Simple Gluten Free Kitchen

Rasgullas / Cheese Balls in Light Sugar Syrup

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I have been seeing beautiful pictures of sweets on social media by many Indian bloggers for the past two weeks. While I thought I would join in and post something festive ahead of time but I am kind of going slow on my posts as things are moving very fast at home. I decided to repost an old recipe with new pictures. So, here I am bringing the traditional sweet rasgullas and wishing everyone a very happy Diwali. If you are not familiar with  Rasgullas, then let me add to your knowledge. It’s cheese balls in sugar syrup. Ras means sugar syrup and gulla means cheese balls. Together it creates a yummy treat.

 

 

 

Rasgulla was initially a sweet from Orissa, a  state on the east coast of India (from wikipedia). When it made its way into west bengal it was known as spongy white bengal sweet ( roshogulla). They were sold in small clay pots which kept them cooler. In the course of time these sweet balls gained popularity all across India and now they can be found in cans worldwide. Even though they are made from cheese (paneer, also called chena), they generally contain wheat, and therefore contain gluten, too.

I make rasgullas gluten free with no flour. They come out excellent, though a bit delicate without the gluten. I consider rasgullas a health-ish sweet than most other sweets and are great to make on festive occasions or anytime once you have fresh paneer. Also if you make them at home you can keep the sugar content down. Just like some dishes there are few things you have to keep in mind and do to get the best result.

 

 

Quick notes:

  •  The secret to making perfect rasgullas is getting the paneer right. Use whole milk to make paneer/chena/cottage cheese. While making chena do not boil the milk after adding lemon juice as that will lead to chewy rasgulla as opposed to soft.
  • Drain all the water from chena. If it is not drained well it will be impossible to knead and form smooth balls. Make sure the rasgulla chena is slightly dry yet a little moist so that you can make firm and smooth balls out of it.
  • Kneading the chena is also very important. It decides the texture of rasgullas. Traditionally, the chena is kneaded on a flat surface with the palm of your hands for 8-10 minutes or until it is absolutely smooth. I use food processor for faster and easy prep. Just a few pulses and it comes together into a smooth dough.
  • For syrup I use around 2:5 ratio of sugar and water. Depending on your taste you can change the ratio by increasing the amount of sugar to make sweeter rasgullas
  • Use a deep wide pot to make sugar syrup, as the rasgullas are going to expand to double their size while cooking in the syrup. My pot was slightly small and the rasgullas stuck together, some of them chipped off from sides while separating ( I should have made in two batches).
  • The doneness of rasgulla  is checked by its sponginess. Usually it takes 15 minutes but the cooking time vary depending on the size of rasgullas. If you are making it for the first time then take out one rasgulla and drop it in a bowl of  cold water. If it sinks to the bottom it is cooked.

 

 

 

 

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Rasgullas / Cheese Balls in Light Sugar Syrup

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Soft and spongy milk based sweet soaked in sugar syrup.

Ingredients

    For cheese balls
  • Full fat milk- 1/2 gallon (2 ltr)
  • Lemon juice – 2 tbsp diluted with 2 tbs water
  • Few ice cubes
    • For saffron sugar syrup
  • 6 cups water
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • few drops of rose essence or 1 tbsp rose water or 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
  • few strands of saffron
    • light sugar syrup (optional)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 cups water

Instructions

  1. Place whole milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring it to the boil then turn off the heat. Stir in the lemon juice and mix until the liquid begins to curdle. Wait for few minutes, once the milk has curdled well put the ice cubes and stir. This stops the cooking process.
  2. Set a colander over a bowl and line with enough muslin to overhang by 4-5". Using a slotted spoon, transfer chena to colander (discarding whey). Cover chena with overhanging muslin and place a weight on top. Set aside for 20 minutes.
  3. Turnout strained chena onto a clean surface. Using your palms, knead for 10 minutes or until mixture comes together smooth. It is really sticky as u knead so I like to pulse in a food processor bowl until it just comes together.
  4. Divide into 22 -25 even balls. Roll each ball between your palms until very smooth, ensuring that there are no cracks in the surface.
  5. Take a deep wide mouthed pot enough for the balls to float, double in size and still move easily.(bigger the better mine was little small). Put the sugar into it and pour 6 cups of water.
  6. Bring it to a rolling boil (Syrupy won't work so do not wait for too long). Immediately add in the cheese balls and saffron (if using). Boil covered for 12- 15 minutes on medium flame. You may uncover to check every 5 min. Check the doneness of rasgullas before removing from heat.
  7. Allow the whole thing to cool at room temperature, then transfer them all in a bigger bowl along with the syrup and refrigerate for 4-6 hours or overnight. It is best to serve chilled along with few tablespoons of syrup in the serving bowl.
    8. If you don't want it to be too sweet,
  8. then remove the rasgullas from saffron sugar syrup when they take on the saffron color and are cooled. Squeeze excess sugar syrup from the cheese balls carefully as they are very soft and can break easily. Add the balls to cooled light sugar syrup jar ( syrup is essential for keeping the rasgullas moist).
    9. To make light sugar syrup,
  9. heat the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  10. Stir until sugar is fully dissolved and bring to a gentle boil. Turn off the heat.
  11. Cool and pour in a jar or container. Stir in rose water or cardamom powder.

Notes

To check done ness, take a bowl of water and drop one rasgulla into the water if it sinks to the bottom then it is done. If it float boil rasgullas for few more minutes.

https://www.simpleglutenfreekitchen.com/2019/10/rasgullas-cheese-balls-in-light-sugar-syrup.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. Cheese balls with sugar!!! I’m in heaven – my two FAVORITE foods!

    Do you ever use Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour? I just started substituting in recipes that call for a tablespoon or two. No issues yet!

    And of course congrats on all of these amazing awards!

    Reply

  5. I really love cheese and these yummy cheese balls makes my mouth waters hahaha Will check paneer how to and will try later 😉 It can be use for pizza topping ?

    Congrats on your awards ! You surely deserves them 😉

    And thankee loads for passing that award to me ;D Really really appreciate it ♥

    Reply

  7. Rasgullas look sensational – I am talking beautiful my friend!
    And congratulations on this award – it is much deserved 🙂
    And thank you so much for giving me this gorgeous blogger award – I will be posting it up
    and sharing it as well 🙂

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru (Urvashi)

    Reply

  8. Unique sweet treat here, wish some of these ingredients were local so I could try! Congrats on all the awards that have been passed on to you-well deserved. Also your choices to pass along are some great picks! Have a wonderful weekend!

    Reply

  9. Hi Balvinder,
    Thank you so much for this award. I am thrilled and excited as this is my first and been given by you. It is so sweet of you. Now, I wish I could get my hands on those yummy rasgollas too. They look fabulous!!!

    Reply

  10. This is one of my fav dessert and normally I enjoy it after being chilled. This dessert actually taste better as time goes by for the rasgullas would have been soaked into the syrup and by now, oozing with more flavors.

    Congrats on the many blog award and hope more will come your way.

    Reply

  14. Congratulations on your awards and thank you so much for thinking about me, I really appreciate it!

    I love these sweet bites, I’ve made paneer once, it’s so easy if you have the right cheese cloth.. I’m going to try them! Have a wonderfull weekend!

    Reply

  18. Congrats on all the awards! Love the Rasgullahs! My older sister makes it all the time at Eid but of course since she lives a million miles away. I don’t get to taste them! These look scrumptious! Lin xx

    Reply

  19. Congrats on all the Awards!New to your blog and loving your recipes.Rasgullas are my all time favorite desserts and I cannot wait to try your recipe now!Thanks for sharing :)Happy to be following you!

    Reply

  22. Balvinder, I absolutely LOVE rasagullas! They’re my all-time favorite Indian dessert and I’m so thrilled you shared a recipe for it since I love making food from scratch too! 😀 You just made my day!!

    Reply

  26. Nitu, as you know I didn’t much visit your blog site due to just being busy in many things….but I was so glad as I came here today and saw the yummy looking rasgullas; I am definitely going to make them tomorrow for Diwalli 🙂 I feel proud to read the words that rasgullas originally came from Orissa…! hmmm; was not sure about that but definitely I miss my hometown rasgullas (Sundargarh); they are the most delicious ones I ever have anywhere in the world!

    Reply

  27. Cheese balls in that saffron infused syrup sound and look absolutely amazing! I usually get so discouraged with Indian recipes because of the SUPER LONG ingredient list, but this one seems easy enough for me to handle. Thanks for sharing it!

    Reply

  28. As much as I love rasgullahs, I’ve always been scared to try making them at home. But your tips are very reassuring. I’ve tried so many of your recipes and have never been disappointed, will definitely try this with confidence too. 😊

    Reply

  32. I have never heard of rasgullas, but already know I would love it since I love paneer cheese…sounds amazing in the syrup…thanks for sharing the recipe Balvinder.
    Have a great rest of the week!

    Reply

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