Rasgulla
Encyclopedia
Rasgulla rasagolakam ; rôshogolla; rasgullā) is a very popular cheese based, syrupy sweet dish originally from the Indian state of Orissa
. It is popular throughout India and other parts of South Asia. The dish is made from balls of chhena
(an Indian cottage cheese) and semolina
dough, cooked in sugar
syrup.
The rasgulla originated in Orissa
, where it is also known by its original name, Khira mōhana. It has been a traditional Oriya dish for centuries. People throughout the state consider the rasgullas prepared by the Kar brothers, the descendants of a local confectioner, Bikalananda Kar, in the town of Salepur
, near Cuttack
to be the best. Today this rasgulla famously named Bikali Kar Rasgulla is sold all over Orissa Another variant of this dish that is made in the town of Pahal, located between the cities of Bhubaneswar
and Cuttack, is also very popular locally.
Pahala, where only rasgulla and its derivatives, chhenapoda and chhenagaja are available, is reputed to be the largest market in the world for chhena sweets. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the popularity of rasgulla spread to neighboring West Bengal
. This was during a period when Bengali cuisine borrowed heavily from Oriya culinary traditions. A sweet seller named Haradhan Moira may have introduced the dish to Bengal. In the year 1868, Nobin Chandra Das, a local confectioner of Kolkata, simplified the recipe to make sponge rasgullas. His son, K.C.Das started canning the product leading to wider accessibility.
Eventually the rasgulla gained popularity all across India
and the rest of South Asia. Although traditionally sold inside clay pots called handis in Orissa and sometimes in Bengal, sponge rasgullas in cans have become popular nowadays. Such canned rasgullas are available throughout India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as in South Asian grocery stores in Britain and North America. They are marketed not only by K. C. Das and other confectioners, but also by several other Indian sweet makers from places such as Bikaner and Delhi as well as manufacturers such as Haldiram's
. More recently, it has been marketed by the Kar brothers as well. In Nepal, the rasgulla is popular under the name Rasbari.
, the consort of the Puri temple's main deity, Jagannath
. In fact, it is an age-old custom inside the temple to offer rasgullas to Lakshmi in order to appease her wrath for being ignored, on the last day of the eleven day long Rath Yatra
(chariot festival). Only after the goddess has savored rasgullas, do the trinity of deities re-enter the temple precincts after their sojourn. Copious quantities of rasgullas are distributed to the numerous devotees who throng to witness the event. This intricate ritual, called Niladri Vijay, has traditionally marked the commencement of the festival every year.
The genesis of this temple tradition of offering rasgullas has been obscured with the passage of time. Nonetheless, it has led scholars to believe that the sweet may in fact owe its origin to the very temple itself. Eminent historian, J. Padhi has claimed that "The rasgulla is more than 600 years old. It is as old as the Rath Yatra in Puri". Upon close examination of religious scriptures in Puri, Padhi, as well as another researcher, S. C. Mahapatra have discovered that this practice of offering rasgullas to Lakshmi dates back at least 300 years. "The Rath Yatra, which started more than six centuries ago, has not changed with times. And until today, rasgulla is the only sweet offered to Mahalaxmi
, Jagannath's consort, to appease her when the deities return home," Padhi observes. The antiquity of this sweet is further highlighted by traditional Oriya folklore that likens Jagannath's round eyes to rasgullas. It has been suggested that Bengali visitors to Puri might have carried the recipe for rasgulla back to Bengal in the nineteenth century.
Rasgullas are usually served at room temperature or colder. Modern Indian households also tend to serve them chilled. A popular variant in Orissa and Bengal is freshly prepared hot rasgullas. In Orissa, it is not uncommon to embed a single raisin
or cashew
inside each rasgulla. Cardamom
seeds may also be embedded to create a fragrant version. In northern India, the dish comes flavored in saffron
, rosewater
, and sometimes garnished with chopped pistachio
s.
, raskadam, chamcham
, pantua
, malai chop, and kheersagar
. Rasgulla, along with chhena gaja
and chhena poda, forms the classic Oriya trinity of chhena desserts. In Bengal, rasgulla and a variety of other chhena sweets such as sondesh
, are collectively referred to as Bengali sweets.
Kamalabhog, which mixes orange extract with the chhena, is commonly sold in Bengal
. In the dish kheersagar
, thick, sweetened milk called rabidi is used instead of sugar syrup. While this dish is largely confined to Orissa, a similar dish rasmalai has become very popular throughout India, mainly due to the efforts of the Kolkata
based confectioners K. C. Das, Ganguram and Bhim Nag. In that, the syrup is replaced with sweetened milk of a thinner consistency. Malai chop, a Kolkata invention, consists of prepared chhena that is sandwiched with a layer of sweetened clotted cream. In the Bengali pantua, the chhena balls are deep fried in oil before being soaked in syrup.
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
. It is popular throughout India and other parts of South Asia. The dish is made from balls of chhena
Chhena
Chhena or Oriya: ଛେନା ) or Chhana is fresh, unripened curd cheese widely used in India and Bangladesh. A crumbly and moist form of farmers cheese or paneer, it is used to make desserts such as rasgulla. It is created in a similar process to paneer except it is not pressed for as long...
(an Indian cottage cheese) and semolina
Semolina
Semolina is the coarse, purified wheat middlings of durum wheat used in making pasta, and also used for breakfast cereals and puddings. Semolina is also used to designate coarse middlings from other varieties of wheat, and from other grains such as rice and corn.-Name:The term semolina derives from...
dough, cooked in sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
syrup.
Nutrition
Typically, a 100 gram serving of rasgulla contains 186 calories, out of which about 153 calories are in the form of carbohydrates. It also contains about 1.85 grams of fat and 4 grams of protein.History
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, where it is also known by its original name, Khira mōhana. It has been a traditional Oriya dish for centuries. People throughout the state consider the rasgullas prepared by the Kar brothers, the descendants of a local confectioner, Bikalananda Kar, in the town of Salepur
Salepur
Salepur is a town in the district of Cuttack, and the headquarters of the Salepur block. It is situated near the bank of river Chitrotpala, 25 km from the city of Cuttack and 55 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar....
, near Cuttack
Cuttack
Cuttack is the former capital of the state of Orissa, India. It is the headquarters of Cuttack district and is located about 20 km to the north east of Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa. The name of the city is an anglicised form of Kataka that literally means The Fort, a reference to the...
to be the best. Today this rasgulla famously named Bikali Kar Rasgulla is sold all over Orissa Another variant of this dish that is made in the town of Pahal, located between the cities of Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar is the capital of the Indian state of Orissa, officially Odisha. The city has a long history of over 2000 years starting with Chedi dynasty who had Sisupalgarh near present-day Bhubaneswar as their capital...
and Cuttack, is also very popular locally.
Pahala, where only rasgulla and its derivatives, chhenapoda and chhenagaja are available, is reputed to be the largest market in the world for chhena sweets. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the popularity of rasgulla spread to neighboring West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
. This was during a period when Bengali cuisine borrowed heavily from Oriya culinary traditions. A sweet seller named Haradhan Moira may have introduced the dish to Bengal. In the year 1868, Nobin Chandra Das, a local confectioner of Kolkata, simplified the recipe to make sponge rasgullas. His son, K.C.Das started canning the product leading to wider accessibility.
Eventually the rasgulla gained popularity all across India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and the rest of South Asia. Although traditionally sold inside clay pots called handis in Orissa and sometimes in Bengal, sponge rasgullas in cans have become popular nowadays. Such canned rasgullas are available throughout India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as in South Asian grocery stores in Britain and North America. They are marketed not only by K. C. Das and other confectioners, but also by several other Indian sweet makers from places such as Bikaner and Delhi as well as manufacturers such as Haldiram's
Haldiram's
Haldiram's is one of India's largest sweets and snacks manufacturers, based in Nagpur And now in many City, India.-History:It was founded in 1937 by Shivkisan Agrawal, as retail sweets and namkeens shop in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.-Products:...
. More recently, it has been marketed by the Kar brothers as well. In Nepal, the rasgulla is popular under the name Rasbari.
Puri temple tradition
In the coastal city of Puri in Orissa, the rasgulla has been the traditional offering to the Hindu goddess, LakshmiLakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
, the consort of the Puri temple's main deity, Jagannath
Jagannath
Jagannath is a transcendental non-anthropotheistic Hindu god worshiped primarily by the people of Indian state of Orissa, and, to a great extent, West Bengal...
. In fact, it is an age-old custom inside the temple to offer rasgullas to Lakshmi in order to appease her wrath for being ignored, on the last day of the eleven day long Rath Yatra
Rath Yatra
Ratha Yatra is a huge Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at Puri in the state of Orissa, India during the months of June or July. Most of the city's society is based around the worship of Jagannath with the ancient temple being the fulcrum of the area...
(chariot festival). Only after the goddess has savored rasgullas, do the trinity of deities re-enter the temple precincts after their sojourn. Copious quantities of rasgullas are distributed to the numerous devotees who throng to witness the event. This intricate ritual, called Niladri Vijay, has traditionally marked the commencement of the festival every year.
The genesis of this temple tradition of offering rasgullas has been obscured with the passage of time. Nonetheless, it has led scholars to believe that the sweet may in fact owe its origin to the very temple itself. Eminent historian, J. Padhi has claimed that "The rasgulla is more than 600 years old. It is as old as the Rath Yatra in Puri". Upon close examination of religious scriptures in Puri, Padhi, as well as another researcher, S. C. Mahapatra have discovered that this practice of offering rasgullas to Lakshmi dates back at least 300 years. "The Rath Yatra, which started more than six centuries ago, has not changed with times. And until today, rasgulla is the only sweet offered to Mahalaxmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
, Jagannath's consort, to appease her when the deities return home," Padhi observes. The antiquity of this sweet is further highlighted by traditional Oriya folklore that likens Jagannath's round eyes to rasgullas. It has been suggested that Bengali visitors to Puri might have carried the recipe for rasgulla back to Bengal in the nineteenth century.
Variations
Raisin
Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
or cashew
Cashew
The cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.-Etymology:The...
inside each rasgulla. Cardamom
Cardamom
Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...
seeds may also be embedded to create a fragrant version. In northern India, the dish comes flavored in saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
, rosewater
Rosewater
Rose water or rose syrup is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals. Rose water, itself a by-product of the production of rose oil for use in perfume, is used to flavour food, as a component in some cosmetic and medical preparations, and for religious purposes throughout Europe and...
, and sometimes garnished with chopped pistachio
Pistachio
The pistachio, Pistacia vera in the Anacardiaceae family, is a small tree originally from Persia , which now can also be found in regions of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sicily and possibly Afghanistan , as well as in the United States,...
s.
Derivatives
Rasgulla is the first syrupy Indian cheese desserts. It is the precursor of many other eastern Indian delicacies, such as chhena jhilli, rasmalai, chhena gajaChhena Gaja
Chhena Gaja is a sweet dish from Orissa, India. Unlike some other popular chhena-based Oriya desserts, such as Rasagolla, which have spread throughout India, the Chhena Gaja remains largely popular within the state itself....
, raskadam, chamcham
Cham cham
Cham cham or Chum chum is a traditional Bengali sweet that is popular in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It comes in a variety of colors, mainly light pink, light yellow, and white. It is also coated with coconut flakes as a garnish.-External links:*...
, pantua
Pantua
Pantua is a local confection of eastern India and Bangladesh. It is a traditional Indian sweet made of deep-fried balls of semolina, chhana, milk, ghee and sugar syrup. Pantuas range in colour from pale brown to nearly black depending on how long they are fried...
, malai chop, and kheersagar
Kheersagar
Kheersagar is a popular Oriya sweet dish that literally translates to Oceans of Milk in the Oriya language. The dish is very popular in coastal Orissa.-Preparation:...
. Rasgulla, along with chhena gaja
Chhena Gaja
Chhena Gaja is a sweet dish from Orissa, India. Unlike some other popular chhena-based Oriya desserts, such as Rasagolla, which have spread throughout India, the Chhena Gaja remains largely popular within the state itself....
and chhena poda, forms the classic Oriya trinity of chhena desserts. In Bengal, rasgulla and a variety of other chhena sweets such as sondesh
Sandesh (sweet)
Sandesh is a sweet snack originated and still very popular in Bengal region . It is created with milk and sugar . Some recipes of Sandesh call for the use of chhana or paneer instead of milk...
, are collectively referred to as Bengali sweets.
Kamalabhog, which mixes orange extract with the chhena, is commonly sold in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
. In the dish kheersagar
Kheersagar
Kheersagar is a popular Oriya sweet dish that literally translates to Oceans of Milk in the Oriya language. The dish is very popular in coastal Orissa.-Preparation:...
, thick, sweetened milk called rabidi is used instead of sugar syrup. While this dish is largely confined to Orissa, a similar dish rasmalai has become very popular throughout India, mainly due to the efforts of the Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
based confectioners K. C. Das, Ganguram and Bhim Nag. In that, the syrup is replaced with sweetened milk of a thinner consistency. Malai chop, a Kolkata invention, consists of prepared chhena that is sandwiched with a layer of sweetened clotted cream. In the Bengali pantua, the chhena balls are deep fried in oil before being soaked in syrup.
See also
- List of Indian sweets and desserts
- List of Pakistani sweets and desserts
- Oriya cuisineOriya cuisineOriya cuisine refers to the cooking of the eastern Indian state of Orissa. Foods from this area are rich and varied, while relying heavily on local ingredients. The flavors are usually subtle and delicately spiced, quite unlike the fiery curries typically associated with Indian cuisine. Fish and...
- Chhena JalebiChhena jalebiChhena jalebi is a sweet dish originally from coastal Orissa in eastern India, a state known for desserts made of chhena. Its popularity has spread beyond coastal Orissa.-Preparation:...
- Chhena JhiliChhena jhiliChhena jhili is a popular dessert from Cuisine of Orissa. The birth place is Nimapada in Puri district. It is prepared in fried cheese and sugar syrup.The man who started preparing this sweet was Arat Sahoo from the ShyamSundarpur Village of Nimapara....
- Chhena GajaChhena GajaChhena Gaja is a sweet dish from Orissa, India. Unlike some other popular chhena-based Oriya desserts, such as Rasagolla, which have spread throughout India, the Chhena Gaja remains largely popular within the state itself....
- Chhena KheeriChhena KheeriChhena Kheeri is a sweet dish originally from coastal Orissa in eastern India, a state known for desserts made of chhena. The popularity of this dish is spreading to other parts of Orissa, as well as neighboring states.-Preparation:...
- Chhena Poda
- KheersagarKheersagarKheersagar is a popular Oriya sweet dish that literally translates to Oceans of Milk in the Oriya language. The dish is very popular in coastal Orissa.-Preparation:...
- PantuaPantuaPantua is a local confection of eastern India and Bangladesh. It is a traditional Indian sweet made of deep-fried balls of semolina, chhana, milk, ghee and sugar syrup. Pantuas range in colour from pale brown to nearly black depending on how long they are fried...
- Bengali cuisineBengali cuisineBengali cuisine is a culinary style originating in Bengal, a region in the eastern South Asia which is now divided between the Indian state of West Bengal and the independent country of Bangladesh. Other regions, such as Tripura, and Barak Valley region of Assam also have large native Bengali...
- Sandesh
