Syrup Filled Dumplings - Rasgulla

Hello Folks!!!

Last evening my sister and I were fishing through our cupboard to find something interesting. To pass our time and do something creative, we thought of going through our old stuff. We rediscovered our long forgotten board games and thought of playing chess for a while. This reminded me of an incident. When I was little, the Bishop of Francistown once came to our home and I was so afraid of him. The kind and gentle Bishop Frank asked me why I was scared. I told him that I was scared because the 'bishop' kills. Poor Bishop Frank had a hearty laugh and said that he only kills flies! The game of chess, the bishop, rook, knight and pawn still evokes a sense of mysterious charm and fascination within me. 

My sister being smarter, each move of hers looked like a well planned trap to capture my kingdom and establish her dynasty. Her eyes bolted across the board, measuring the little distances and making clever calculations to note safe points for her knight to take shelter and attack my king swiftly, while I sat on the other side absorbed in my own contemplation of what danger I would fall into the next moment. It was definitely the best game she played and the worst for me! Overjoyed at winning against her big sister, she was as happy as a lark. Humming some cheerful tunes, she skipped her way down the stairs. What a funny sight it was! She definitely looked like she had made a discovery and was running before anyone else would come across it. But I had no clue as to what she was really up to😮.

I sat in my room trying to recollect her moves, wishing I could somehow defeat her the next game. But, she wasn't back for a really long time, and the house was slowly getting enveloped in a blanket of sweet smelling and flowery pleasantness. After a while, she was back with a bowl of steaming saccharine goodness, glistening white balls soaking in thick syrup. It had a credibly aerated texture and every bite was a royal treat. Those little cheese dumplings looked so heavenly😊. It's softness melted in my mouth, and made me forget the shame of losing once again.

A Story and a Mystery🍚

William Harold was a famous British cook sent to India. His dishes were so delicious that a high ranking officer who tried his dishes promoted him to be his personal cook. One day, the officer ordered William to fetch the recipe of the rasgulla, a local dish he ate and fell in love with. Back then, sharing recipes and writing them down was a very secret affair, so William had to walk from house to house, knocking on every door, to get hold of that recipe. Sadly, after all his field research, he failed to acquire the recipe because every home gave him a different recipe and a different technique to work with. Unable to replicate the result, Harold left the country with ten boxes of rasgulla with the hope that he would eventually be able to recreate the dish. But whether he ever succeeded in doing so remains a mystery until today!

This dish is so tempting that if you take one bite, you can't resist another.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

For Rasgulla

1.Milk- 1 litre

2.Lemon juice- 2-3 tbsp

3.Semolina/ All Purpose flour – 1 tsp

 

For Sugar Syrup

1.White sugar- 1 ½ cups

2.Water- 4 cups

3.Cardamom pods- 3

4.Rose water – ½ tsp (optional)

5.Saffron strands – 1 pinch

 

INSTRUCTIONS

For making coagulated milk/chenna

1.Boil the milk and reduce the flame to add lemon juice (mixed in equal amount of water). Stir until the milk curdles. 

2.Once the milk has curdled, switch off the stove and let it rest for 2 minutes.

3.Pour the curdled milk into a cheese cloth or a muslin lined bowl. Gather the sides of the cloth and rinse the chenna very well under running water. This gets rid of the lemon flavour.

4.Once rinsed, squeeze off all the excess water or the rasgulla will break when cooking. Then, place a heavy weight over the chenna or hang it for 15-20 minutes.

 

Making Rasgulla

1.Remove the cheese cloth from the chenna and transfer it into a bowl. Then, add semolina/ all-purpose flour to the chenna to bind the mixture.

2.Knead well to make it a smooth dough for 3-4 minutes. Once you feel your palms becoming a little greasy, stop kneading, but don’t over knead until it becomes completely greasy or soggy.

3.Pinch small portions from this chenna and roll between your palms to make a smooth ball. Cover them with a moist muslin and keep aside.

 

Making Sugar Syrup

1.In a large pan, take sugar, cardamom and water. Add rose water (optional). A large pan helps the rasgulla to cook and increase in size.

2.Keep the pan on the stove and heat the sugar solution. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

3.Remove the cardamom pods and slide the balls gently into the syrup one after the other.

4.Cover immediately with a lid and cook on medium flame for around 10 minutes. The syrup should be bubbling and boiling steadily.

5.After every 4 minutes lift the lid and shake the pan gently to evenly spread the syrup on the chenna balls to ensure even cooking.

6.Once cooked, remove from the stove and keep the lid on for at least 20 minutes to prevent them from shrinking or falling flat. They will double in size and sink in syrup when cooked completely.

7.Serve the rasgullas warm or chilled and garnish with saffron if desired. 

Now you can also enjoy the sweet richness of rasgullas with me!