The pioneer of cookery shows and cook books in India, Tarla Dalal passed away on Wednesday, 7-Nov-13. She was truly the first master chef of India and has inspired generations of cooking enthusiasts. Be it traditional Indian food, healthy cooking, cooking for kids, or different types of cooking, list of her expertise is endless. She taught people to cook healthy and cook well. Whenever I am stuck or confused while making a traditional mithai, her recipes work like an encyclopedia. I am sharing her recipe and hope her recipes keep spreading the cheer and happiness that she always did. RIP Tarla Dalal.

After trying 4-5 different recipes and methods, it was this recipe of Tarla Dalal, which helped me make perfect rasgullas in a flash. Yes! The cooking time is not more than 12-15 minutes. This is the easiest and simplest recipe of rasgulla I have seen so far.

Though there are only four ingredients you need to follow every step as mentioned to get the perfect rasgullas. Here are few tips before the recipe:

• If possible, use half quantity cow’s milk and half quantity buffalo’s milk.
• Quantity of lime juice required to curdle the milk depends on the quality of milk.
• Adding excess lime juice will make the rasgulla lemon flavoured.
• Do not touch the rasgullas once you place them on the plate.
• Make sure the cooker has enough space for rasgullas to expand. They will double in size. If there is no space rasgullas will break.
• Always cook rasgullas on high flame.

Soft and fresh chenna(hung curdled milk) is the key to perfect rasgullas. The process of making chenna looks long but it is worth it. Since rasgulla is milk-based, it is best enjoyed fresh. The shelf life of milk-based sweets is not very long. You can keep them in fridge for few days though.

Ingredients

Makes 20 Rasgullas

• 1 litre full fat milk
• 1 -2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 cup + 1/4^th cup sugar
• 5 cups water
• Little (1-2 tsp) refined flour

Recipe

Bring milk to boil and switch off the gas. Wait for 3-4 minutes, stirring it occasionally for the steam to escape. Stir in 1 tbsp of lime juice. If the milk starts to curdle, then you will not need more lime juice. Add little more lime juice if the milk does not curdle.

Let it sit for some time. Take a white muslin cloth and spread it in a deep bowl. Put the milk and tie the cloth. Now run the tied cloth under fresh water for 2-3 minutes so that the chenna (curdled milk) gets washed and gets rid of the lime flavour. Hang it over a sink or any clean place where water can drip. Hang it for 3-4 hours or till the water drips out completely.

Take the chenna in a plate and mash it with the heel of your palm till you get a smooth mixture. This should not take more than 2-3 minutes.

Dust the back of a plate with refined flour. Take little chenna at a time and make smooth balls and place on the dusted plate. Make sure there are no cracks in the balls.

While you are making the chenna balls, put sugar and water in a cooker and bring to boil on a high flame.

Once the sugar water comes to boil, add the balls to it by tilting the plate. Do not touch the balls. Close the cooker and cook on high flame for 8-9 minutes without the whistle. Switch off the gas. Let the cooker get cooled. Do not touch the rasgullas still.

Open the cooker and slowly transfer the rasgullas to a bowl. Chill them in a refrigerator for 45 minutes to 1 hour before eating/serving.