Rosogolla

Rosogolla does not need any introduction.It is equally adorned by bengalis and non bengalis.Today is Ganesha Chaturthi and I thought of making some sweets.So I made it.Though my sweet mouth does not need any excuse to make sweet. :) Here goes the simple recipe.

Ingredients:

1. 1 lit milk
2. 2 and 1/2 cups of sugar
3. nokul dana(i really don't know the english name of it)
4. Maida - 1tsp
5. Sugar - 1tsp
6. Rava or Suji - 1/2 tsp
7. 2 tbsp of vinegar
8. rose essence - 1 -2 drops

Method:

1. Preparing chana : For making rosogolla, 1st you need to prepare chana/cottage cheese.To make it boil 1lit of water.Mix two tbsp of vinegar with 2tbsp of water in a cup.Alternatively you can use one lemon juice.When the milk starts boiling then add the vinegar mixture/lemon juice.Cheese will start to get separated from milk.Continuously stir in simmer.Don't wait for too long.Within 1-2 mins the entire cheese will come out from milk.
2. Drain the excess water using a sieve.I use a big steel sieve for it.
3. Hang it for 1 hour.So that all the water will drain out from chana.

4. Now kneed the chana very nicely.It will take some time.You should kneed it till the point when chana will not stick to the plate and you can make  a nice round ball out of it.

5.Now add 1 tsp maida,1tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp suji/rava in the chana and mix them again nicely.I give maida and suji for binding.I add sugar so that it will make the pores inside rosogolla.

6. You can make 10 - 12 rosogollas from 1 lit of milk depending on the size you desire. I have done 12 balls and some are big and some are small.While making the balls, I put one nokul dana inside every ball.That will make the size little bigger and more imporatantly the rosogolla will have a hole inside full of juice. :)

The balls should be made as smooth as possible.There should not be any crack on the surface else it may break.You can see some very fine lines on my rosogolla though and after boiling they made some crack on the surface. :'(. So next time I have to be more careful so that there should not be any fine lines on the surface.

7. Now add 2 and half cups of sugar in 5 cups of water and start boiling.After boiling if any impurities float on top then you have to remove that part.When it starts boiling, then add the rosogollas.Let them boil.

Then simmer the flame.Cover and cook for 30 mins.

8. After 30 mins, open the lid and check if the sugar syrap has become thick.Add some water to thin the syrup.At this point add 1-2 drops of rose essence and then again cover it and wait for 15 more mins.

9.After 15 mins rosogollas are ready to eat.Let it remain inside the sugar syrup for a couple of hours so that the rosogolla will be juicy and soft.

Rosogolla - the final outcome :)