When it comes to Bangladeshi sweets made of chhana(except for pranhara, or sandesh) such as the famous Bengali rasgolla, pantua, kalojam, I was a total failure for the longest time. When I say the longest time, I mean for really a long time. The failed experiment started during my college days after I came to the U.S. and continued well into my married life. Instead of the soft, spongy texture you would expect for a Roshogolla (rasgulla), mine were either chewy and rubbery or hard like a golf ball.
As determined as I am, I would forget the past disappointments and start another experiment in every 6-8 months. My philosophy was, if every other Bangladeshi I know outside of Bangladesh (the store bought rasgulla, kalojam, etc. are too good for anyone to try making traditional sweets at home in Bangladesh.) can tame it, why can’t I? Arrogance…I know.
After numerous gallons of wasted milk over the years, I had, finally, requested Ali that the next time I go to the kitchen lab to experiment with another gallon of milk, he should steer me out of the roshogolla experiment and politely remind me of the last tryout experience, and he did. However, despite his gentle reminder and convincing, I would sneak in to the kitchen… and the story started all over again.
While I continued to fail in the kitchen in this area, I continued to gather data points from successful roshogolla makers. Making rasgulla is tricky, but you are sure to succeed in making fabulous Roshogolla, if you diligently follow the Tips and Tricks I outlined before. Soft, smooth, melt in the mouth just the way it should be.
Eureka!!!!
So, when are you trying to make some delicious Roshogolla?
- 2 cup chhana
- 2 teaspoon semolina
- 2 cup sugar
- 6 cup water
- Steps to make the balls:
- Knead chhana(fresh ricotta) and semolina until smooth and forms a soft dough.
- Divide chhana dough into marble size portions. The sizes will double, so make accordingly.
- Roll each portion into smooth balls. Be careful that there is no cracks.
- Steps to make Syrup:
- In a heavy bottomed pan, boil water and sugar in medium heat.
- Stir occasionally until sugar dissolves and bubble just starts to form.
- Steps to cook roshgolla:
- Add the cheese balls to the syrup and immediately cover with a tightly snuggled lid.
- Cook for 35 minutes in medium heat. Do not open the cover. Again, do not open the lid.
- Remove from heat keeping the lid on. Let cool for about 20-25 minutes.
- Open the lid and pour the sweets in a large bowl. Let the rasgullas soak in syrup and completely cool before serving.
Follow all the Tips and Tricks for every step and fabulous Roshogolla/Rasgulla should happen.
You may apply some ghee/butter on your palm when making the cheese balls. I usually don’t.
The syrup temperature should be warm to medium hot, not boiling when submerging the cheese balls.
You may use a food processor to make the chhana smooth instead of kneading by hand.
You may add cardamom or rose water in the syrup for some variation in flavors.
What a cool little treat that looks like! Never heard of roshogolla before but I’m sure it’s very delicious 🙂
June – Rashogolla tastes out of the world. Soft, melt in the mouth, syrupy treats 🙂
Thank you for stopping by! I hope you get to try them sometimes soon. Even if you can’t get to made them, you can find them in most Bangladeshi/Indian/Pakistani restaurants. Though I never like the ones from the restaurants here in the US except from Aladdin Sweets & Restaurant in NYC. Their sweets are how the original roshogolla tastes like in Bangladesh.
These look like sticky-sweet perfection.
The roshogollas surely are sweet perfection! Thanks my friend.
I have 2 question.for 2cup Chana how many liters milk need to use? 2nd one is glass lid has a small hole where steam goes out.do I need to close that hole while boiling rosgolla?
Hi Sadia – Thank you for stopping by. Half gallon(little less than 2 liters) or 8 cup of milk will yield 2 cups of chhana. Your second question is a classic question that I should have answered in the tips. No, the glass lid I use does not have a small hole. If your lid has a whole, close it tightly or use one that doesn’t have a whole. The lid doesn’t have to be glass. I use one because I am not very patient when making roshogolla and want to peek in 🙂 Hope this helps. Let me know if there are any other questions. Have fun making roshogolla. Hugs.
Tonight i just made rosogolla for the 1st time in my life. I used chana made from 1 litre milk & for syrup i used 4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. But my syrup was almost dried when rosogolla done finally. Can u plz tell me how can i make such syrup where rosogolla will be under the syrup? Can i add extra warm water while boiling or later?
Hello Aurin – Thank you for stopping by and your question. I don’t recommend opening the lid while the rosogolla is cooking. Depending on the size of your pot, maybe try 6 cups or even 8 cups of water keeping the sugar and water ratio same as I mentioned in the recipe. Hope this helps. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have more questions. Thanks!
Thanks a lot for the tips. I think this will really help me next time.i am gonna make it again this week.just hope for the best.
My another question to u, if i want to make rosogolla more in quantity , i have to boil the rosogolla two times so that they get enough space, then what will be the ratio of water and sugar?
Waiting for ur reply….
My pleasure. I keep the sugar:water always to 1:3 as we don’t like overly sweet rosogolla.
Therefore, if you are making in two batches, let’s say you used 2 cups sugar and 6 cups water for the first one. Once the sweets are done, you may decide to cook the second batch in half of the syrup from the first batch. Just fill up your pot at the same level as you started the first batch and add sugar according to the ratio. Hope this makes sense.
I’m so glad my mom taught me how to make Rosogollahs, as I didn’t have to waste gallons of milk. But my mom’s stories are very similar to yours! (People who share wrong recipes are very mean in my book)
Or those who doesn’t want to share a recipe, right? Glad to hear you are a rashogolla pro from the get go. Do you have any other tips to add to my list?
Thanks for stopping by as always 🙂 Hugs!
Actually I rather someone not share a recipe than a wrong recipe. At least that way I didn’t waste time, energy and ingredients. You’ve got all the tips and tricks out there listed! Only thing that I can add is that I have used the food grinder attachment for the kitchen aid instead of a food processor, and the results were the same!
Got it! Thank you. I think the food grinder attachment of kitchen aid is a small food processor. I am pretty sure they work the same way on the cheese dough 🙂
Thanks for mentioning it though!
I have tried roshogollas at a Banladeshi friend’s house about 5 years ago and I absolutely fell in love with them. I’ve never had them since as they’re not a very frequently served desert with Pakistanis – probably because of how difficult the process is! I will definitely be trying this though, thank you for sharing!
I am very happy to know that you love roshogolla, they are worth every bit of your love. The process is not really difficult, just tricky. I hope you do try making rosogolla and enjoy more often, now that you have the recipe and tricks at your finger tips.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope to see you around soon again.
Now what not to love about rasgulla.. it is my favoritest recipes.. the soft melt in the mouth dessert is a show stopper.. lovely recipe.. looks delicious
Thanks Fareeha. Totally agree 🙂 Hugs.
I remember I saw these on Google+ a while ago and I was totally hooked! This sounds like a really good sweets. Always wanted to try new recipes. Just wondering, is it possible to use normal packaged ricotta cheese instead of homemade one?
Hi Maggie – the store brought ricotta cheese doesn’t really work for this particular sweet. Rasgulla is a divine dessert and I highly recommend you trying this melt in the mouth soft, delicious sweet. Thanks. xoxo
hello mam thank you for sharing the recipe…. actually I want to know if semolina is important? if it makes the roshogolla better…?
Hello there! Thanks for stopping by. I don’t use semolina but my mom does. Without semolina, the roshogolla turns a little softer. With semolina, the sweets retain their shape better. I prefer softer rasgulla so for majority of the time, I don’t use semolina. The preference is yours 🙂
Hope to see you again soon on the blog. Thank you!
Hi , just a quick question …. Do we really need to hang the chhana for 7 to 8 hrs ? and you even mentioned we can hang it overnight … Won’t the chhana get spoiled ? Please reply back …. Me too got fed up trying and trying …. Finally tried your method …. One batch turned awesome and the other batch not that perfect ( I blended too much ) and also I think hanging part … I just hanged it for 2 hrs and now I feel that I should have followed your recipe to the core … I will be waiting for your reply eagerly …
Hi Shamala! Thanks for your great questions. I had been worried about hanging the chhana 7/8 hours or overnight in the past. However, I haven’t noticed anything wrong so far as I do it every time I’m making rosogolla. By the way, I’ve only done it in a kitchen where the AC is running 24/7.
What I found is that, if the water is not out of the chhana, during the blending process, the water stays in making not so good rosgulla which supports what you are saying. Hope the next batch turn out great! Thanks for stopping by!
Hi. I live in mumbai and the hot and humid weather will definitely spoil the Chehna. Any other recommendations to work for above. ?
Hi just have question , when the milk boiled and aďded the lemon juse milk change by small pecce and gose out from cotton cloth we tried 3rd step was the same , what was reason
Thanks
Hi i just ask you for my abov problem we had face
Hello. Thank you for trying the recipe and your questions. It sounds like you need a little more lemon juice to curdle the chana a little more. Sounds like the milk didn’t curdle appropriately. Hope this helps.
Hello! Thank you for such great and detailed tips. I have tried rasgullas many times, mostly not satisfied with the results. I have a couple of questions. Do you use fresh cow’s milk? In US, we have access to only pasteurized homogenized whole milk. Because I have realized that channa quality and quantity is hugely different made from these 2 types of milk.
Secondly, I see your syrup ratio is thicker than other recipes and quantity is less and timing is more (35 mts). Boiling for so long, won’t the syrup get thicker and dry up? I like to use 1:4 ratio. Do you know what is the best cooking time for this ratio?
Thank you in advance!
Hi!! Thanks for your questions. I live in the US and use whole milk for rosogolla. I often use the organic milk as that’s what I have at home most of the time.
Many who tasted my ragulla complimented on the sweetness so I continue to keep it the same. If you want to make it 1:4, I don’t think the cooking time will differ. Hope it helps.
Hey,
Thanks for amazing article on Rasgulla I heard and saw many rasgulla recipe but never saw like this its kind new thing for me HAHHA
I will be trying this in upcoming weekend because I have invited some guests in my
home so it will be better to serve them this amazing recipe
but can you please clear my one question that is it possible to use persian saffron in it ? or not ? IF yes !
then how much
please reply I will be waiting
Thanks
Glad you are planning to try out this recipe. If you want to use saffron, just use a few strands in the syrup. Hope this helps.
Thank you for explaining ” do’s and dont’s” of making rasgulla. I am going to try making them. Why is semolina added to channa and how does it help? Is it a binding agent?
Firstly i would like to thank you for explaining the recipe in such a detailed manner. Today i tried making the rasgullas following each and every trick of yours. everything seemed to be going fine and the balls almost doubled in size till the flame was turned off for cooling.
1. after the cooling period of almost10 minutes the rasgullas settled at the bottom and when taken out after 20-25 minutes they turned out to be flat not the usual round ones.
2. also in my earlier attempts i faced the problem of cracks on balls what could be the reason behind that.
3. the temperature in my kitchen is almost 32-35 ° C at present ( the reason i am telling you this is just to ask whether the cooling period of 25 mins will remain the same at this temperature also.)
Thanks
Neetika