AboutSojourner Expertise Indian main dishes, vegetarian and non-vegetarian, especially S. Indian, and breads (puri, chappati, nan). I had roti on here before but I can only make plain roti on the stove top - not tandoori roti or any of the fancy roti. I'm not so knowledgeable about snacks, pickles, desserts/sweets, or chutney.
I can find recipes for just about anything, though. Since I know the ingredients and the different measuring styles, I can "translate" recipes into a format more easily understood by an American audience.
I can also help you find sources for ingredients, explain what the staples used in Indian cuisine are, and explain what the different spices used in North and South Indian cuisine are and where to find them affordably.
Experience Was married to a man from Vijayawada and have been cooking Indian food for 30 years
Education/Credentials BS, currently working on doctorate
Question Hello:)
ive been wanting the original rasgulla recipe desperately.i have tried making them 100 times but never have they become succesful & spongy like the ones you get in shops. i live rasgullas. can you pleaseeeeee send me a spongy rasgulla recipe ill b grateful to you foever :)
cheers
anu
Answer The problem may be in the way that you handle the paneer. I've seen a lot of recipes that use flour in the paneer to make the ras gullah, but I've never made them that way. I just use the plain paneer. What I'm going to do is give you a video link that will show you all the steps in making the ras gullah (she also gives good advice for what to do if they don't come out quite right at the end).
This is the way I make my ras gullah, only I don't use a pressure cooker and I prefer to use whole milk (3.5% at the grocery store in the US) or raw milk from a farmer when I can get it. My favorite paneer comes from raw jersey milk, that is 5% butterfat, much higher fat content than you can get in the store. If I have to use store bought milk I usually add powdered milk to it to bring up the content of butterfat and milk solids, but not for ras gullah - we want a softer, less dense paneer for ras gullah.
My paneer is a little different than what she makes in the video (she uses 2% milk for one thing), try it both ways and see which you prefer.
4 c 3.5% milk
1/4c organic unflavored yoghurt (MUST be organic, we need the live yoghurt, home made yoghurt is even better)
1 T lemon juice, if needed.
Bring the milk to a boil Watch closely, milk foams when it boils and it can rapidly boil over or burn.
Immediately turn the heat down and stir in the yoghurt. The milk should begin to separate into curds in a couple of minutes, leaving a thin yellowish liquid (whey). If it doesn't, or if the whey is still milky in appearance and curds are small, add the lemon juice a little at a time, stopping as soon as it has finished separating, it will finish separating fairly rapidly.
Strain well through REAL cheesecloth, not the stuff they sell that looks like gauze. I've seen real cheesecloth sold as "flour bag cloths" sometimes. Usually in the section where they have kitchen towels. WalMart used to carry these.
I usually retain the liquid for making curries and vegetable stock, but you don't need it any more for this recipe. That's also why I try to avoid using lemon juice, it changes the flavor of both the paneer and the whey. NOTE that in the video, she rinses the curd to get the lemon out of it, and throws the whey out. She's using 2 T of lemon juice, I TRY not to use it at all, or as little as I can get away with, and that's why - it leaves a flavor behind that you may not want.
Let the paneer cool for a few minutes because you're going to be handling it and it's pretty hot coming right out of the pan.
Once the paneer can be handled, I take the cheesecloth and fold it over and squeeze by hand. Usually when we make paneer we press it to make it denser, but you don't want that for this recipe, so just squeeze it by hand as well as you can. I think the reason some people add flour to the paneer is because the trick to ras gullah is getting the paneer dry enough, but not too dry, so they add flour (I think) to soak up extra water in the paneer, but it really isn't necessary and adding flour changes the texture and the taste. I think the video shows how the paneer should look when it has the right water content better than I can tell (sometimes a picture really IS worth a thousand words).
Turn the paneer out on a smooth clean surface and knead it until it makes a smooth, cohesive paste. When you can form it into a ball that sticks together it's ready - again, the video below shows this better than I can describe. Make the balls about 1/2 the size you want your finished ras gullah to be. Cover with a barely damp cloth (you could use the cheesecloth you strained it through) so it doesn't dry out while you make the syrup.
Make the syrup - I use 4 c water and 1.5 c sugar, in the video she uses 4.5c water and 1.5c sugar. put the water in a LARGE pan (she uses a pressure cooker). I boil it, then turn it down immediately and quickly add the sugar and simmer on a low heat for a just a minute or two. The sugar dissolves more quickly that way.
Add the ras gullah, remember that they are going to expand to double their size as they cook. Leave plenty of room for them to expand. I cook for 15 to 20 minutes on the stove on a low heat, covered. You don't want the syrup to boil, but you do want it to simmer and cook the ras gullah all the way through. She uses a pressure cooker in the video, but I've always just cooked in a regular pan. Do what works for you.
