Rasgulla Recipe
Homemade soft and spongy Rasgulla (Cottage Cheese Dumplings) cooked in sugar syrup! A gluten-free delicious dessert! No arrowroot or flour added!
Are you still looking for the last-minute Diwali sweet than look no more? Here is a tested and tried step by step tutorial to homemade Rasgulla recipe.
These sweet dumplings are everyone's favorite and perfect for any festive occasion.
What is Rasgulla?
Rasgulla, a popular milk-based sweet treat that originates from the state of West Bengal. It is prepared from paneer or chena (Indian cottage cheese) which is achieved by curdling the milk. Fresh paneer is drained thoroughly and mashed until smooth.
This smooth dough is then shaped into balls and cooked in saffron infused sugar syrup. The end result is rewarding - melt-in-mouth soft and spongy rasgullas.
My First-hand experience!
I have to admit that my first hands-on experience to make rasgulla was not too pleasant. In college during an F&B practical (food and nutrition), my partner and I were given a 45-minute time frame along with a verbal recipe to make rasgullas.
Trust me, we messed up the whole recipe and failed badly.
Our rasgullas were nowhere near to the actual one - they were rock solid and flat. Since then I was longing to learn how to make a perfect rasgulla recipe.
Practice, Practice, and Practice!
With practice, I have mastered the art of making soft and spongy rasgullas at home. I have summed up my experience below and the steps will walk you through every step.
Please do not seek for shortcuts as this will mess up the entire recipe.
The perfect round and spongy rasgullas are not difficult to make; it just takes a little bit of time, practice, and patience.
Once you have mastered the art of making crack-free paneer balls, I'm confident that the next steps will be easy for you and you will learn the art of making fantastic rasgullas.
Now, onto the recipe!
This recipe is tested and tried many times in my kitchen. Please go through this section thoroughly before you proceed with the recipe. My way of making rasgulla is completely different.
Important Tips!
- Always use full cream milk to make rasgullas. The fat content in whole milk makes the best rasgullas.
- Wait for milk to get bubbly before adding the acid. Milk should reach its boiling point. This will result in perfect chenna/paneer.
- Quickly strain paneer. Do not let it rest. This will result in hard and chewy rasgullas.
- Wash paneer before proceeding. This will wash away all the taste of acid from paneer.
- Squeeze out the excess moisture/water from paneer. If moisture/water is left behind in paneer, the balls will disintegrate during boiling.
- Knead paneer with your hands. Have tried kneading it in a food processor but the result was not satisfactory. Knead for 8-10 minutes for a smooth dough. The dough should not feel sticky at all.
Tips Contind....
- Press paneer dough in between your palms couple of times before rolling it like a ball. This will prevent cracks in rasgullas.
- Time to boil rasgullas in water. This step is important, please do not skip. Rasgulla is boiled in water and squeezed well before adding to the sugar syrup.
Why do we do this?
Quite simple, this step makes the rasgulla puff up beautifully. Water is squeezed out completely so that it can absorb the sugar syrup.
- Rasgullas need plenty of space to expand and maintain their round shape. Do not crowd the pan. If the pan is crowded, rasgullas will lose their shape and become flat.
- Squeeze all the boiled water out of the rasgullas before adding them to the syrup. Once excess water is removed, rasgullas will become spongy and ready to absorb the syrup.
- Sugar syrup should not be too thick. If sugar syrup is thick in consistency than it will not absorb the sugar syrup.
This recipe covers two types of rasgulla making - the regular rasgulla recipe and Angoori rasgullas. Give your favorite one a try.
I hope this festive season you give this recipe a try. If possible, share your sweet feedback with me. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.
!!~Happy Diwali~!!
Rasgulla Recipe
INGREDIENTS
FOR PANEER - 16 BIG RASGULLAS OR 36 SMALL RASGULLAS
- 2 liter Full cream milk
- ¼ cup Lemon Juice or vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Rose water or Kewra essence
SUGAR SYRUP
- 2 cups Superfine Sugar
- 4 cups Water
- 1 teaspoon Milk (to separate impurities from syrup)
- ¼ teaspoon Rose water or Kewra essence
- A pinch of Saffron strands
- 1 teaspoon Crushed cardamom seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
MAKING PNEER
- Boil milk in a heavy bottom pan. Before you begin please read all the tips above.
- Meanwhile line a strainer with muslin cloth.
- When the milk becomes frothy and bubbles start to form on top that's the time to add vinegar/lemon juice.
- Pour in vinegar/lemon juice.
- Slowly mix vinegar/lemon juice in the milk and milk will curdle.
- When the whey/liquid in curdle milk turns to pale green in color, take the pan off the flame.
- Strain it immediately. Do not let the paneer in sit in that whey for long or else rasgullas will become chewy.
- Wash paneer under cold water to get rid of vinegar/lemon juice taste.
- Squeeze paneer and allow the water to drain.
- You can also hang paneer/chenna for 20- 30 minutes until the water stops dripping. This step is important. If water is not drained well from paneer, rasgulla will start disintegrating in sugar syrup.
KNEADING PANEER
- Remove paneer from cloth. Paneer should feel crumbly but moist.
- Start kneading the paneer like a dough.
- Use your whole palm and fingers to knead paneer. It will take somewhere between 9-10 minutes to knead it into a smooth dough.
- Until it forms a smooth dough.
SHAPING RASGULLAS
- Take paneer dough in your hand.
- Squeeze it tight. It should not feel sticky at all. In fact it should feel creamy and roll smoothly in between your palms. Squeeze and press in between your palms couple of times before rolling it like a ball. This will prevent cracks in rasgulla.
- Shape into small balls.
- Keep the paneer balls covered at all time to prevent drying.
- Just to give an idea - small balls will yield small rasgulla (angoori rasgullas).
- A ball this size will yield....
- Regular size rasgullas.
BOILING RASGULLAS
- Boil water in a pan. Add rose water or kewra essence to it.
- Bring it to a boil.
- To test add a single paneer ball to the boiling water.
- If all good, add rest of the paneer balls.
- Cover with a glass lid and let the rasgullas boil for 15-20 minutes. This step is important - cover the pan with a lid. If rasgullas come in contact with air, they will not expand properly. While the rasgullas are boiling, try not to open the lid because if the hot rasgullas come in contact with air they will shrink in size and resulting in chewy rasgullas.While the rasgullas are boiling - prepare the sugar syrup - steps shown below.
- After the cook time is over, take the pan off the heat. Let it sit covered for few minutes. Remove the lid to uncover the soft and spongy Rasgullas - that has doubled in size.
- Add chilled water or ice cubes to stop the cooking process.
- Remove rasgullas from water. Slowly squeeze out the water.
- Rasgullas will come back to its original form. Drop them in hot sugar syrup.
- To make angoori rasgullas, follow the same procedure. Make small paneer balls. During boiling add 1 teaspoon of kesar (saffron strands) to the water. It's color will change from white to yellow.
SUGAR SYRUP
- Please make sure, sugar syrup is ready before the rasgullas are done boiling. Assemble: ingredients for sugar syrup. In a heavy bottom pan, combine all the ingredients and bring it to a boil.
- Soon impurities will start floating on top. Remove the impurities and discard.
- Strain the liquid.
- Sugar syrup is ready.
- To test the sugar consistency, take some liquid in your finger (make sure it is not to hot) and it should coat your finger. Syrup should be thin not thick in consistency. If the syrup is thick, rasgullas will not absorb the syrup.
- Drop squeezed rasgullas in hot syrup. Cover and boil for 10 minutes on a low flame. Turn the cooktop knob to the lowest setting. Shake the pan slightly or use a small spoon to move around the rasgullas.
- Allow it to cool completely.
- Let's do a final test. Take rasgulla in between your fingers. Slowly squeeze as tight as you can.
- Rasgulla will come back to its original shape.
- Soft and spongy rasgullas are ready.
- Chill and enjoy!!
- Repeat test for small rasgullas - squeeze hard.
- To the last drop.
- It will come back to its original shape.
- Angoori Rasgullas are ready.
- Chill and enjoy!!
Very Clear & easy recipe... I luvd your style.. Now I'm confident about it.. Thanku! 😍
Thank you, Swati for your kind words.
Glad you found the recipe helpful.
Please do give it a try and share your feedback. 😊
I tried your recorecipe...no doubt the best recipe...but my rasgullas took the shape of rasmalai..what cud b the reason??
Thank you, Poonam!
Just curious to know - Was the pan in which the Rasgullas were boiled too small?
Rasgullas need plenty of space to expand and maintain their round shape. If too many rasgullas were boiled in the same pan, then the rasgullas will lose their shape and become flat.
Hi
Love the colorful pictures, and defn looks soo tempting.
My question, I plan to make this for party, Say if i have to make 50 Rasgullas, How do i adjust the syrup? example, with the limited size pans that i have say it holds 7 per batch I make 4:2 (water:sugar) syrup., do i keep repeating to make syrups for every batch? or what is the better way to do it? Thank you
Thank you, Revthi!
As you can see in the pics there's quite a lot of sugar syrup left in the pan after boiling 16 rasgullas. Therefore, just double up on the sugar quantity and you should be good.
Hello Ruchi,
Every time I make Rasgulla, while boiling they are round and fluffy, but they shrink once they are cooling down.
What can be issue?
Please help
Bageshwari, once the rasgullas doubled in size, did you remove the lid off the pan immediately? That could the possible reason. While the rasgullas are boiling, try not to open the lid because if the hot rasgullas come in contact with air they will shrink in size and resulting in chewy rasgullas.
Hi Ruchi, my Rasgulla increased i size and tasty but i still feel they are little chewy, what might be the reason?
please, can you help, planning on making for sons graduation.
Thank you so much for trying the recipe and sharing your feedback with me.
The possible reason for chewy rasgulla: Did the paneer rest in its whey/water for a long time? Solution: Strain it immediately. Do not let the paneer in sit in that whey for long or else rasgullas will become chewy.
Also, if the rasgullas were overcooked then it will have a chewy and rubbery.
Thanks Ruchi,,,,,,,
Your article is very good, I like rasgulla
Thank you!
Hi Mam ,
I bought shop made Panneer couple of weeks back....so was trying to prepare rasagulla from it....but it's getting split up , why so can u ghide me up?
Padma, paneer still has some moisture and that's the reason it is breaking. Try this-
Crumble paneer and knead it well. If the paneer feels sticky then add a teaspoon of cornstarch and bind the paneer like a dough. Just make sure, the dough should not stick to your hands. It should feel dry and bind well. Shape into balls and follow the recipe.
Ruchi,
I have tried many recipes of rasgulla and all failed. This is the first one that came out perfect and very spongy.
Your recipe is flawless. My Rasgullas are very light and with no cracks.
Thank you for your step by step pictures. They helped me in a great way.
Keep posting more.
Love,
Suman
Hello Suman,
Thank you for your kind words. You are so sweet.
Happy to hear that you liked the recipe.
my rasgullas got flat
Sorry to hear about that, Deepika!
Was the pan in which the Rasgullas were boiled too small?
Rasgullas need plenty of space to expand and maintain their round shape. If the pan is crowded, rasgullas will lose their shape and become flat.
Hey,
Thanks for amazing article on Rasgulla I heard and saw many rasgulla recipe but never saw like this its kind new thing for me HAHHA
I will be trying this in upcoming weekend because I have invited some guests in my home so it will be better to serve them this amazing recipe but can you please clear my one question that is it possible to use persian saffron in it ? or not ? IF yes ! then how much
please reply I will be waiting
Thanks Debra
Thank you, Debra, for your kind words.
Sure, you can use Persian saffron in this recipe.
My rasgulla does not swell up, plus the taste of paneer still remains. Can you help me out??
Vidisha,
If the paneer dough was kneaded well, the paneer balls will puff up in boiling water.
Add kewra/rose essence to the syrup and soak rasgulla in that. It should take care of that taste.
So sweet recipe
Hi. Should flame be high or low while boiling in water and sugar syrup.
Please maintain the flame at medium-low throughout the boiling process.
Thanks.. My 1st attempt was my drastic failure. Your method works like cham.
Thanks, Omar.
Glad you liked the recipe.
Which things used for expanded the rasgullas?
Didn't get your question. Please clarify so that I can help you better.
Unbeatable recipe
Thank you!
When we put rasgulla in boild water then the flam should be on or off?
Flame should be reduced to the lowest setting. Cover and let the boil for 15-20 minutes.
I have fail proof recipe. Comes out best all the time in 5 minutes.
Go to mithaiwala and buy rusgulla.
Because how may you try you won't get like those Halwai made rusgulla.period.
I call them insanegulla.
Agree. Nothing beats a mithaiwala taste.
How much water is needed to boil the rasgullas?
Vijeta, fill the utensil half with water. Make sure there is enough room for the rasgullas to expand.
Ok thanks, will give it a try.
Awesome. Thanks!
A thousand thanks for this lovely recipe, especially the tip about boiling the rasgullas before putting them in the sugar syrup. Wish you a very happy Diwali.
Pleasure is all mine. Glad you liked the recipe.
Happy Diwali to you too!!