Rasgullah (Cream Cheese Balls)
Submitted by brianjwood on November 20, 2002 at 5:24 am

DESCRIPTION
Rasgullah (Cream Cheese Balls)

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under Family / Ethnic / Regional

INSTRUCTIONS
Another Indian dessert, rich and flavourful.
Cheers, Brian

Cream cheese balls - Rasgullah

This is one of the great Mogul sweet dishes and calls for a fairly lengthy preparation. Most of this is taken up with the preparation of the cream cheese or panir as it is known in India. In this recipe I have used cream cheese, which can be easily bought in the West. However, should you want to make it yourself then instead of 225 g 1/2 lb) of cream cheese, gently boil 2 1/2 litres (4 pints) of milk for 40 minutes and curdle it with lemon juice. Strain the curds through a double thickness of muslin and leave overnight to remove all the moisture.

225 g (1/2 lb) cream cheese
50 g (2 oz) semolina powder
25 g (1 oz) almonds
25 g (1 oz) pistachios
350g (12 oz) sugar
1 x 5 cm (2 inch) stick of cinnamon
4 cloves
4 cardamoms
300 ml (1/2 pint) double cream
2 teaspoons kewra* water
Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes plus chilling
Put the cream cheese in a. large chilled bowl, sprinkle in the semolina and knead well to ensure it is well mixed. It is important to keep the bowl fairly cold otherwise the cream cheese will tend to melt. Form the cream cheese and semolina mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball. Chop the almonds and pistachios and add a pinch of nuts to each of the balls, pressing it into the middle and then re-forming into balls.
Heat 900 ml (1 1/2 pints) of water in a heavy saucepan and add the sugar together with the cinnamon, cloves and cardamoms. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 15-20 minutes until the mixture forms a syrup. Lower the balls into the syrup and poach them for 1 hour. Remove from the heat and stir in the double cream and the kewra water. Traditionally rasgullahs are served chilled, although they can be eaten hot. They will keep in a refrigerator for up to a week.
*Kewra Water. This is a form of flower flavoured water, used to add fragrance. It is made from a cactus (don’t know which one) and may be available if you have an Asian store nearby. Rose water is a good substitute.