Kesar Rasagulla

Rasagulla is a very famous Bengali sweet. It is primarily made from milk. Many sweets can be made as an extension to Rasagulla like Chum Chum, Rasamalai etc. Rasagulla can be made in different shapes if desired. It tastes best when served chilled. Also I felt that the taste is so much better after 2 or 3 days in fridge.. To add a small difference to the rasagulla which actually was not as small as I thought was adding Kesar (Saffron). A small pinch gave a beautiful color and wonderful flavor and aroma and I am happy that I tried the small difference.. (from wiki) – “It originally debuted in Orissa and was called as “Khirmohan”.” I have chosen this delicious sweet for BM for Course wise meal from any state. I have chosen sweets and Bengal..

Ingredients

Milk – Whole Milk – 2 liters
Lemon juice / Vinegar – 1 - 2 tea spoons (dilute with 1/4 cup water)
Cardamom – 4
Sugar – 2 cup
Water - 4 cups
Saffron - 1/8 tea spoon
Rose Water - 1 table spoon (optional)
Method
Boil milk in a non-stick pan and bring it to a high boil
Mix lemon juice with 6 table spoons of water and keep aside
Once it boils well, add lemon juice slowly and stir it well
Add the lime juice slowly. Curdling may take up to a minute, so stir until then
Once the curd separates, Switch off the heat and add ice to it to stop the process of curdling
Transfer this to a muslin cloth on a strainer to remove all the water and get the paneer filtered
Remove the excess water by squeezing it.
Hang the muslin cloth for about 40 minutes to remove all excess moisture
Boil water and sugar in a vessel till the water is bubbling. Add few drops of lemon juice

Add cardamom powder and rose water
After 40 minutes of hanging the muslin cloth tied, remove it and press with a clean cloth to make it into a dough
Now make small balls and keep it separate
Add these balls to the boiling water and pressure cook for 15 minutes. Around 12 minutes, add the saffron and continue to cook
Remove from heat and the rasagullas are done
Allow it to come to room temperature and can be kept in the fridge

Points to note -
Adding lemon juice to the sugar syrup will ensure that the syrup does not crystalize. But do not add too much, just a few drops
Make sure to rinse the paneer well to remove the flavor and taste of the lemon juice / vinegar
Make small balls out of the dough, it will double in size
If you have difficulty in forming balls, add a tea spoon or two of Maida and make balls.
If you do not want to add saffron, then you can omit it and it will be like regular rasagullas.
Serve them cold. It tasted so good after 3 days and best after 5 days…
You can also remove the rasagulla balls from the syrup and allow the sugar syrup to boil alone for a thicker syrup.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#29
Sending this to my own event – Authentic Sweets, What is with my Cuppa, WTML, hosted by Shruti, Know your Dairy – Paneer, Jagruti,s page, My bowl of Snack, Kid's delight, Valli's page, Monsoon Temptations