Rasbhari

Rabhari (also spelled rasgula, rassogolla) is popular milk (soft cheese) based indian dessert. Literally, rabhari are spherical fresh cheese balls in sugar syrup. Contrary to popular belief, rabhari are originally from Orissa not Bengal. However, Bengali chefs are credited for perfecting the recipe and spreading it throughout the Indian subcontinent. For example, in Nepal, it is commonly known as rasbari.

Rabhari also serves as a precursor to many other Indian desserts such as rasmalai, cham cham, kheer sagar etc. The given recipe is a basic guide to make Rabhari from scratch. Some also add semolina to firmly hold fresh cheese together in the spherical shape.

Ingredients

4 cups of whole milk
1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
1 and ½ cup sugar*
½ teaspoon cardamom (Elaichi) powder
3 cup water for boiling*

*Proportion of sugar to water should be around 1:2.
 Preparation
1     Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to milk and bring it to boil. The lemon juice will separate the milk into watery whey and solid chunks.
2     Throw away the liquid part by shifting the mixture through a clean muslin cloth. (It will take around 15 minutes to have excessive water drip off.). Then squeeze out the extra water.
3     Mix solid milk chuck with cardamom. Knead it like dough.
4     Make a small balls (around ½ inch diameter) out of dough.
5     Boil water in a wide utensil with at least 2 to 3 inches of water over medium-low heat.
6     Add sugar to the boiling water to make a sweet syrup.
7     Gently drop the solid balls in the boiling syrup.
8     Cook the balls in the boiling syrup for about half hour minutes. Balls will expand about twice its size.
9     Remove from the heat. Cool it. Serve it in room temperature or colder.