Seasonal rasogolla

There is a desperate need for sweet something in this bitter time. So why not go for a traditional recipe from Bengal? The popularity of rasogolla, or rasgulla, traverses the borders of Bengal and it has been accepted as a universal sweet. This week, Toshali Mandal presents the traditional sweet recipe with a seasonal twist. Hope you will enjoy.

Raw Mango-flavoured Rasogolla

Ingredients (For 12 pieces)

1 l full fat milk
1 cup thick sour curd
5 cups of water
1 cup
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 cup of raw mango pulp
3-4 cardamoms
1 tablespoon of all purpose flour
2 pinches of baking powder
Few drops of green food colour (optional)

Direction

Take a container and start boiling the milk with 1/4 cup of mango pulp and 1-2 drops of the green food colour. Then slowly add the curd to it and stir continuously. Curd improves the quality of chhana (cheese curd) and enhances the taste of rasogollas. Once the chhana and the whey separate, turn off the flame and strain the mixture in a strainer. To strain out the extra water, place a heavy bowl under the strainer for 30-45 minutes. If it is not ready by this time, place it for another 10-15 minutes. Preparing the chhana is extremely crucial as the rasogollas depend entirely on its quality.
You can make chhana with lemon juice or vinegar but in that case you need to put it under water for removing the taste of lemon or vinegar and in doing so, there is a chance of the chhana becoming hard. Rasogollas will no longer be soft and spongy. It has to contain the right amount of moisture in it else it will disintegrate in the syrup due to excess moisture or it will harden due to low moisture content.
Now we will prepare the sugar syrup. Add sugar, water, cardamoms and the remaining mango pulp in a kadai and bring it to boil. Once it starts to boil, turn off the flame. Now, after squeezing water from the chhana to form cottage cheese, knead it for about eight minutes to form a dough. Now add maida, sugar, baking powder and knead it again for about two minutes. You should not knead for more than 10 minutes as it will harden it. Now make chhana balls using both your palms. The balls should be smooth in texture without a single crack. Add all the balls in the boiling sugar syrup without delay.
Now cover the mixture and boil it for about 15 minutes in high flame and then on low to medium flame for 20 minutes. Keep the balls soaked in the syrup for 2-3 hours before serving. Always keep the rasogollas submerged in the sugar syrup or else the balls might shrink in size and flatten.