Tri color Rasgullas made with fresh homemade Chenna which can be made on the occasion of Independence or Republic Day. Rasgulla is a cheese-based, syrupy dessert popular in the Indian subcontinent , particularly in the Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal. The dish originated in Odisha centuries ago, while a whitish spongy variant (“Bengali Rasgulla”) became popular in Bengal in the 19th century.

Rasgulla is made from ball shaped dumplings of chenna (an Indian cottage cheese), cooked in light syrup made of sugar. This is done until the syrup permeates the dumplings.

I was in India during Republic Day last year and this how the CST station was lite up in the night!

Recipe adapted from Sharmis Passions

Ingredients

4 cups milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

1 tbsp saffron dissolved in water

1 tsp green color dissolved in milk

Method

Boil the milk.

When milk starts boiling, add the lemon juice to the boiling milk and stir properly.

Stir continuously till the whey water clears and the milk curdles completely. Before adding icecubes you can take some whey water which can be reserved for future use which is what I did. Now switch off the stove, add ice cubes and allow it to melt completely.

Take a muslin cloth and pour the curdled milk,filtering the whey water completely.Wash it well in running cold water to remove the lemon smell. Squeeze the excess water and hang it aside for 30mins without disturbing it.

After 30mins, the paneer would be crumbly in texture. Now knead it well for 10mins.

Divide the dough into 3 parts. In one part add the saffron and in another part add the green color. Don’t add any color to the 3rd part.

Once everything comes together to a smooth pilable dough, form them into smooth mini/normal lemon sized balls and keep aside. I made around 13-15 mini balls.

Heat water in a wide bottomed vessel, then add sugar and keep stirring till sugar dissolves completely. When the sugar syrup boils and starts bubbling, add the balls slowly one by one and simmer it for 3mins.The balls will go to the corner, move them to the middle. Keep in medium flame and close with a lid. Cook for 10mins opening the lid every 3-4 mins this is to ensure the vapour passes out not allowing the sugar syrup to ooze out. After 10 mins, the balls would be closely doubled in size