Where did Rasgulla originate? What is the History of Rasgulla?
Before I share my easy Rasgulla recipe, I’d like to talk about the history of this dessert. Did you know French Fries were first made in Belgium, and the Belgian people want to fight about it till today? Similarly in our own country, the nation’s sweetest fight rages between the states of West Bengal and Odisha. To claiming the rights of origin of one of the most recognized desserts, the humble Rasgulla. Although mostly known as a Bengali Mithai, the sugar syrupy ball of chenna is believed to have originated in Odisha as a part of a 12th century ritual offering to Godess Laksmi in Jagannath Temple, Puri. Odisha even started celebrating Rasagola Dibasa or Rasgulla Day to claim it as their own. The fight has been pretty intense with both states claiming a GI tag (Geographical Indications tag) for it’s origins. While Bengal having a tag for Banglar Rosogolla and Odisha for Odisha Rasagola while both claiming it to be different than the other.
This history behind the dish excites me a teacher of Social Sciences and as a student of regional cuisines so much so that I joke about it at my home which Rasgulla do you want to eat today, one from Bengal or the one from Odisha. The answer from my Punjabi parents is always the same “Oye ki farak painda hai, kahi se bhi aaye humne to bas khaana hai” .
Rasgulla is associated Dashehra and Durga Puja, but if you’re having a sweet craving now, then waiting till Dashehra makes no sense, right? I’ve had several not so successful attempts with this chenna sweet. For example – once the balls came out too hard, another time the syrup did not reach the center of the ball. I analyzed my method and tried to understand what exactly went wrong, and after 3 failures, I was able to make perfectly spongy, soft and completely sweet Rosogulla :). Now I’m sharing that perfect and easy Rasgulla recipe with you from scratch.
Easy Rasgulla Recipe
Bengali Rasgulla Recipe
Rasgulla or Rosogulla is an East Indian dessert originating from West Bengal and Odisha. It is a milk based chenna ball soaked in sugary
syrup.
Ingredients
- Milk – 1.5 Litres (Preferably Cow Milk even Full Cream Milk will work )
- Sugar – 1 ½ Cup
- Water – 4 ½ Cup
- Lemons – 2
- Saffron strands – 7-8
- Rose water – 4-5 drops
Instructions
- Boil 1.5 litres of cow or full cream milk. The higher fat content of this milk eventually makes the Rasgulla’s soft and spongy.
- Once boiled, cool it down for 2-3 minutes so that the temperature decreases a little.
Steps to make chenna from milk
- Squeeze two lemons in one small bowl and add 2-3 spoons of cold water to it.
Add this lemon juice mixed with water slowly to the slightly cooled down boiled milk. - Continue stirring the milk. You will see the chenna getting separated from milk. Wait till the water present in milk becomes yellow.
- Take one strainer, and one very thin cotton/muslin cloth.
- Keep the cloth on the strainer and drain out the water and separate the chenna.
- Wash this freshly made chenna with cold water so the sourness of lemons is removed.
- Now squeeze the excess water from chenna and hang it for an hour so that it becomes dry (hang it like we do for yogurt).
- After about an hour, take this chenna on a plate or any flat surface and mash it with your palm till the time becomes smooth and doughy. You need to mash it till your hands become greasy which is an indicator of fat coming out of the chenna.
- Make small balls from this dough, and make it half the the size of the actual rasgulla balls that you want as the small balls with double in size when we’ll cook it in the sugar syrup. You can make 10-15 balls from this chenna depending on the size you want.
Steps to make the sugar syrup
- Take 1 ½ cup of sugar add 4 ½ cup water, and saffron in a pan. Allow this mix to boil.
- Once the syrup starts boiling, start adding the small chenna balls (one by one) to the syrup.
- Cover the pan with a lid and keep checking the mixture every 5 minutes. You can see the balls absorbing the syrup and growing in size. Cook for at least 20 minutes.
- Let the spongy rasgullas cool for 1-2 hours, once it comes down to room temperature, add 4-5 drops of rose water and put it the fridge.
- Serve with a dash of saffron and enjoy to cool sugary delight.
Notes
- Be careful when you mash chenna. Your chenna should not have a lot of water content in it otherwise it become very sticky. Mash it properly till the time ghee starts separating from it. Your hands should become greasy.
- You can also use date jaggery instead of sugar to make the syrup, it will result in slightly brown rasgullas.
- You can also use cottage cheese available in the market to make chenna balls as well if you’re not comfortable in making it yourself.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6-7Serving Size:
2 piecesAmount Per Serving: Calories: 210
Hope you enjoyed this recipe and will try it at home too. Let me know in the comments how it turned out for you. You may have also realized that Rasgulla and Rasmalai have a very similar recipe, except 2 main differences
- Shape of the chenna balls – Rasgulla is usually spherical while rasmalai is preferred to be shaped like a tikki or saucer
- Syrup – Rasgulla goes in sugar syrup, while rasmalai goes in milk rabri
I’d like to share a Rasgulla moment from my daily Zoom class for Class XII students. After I finished a rather tough Accounts session on Zoom, the tired students from my online class started demanding a free period or a class party when the school reopens. I agreed and asked them what would they bring for the party. Some kids wanted to bring decoration items, and a few volunteered to bring the dishes they learnt to cook during Lockdown. When the gun was turned towards me “Ma’am, what are you going to bring for us?” I couldn’t think of any other dish and said that I’ll get rasgullas for all. But no more that one for each 😉
If you enjoyed reading this easy Rasgulla recipe, then you’ll also enjoy the Tangy Mango candy recipe or if you’re looking for more sweets, then do check out the following desserts too
Mam plz bring at least 2 rasgullas for each student! One Banglar Rosogolla and one Odisha Rasagola😂😂 But now I think I can help bring half the amount with this easy recipe in my arsenal. Thank You Mam!!😁
We also want rasgullaaaaaa😂❤😍