balls
• Milk -2 cup
• Sugar -1 cup
• Saffron - a pinch
• Pistachio -10 no 
• Cardamom powder -1 tbsp

The Preparation Method:

• Take out the Rasagullas from the syrup and squeeze them lightly to flatten ,and keep aside.
• Boil the milk in a frying pan on medium heat until the milk reduce to about 1 cups.
• Make sure to frequently stir the milk as the milk burns easily in bottom of the pan.
• Add the sugar and the  flattened Rasgullas in milk. Let it cook for few minutes.
• Add the cardamom and saffron and  mix. Garnish with pistachios.
• Serve the Rasmalai chilled.