Easy Instant Pot Rasgulla
Spongy Cheese Dumplings in Sugar Syrup
KamalaBhog
Yesterday was a historic moment in America, we had our first Women colored Vice-President Kamala Harris. Irrespective of our political belief it is a moment of celebration for all women and men who has the courage to share equality. Here is my dedication to Kamala Harris: Kamala-bhog, an orange-colored and flavored Rasgulla.
Rasgulla is a delicious Indian Dessert that is now very popular all over India and abroad. This spongy cheese dumplings in sugar syrup is a delicacy that comes from the Eastern part of India. It is almost a synonyms for Bengalees.
More than a dessert …
“Rosh” in Bengali is sugar syrup, and “Golla” means ball, thus “Rosogolla” is “ball dipped in sugar syrup”. In Bengal, you can find a sweet shop at every corner of the street, and every sweet shop must have Rasgulla locally known as Rosogolla. The amazing fact is that all these sweet shops generally have their own signature taste of this very basic sweet. The variations at times are quite subtle. Something like the thickness of the syrup, the size, the sponginess and color of the cheese ball, or the texture, that only a pro can differentiate.
Like tea-coffee and biscuits, Rasgulla is always available in any Bengalis house back in India. The usage is also very similar. We enjoyed them in between meals anytime, as a default dessert, to welcome guests, or often as a gift when we visit friends and family. Rasgulla is most commonly bought from the sweet shops than made at home maybe because of its high volume usage. This sweet is part of our daily life, and that is why I guess it’s almost a synonym to Bengalees. Many of us are also sensitive to the taste of it too. Like I remember my dad will walk three blocks to get Rasgulla from “Narayan Mishtanyo Bhandar” a particular sweet shop as he claims that’s the best in our area and I will drive 30 minutes to get to my favorite. To date, every year when I visit Kolkata, I will drive in the evening to get the warm fresh Rasgulla from “Mithai” every other day.
Rasgulla and Beyond …
Apart from the original Rasgulla, we also get different exotic variations of the same. Like the rose, saffron, and orange-flavored to start with. Sometimes the taste varies by the season as well. For example, we get the Date Palm Jaggery syrup rather than sugar at some shops only in winter. Rasgulla is often as big as the size of a golf ball. A larger sized Rasgulla is known as a “Rajbhog”. Most of the time, the Rajbhog has some filling inside. It can be a Mimosa Sugar Ball or a small ball of Khoa aka Milk Peda or dry fruits. Komolabhog is another popular variation of Rasgulla. It is the orange-flavored and colored Rasgulla where Komola means orange in Bengali. Nowadays there are many more variations available like various fruit flavors, chocolate filling, and more. Here is an interesting article in TimesOfIndia on more than 200 types of Rasgullas. But my all-time favorite is the plain simple original cardamom flavored Rasgulla.
Fast and Easy Instant Pot Rasgulla
This very particular recipe is not only easy and fast but also very repetitive. There are no surprises and always gives you the same taste. I often make them ahead for parties and gatherings as well as a go-to dessert and my personal comfort food.
The first starting step is to make the cheese curd, here is my recipe to prepare cheese curd also called channa. To make Rasgulla you can hang the cheese curd for few fours. After draining the channa, it should be crumbly but not too dry.
Crumbly cheese curd (Channa) after draining. 
Mixing Channa in food-processor (pulse mode) 
Beaten Channa ready to be shaped.
For making soft and spongy Rasgulla the Channa needs to be kneaded well till it is smooth. I use a food processor or chopper for convenience. You can also add a little fine semolina(Rawa) for binding the cheese ball well. If you are using a food processor, pulse the channa and your preferred flavor like cardamom powder, or rose water, or saffron for around 1 min, and the channa will be ready to be shaped.
Smooth cheese ball 
Cheese balls in syrup in Instant Pot (before) 
Rasgulla in syrup (after)
The cheese balls should be smooth without cracks. I make with every 2 cups of Channa around 11-12 cheese balls of size around 2 cm each. You can adjust the sweetness of the syrup as per your taste. Do not forget to add the preferred flavor in the syrup as well. The store-bought canned Rasgullas are dipped in very thick and sweet sugar syrup which is quite different from the local taste. You can adjust the sweetness as per your taste.
Enjoy this easy dessert to your hearts content!
Yields 12
Serves 2 each
10 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
30 minTotal Time
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Ingredients
- 1 Gallon 2% Milk
- 1/2 Cup Lemon Juice and Vinegar
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 2 Cups of Channa (drained cheese curd)
- 1 tsp of Fine Semolina (Rawa/Sooji)
- 1 Cup of Sugar
- 2.5 Cups of Water
- 4-5 Cardamoms
Instructions
- Follow the steps to make the cheese curd Cheese-curd
- 1 gallon of milk should yield around 5 cups of Channa.
- For every 2 cups of Channa add 1tsp of fine semolina and a pinch of cardamom powder
- Put them in the food processor and run them in pulse mode for around 1 minute. You can knead them by hand too till it is smooth.
- While preparing the cheese ball start the instant pot in Sautés mode
- Add 2:5 ratio of sugar and water in the pot. Add few cardamoms.
- Let them warm up to dissolve the sugar.
- Make smooth balls with the cheese. Try to avoid cracks.
- For every 2 cups of Channa, I make around 11/12 small balls of around 2 cm in size.
- Drop these balls in the sugar water, keep enough space for them to expand, almost double in size.
- In 6 quart Instant Pot if you are making 2cm balls around 11/12 ball will be suffient
- Make enough syrup so that the balls are 3/4th dipped in the pot.
- Set the Instant Pot in manual setting on High mode for 12 minutes.
- I let them cool off naturally.
- Dish the Rasgullas with a little juice and start the next set if you have more.
- You can set the Rasgullas in refrigerator overnight to set the juice in.
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