Pahala Rasgulla

Heard about a fight between states for a sweet??  Well, it happens if the sweet is 'Rasgulla' . Who doesn't want to be called as the proud owner of this divine dessert! 

Honestly, I'm not bothered about the history or origin of a dish unless I get to eat it. But I definitely can't stand if some other state claims to be the originator of this version of Rasgulla! 

Yes, the Pahala Rasgulla is very native to Odisha as it comes from a village named Pahala situated in between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. 

You'll see numerous shops on the highway selling these . These are different in colour and taste than the regular rasgullas which basically comes from the caramelized sugar. Have it warm or chilled , you'll be lost in its magical taste.

It's not very easy to find this in every sweet shop as mostly we find the white rasgullas. And now being completely dependent on home-cooked food due to Covid, we are trying our hands on almost everything we crave for. And this time, it was this sweet.

Rasgullas are easy to make even for beginners as it doesn't require many ingredients and you don't have to actually bother about the syrup consistency and other technicalities , that comes with preparing Indian sweets. So scroll down for this easy recipe!!

Quick Recipe

• Boil 2ltrs of full fat milk and add lemon juice to curdle it. Once the Chena separates out, strain it in a cloth and wash the Chena to remove the taste of lemon.
• Let the Chena be hung for sometime to get rid of the excess water. It doesn't need to be too dry.
• Mash the Chena for 5 mins or until your palms turn greasy.
• Add a 1/4th tsp of cornflour and a spoon of semolina and mix well.
• Make regular sized balls out of it. With this quantity, it yeilds about 16 rasgullas.
• For the sugar syrup, add 3-4 spoons of sugar in a pan and let it caramelize. Add 4-5 cups of water to it and a cup of sugar. Let it boil on high heat. 
• Add 3 cardamoms by crushing it.
• Drop in the balls one by one to the light brown coloured boiling syrup. Let them boil on high heat for 5 minutes , covered.
• Low down the heat to medium and let it boil for another 10-15 mins. Don't open the lid and stir the balls in between very carefully as they will be super soft and doubled up in size. Make sure the pan has enough space for the doubled up balls. You'll see the rasgullas getting browned with time as it boils.
• Once done, take the rasgullas out and put in a bowl of cold water . It helps to retain the size.
• After 5 mins put them back to the syrup and let it rest for a minimum of 2hours. 
• For best results, let it rest overnight and have it chilled 😊

Do try it out!! Please share your thoughts if you like it!

Happy Cooking!!!