Rajbhog

I have been thinking of trying out rajbhog ( stuffed rasgullas ) .I thought of going innovative after reading many recipes on rajbhog. And perhaps ,I wanted to pat myself on my back .As rasgullas were turning out quite well in my hands ,I must graduate to the next level that is rajbhog.

I went through many recipes ..namely Easy rajbhog recipe ,Kesari Rajbhog  & some more. I even saw You tube video by Nisha Madhulika.

Ingredients : 1 litre toned milk ( 3.5 % fat ) lower the fat content , better it is for rasgullas, 1.5 cups sugar, 18-20 strands of kesar , 1 tbsp khajur paste,1  lemon cut into 2 halves, 8-10 almonds, 8-10 pistas, 1 -1.5 tsp maida, 1 tsp ghee.

Method : Heat the milk. Put some 8-10 kesar strands into the  milk.After it has boiled, put off gas.Add lemon juice to milk & mix nicely.Milk will start curdling. Slowly ,clear water will clear & cheena will separate out from the milk. This will take 10-15 minutes. Pour this onto a thin muslin cloth kept in a perforated vessel on top of a big vessel to drain the water. The drained chenna water which is  yellowish in colour can be used to make chapati dough & can be added to cook rice. It is rich in proteins.After the chenna has collected in the muslin cloth, wash it by running tap water for some time.This is to rid the chenna of lemon juice flavour. Take all edges of the muslin cloth & make a potli containing chenna. Squeeze all the water out. Keep a heavy vessel on the potli so that remaining water gets squeezed out slowly.Keep aside for 45 minutes to one hour.

Meanwhile boil 1 cup water. Drop badam & pistas into it. Put off gas.After 10-15 minutes, remove badam pistas & peel off their skins.Chop them finely.I had readymade khajur paste. I micxed kahjur paste with chopped badam & pista& kept aside.

If you do not have khajur paste, khajur can be soaked in milk for 1 hour or so.Khajur  will become soft. Drain the milk.Add chopped badam pista into the softened khajur & make it into a dough.  Keep aside.

Take a wide bottomed pan as rasgullas need lots of space.Put sugar. Add 2 cups water.Put on gas on slow flame. Add 8-10 kesar strands. The syrup will get ready as one prepares chenna balls.

Take the chenna which was kept aside. Remove the muslin cloth & drop the chenna on to a plate.Make chenna soft by repeatedly moving palms & fingers as one makes chapatti dough. Continue kneading for 10-15 minutes. This will make chenna very soft. Grease hands with ghee.Add a tsp of maida to the chenna & mix nicely.This will prevent  chenna balls from breaking. Take a small amount of chenna on to the palm.In the centre ,take atiny amount of khajur badam pista dough or mix .Now enclosed the kahjaur badam pista dough from all sides with chenna.Make this into a nice chenna ball by rilling repeatedly in your palms.Keep aside. Repeat by stuffing remaining khajur badam pista stuffing into chenna balls as stated before. By this time ,syrup would be ready as it would be boiling .Drop chenna balls into the syrup.Cover with lid. Let it continue till 5-10 minutes. As lid is removed, chenna balls will have doubled in size.Add one more   water to syrup.Cover with lid & cook for 15 minutes. Put off gas.Let the lid remain.

After 15-20 minutes, remove lid.Let it cool. Refrigerate. Enjoy rajbhog with family & friends !

I observed that I had rolled chenna balls onto maida before dropping them in syrup.This made balls sticky when I took them out from syrup.Next time,I am not going to roll them in maida. The rasgullas or the chenna balls were less spongy,I felt.So ,I must make chenna dough more softer next time around.