Rasgulla: Paneer Balls in Sugar Syrup | Indian Dessert

After you curdle the milk, drain the whey, mash the fresh crumbly chhena (paneer) until you can form smooth balls, then boil them in sugar syrup – you know what that makes?

The popular dessert, Rasgulla.
If you thought making rasgulla at home was complicated, time-consuming, or a big deal - I am going to change the way you think.

The main issues I have seen people have with making rasgulla are:
     a) rasgulla is discolored,
     b) rasgulla does not seem to have a smooth outer texture,
     c) rasgulla expands initially then shrinks,
     d) rasgulla is chewy and makes that ch-ch sound as you eat,
     e) rasgulla is not a round shape

You will find the reasons and my answers to these problems as you read further below.

While the rasgulla recipe shared here needs boiling the paneer balls in a pan, I have tried the pressure cooker method too.  However, my rasgulla usually gets discolored in a pressure cooker (either becoming slight yellowish or a little pinkish-brownish).  That is why I prefer boiling in the pan because I like to see a beautiful white perfect rasgulla.

How to make Rasgulla at home
Yields: about 15 standard or 25 medium balls

You need:
For chhena
1 liter (2% or low fat milk) ~ about 4 cups

½ tsp citric acid

Click here to learn how to make chhena (paneer) at home.

For sugar syrup

4 cups water

1 cup sugar

Medium, wide, deep pan with lid - stainless steel or nonstick, does not matter

Step 1: Make chhena at home as explained in the post.  If you add too much sour agent to curdle it, or if you leave it on heat longer after it curdles and the whey separates - those are partly the reasons why you might get a little sour-tasting or a chewy rasgulla in the end.  After you keep crumbly white chhena in the cheesecloth under a heavy weight for 2-3 hours until the remaining whey drains out, remove the chhena on a clean counter top.  Remember that the whey must be drained out completely, otherwise you will not be able to form the balls.

Step 2: Mash the chhena with the heel of your hand (the side of your palms just before the wrist) on the counter top.  If you have a very moist chhena, when you mash - the entire chhena will get stuck to the counter top (and making rasgulla is very difficult in this situation).  But if you have a nicely squeezed chhena, it should look like the picture below when you mash.  As you mash by dragging your palms, your palms will automatically get greased by the fats from the chhena, which aids you to mash and smoothen it better.  In case your chhena has become too dry, you could use a drop of the reserved whey (or plain water) and continue.  Make sure the chhena is absolutely smooth.

Q: How long should you mash the chhena (paneer) for?

A: For about ten minutes until you are able to form a very smooth ball with no cracks.

Step 3: Once you get a flawless ball of chhena (paneer), bring together the mashed and smooth paneer like a dough and divide into equal portions.  Some rasgullas do not appear to have a smooth outer appearance because they may not have been pressed and mashed well.  Roll each portion between your palms until you form a round ball.  You can make either 15 large rasgulla or 25 medium-sized rasgulla balls.  You can also choose to keep this soft paneer dough covered in a cling wrap in the refrigerator for a day or two until you are ready to make rasgulla.

Step 4: When your paneer balls are ready, heat the water and sugar in a pan over medium flame until the sugar melts, and it just about comes to a boil, and you see bubbles.

Q: Why should you use a medium, wide, deep pan to make rasgulla?

A: The paneer balls expand to double in size, so you need to give them enough space in a wide, deep pan to expand.  The medium-sized pan is for the said proportion in this recipe; you could use a small saucepan with lesser amount of water and sugar mixture for a smaller quantity of paneer balls too.

Drop the paneer balls in the pan, cover the pan with its lid, and put your timer on 12 minutes.

Q: How many paneer balls should you put in the pan at a time?

A: Only as many as you think will fit after expansion.  You have to give them breathing room.

Step 5: Once your timer buzzes, it is time to check on your rasgulla.

Q: How to test if your rasgulla is ready?

A: Take a bowl of fresh water, drop one of your rasgulla balls in it.  If it floats, put it back in the pan covering the lid and letting the balls boil in the sugar syrup for a minute or two more.  If the rasgulla ball sinks in the fresh water, it is done.

If this is your first batch of rasgulla, transfer the boiled rasgulla gently into a bowl of fresh water – they should have enough space and not get crowded in the bowl.  Handle them gently because they are delicate when they are warm and fresh.  Put your second batch of paneer balls in the same sugar and water mixture for 12 minutes again.  You may not be able to use the same sugar-water mixture (this is the sugar syrup) for a third batch because the mixture starts to get more syrupy and dense, and may not result in good spongy rasgulla.

Q: Why should you keep rasgulla in fresh water?

A: Because if you keep the boiled, warm, spongy rasgulla in a bowl on top of one another, they will become flat and lose their round shape.  If they are immersed in water, they will retain their shape.  Once all your rasgulla is done, you can transfer all the rasgulla balls from fresh water to the original sugar syrup (after gently squeezing out the fresh water so they can then absorb the sweetness from the syrup) once the sugar syrup cools down completely (so that your rasgulla balls do not cook further in a hot sugar syrup).  I must say that I invented this rasgulla in floating water trick, because I haven't seen any post on internet that mentioned anything like this - all posts that I have seen have said to leave the rasgulla balls in sugar syrup.

That is it.  Place the rasgulla in a refrigerator if you like to serve them cold, or enjoy the rasgulla at room temperature if you like them so.  You can now enjoy fresh homemade rasgulla anytime, and need not wait to purchase a can of rasgulla from the store.

If you ask me, I will suggest you to remember only the proportions for the sugar syrup, because curdling the milk to make chhena (paneer) is not a biggie.  No matter how much chhena you make, no matter how many balls you form, just remember the water-sugar ratio is 4:1.  For every 4 cups of water, add 1 cup of sugar.  Please note that my rasgulla recipe will give you rasgullas on the less sweeter side (I just like to control the sugar intake).  If you'd like yours sweeter, once you transfer the balls in plain water add ½ cup sugar to the still warm/hot sugar syrup and let it dissolve.  Then when you squeeze out the balls and leave in the sugar syrup they will absorb the sweetness.

If you make smaller quantity of chhena, halve the water-sugar quantity to a 2 cup water and a ½ cup sugar.  It is my guess that a rasgulla usually expands and shrinks, or becomes dense instead of spongy, because of a mismatched water and sugar ratio, or because the balls are added when the sugar syrup has boiled too long.  Water and sugar caramelize and become syrupy the longer they are boiled, and that is not what we want for our rasgulla.  For a gulab jamun, yes.  But not for rasgulla.

Enjoy.

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