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Rasgulla

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Rasgulla
Pahala rasgullas from Odisha (left) and Bengali rasgullas (right)
Alternative namesRasagulla,[1] Rossogolla,[2] Roshogolla,[3] Rasagola,[4] Rasagolla,[5] Rasbhari or Rasbari (Nepali)[6]
CourseDessert
Place of originIndia
Region or state[Hyderabad]
Serving temperatureHot, cold, or room temp
Main ingredientsChhena, Sugar
VariationsBengali Rasgulla

Rasgulla (also Rasagola and Roshogolla) is a syrupy dessert popular in the Indian subcontinent and regions with Indian diaspora, such as Mauritius. It is made from ball shaped dumplings of chhena (an Indian cottage cheese) and semolina dough, cooked in light syrup made of sugar. This is done until the syrup permeates the dumplings.

Rasagulla originated in Odisha as "Khiramohana" (a creamish dessert that is precurser to Rasgulla) in present-day Puri, and later as a whitish spongy variant (called "Roshogolla" or "Bengali Rasgulla") in present-day West Bengal.[7] The historians of Odisha claim that the dish originated in Puri in 12th century, and Nobin Chandra Das of Kolkata later modified this recipe in 1868, to produce a less perishable variant. Das' descendants and some Bengali historians claim that his recipe was an original.

History

Puri temple tradition

According to historians from Odisha, the rasgulla originated in Puri, as Khira Mohana. It has been traditionally offered as bhog to goddess Lakshmi at Jagannath Temple, Puri.[8] According to the local legend, Laxmi gets upset because her husband Lord Jagannath goes on a 9-day sojourn (the ratha yatra) without her consent. So, she locks Jai Vijay Dwar, one of the temple gates and prevents his convoy from re-entering the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. To appease her, Jagannath offers her rasgullas. This ritual, known as Bachanika, is part of the "Niladri Bije" (or "Arrival of the God") observance, which marks the return of the deities to the temple after the Ratha Yatra.[9][10]

The Jagannath Temple scholars and researchers like Jagabandhu Padhi state that the tradition has existed since 12th century, when the present-day temple structure was first built.[7][11] It is possible that the Bengali visitors to Puri might have carried the recipe for rasgulla back to Bengal in the nineteenth century.[12]

This claim is contested by Bengali historians. According to Das' descendant Animikh Roy and historian Haripada Bhowmik, it would have been a blasphemy to offer something made from spoilt milk (chhena) to a deity. They also point out that the dish is not even mentioned as one of the chhappan bhog ("56 offerings") in the early records of the Temple. However, the Temple officials claim that the dish appears as Khira Mohana in their records. Laxmidhar Pujapanda of the Jagannath Temple states that the Niladri Bije tradition is mentioned in Niladri Mahodaya, which is dated to 18th century by Sarat Chandra Mahapatra.[7][13] According to Mahapatra, several temple scriptures, which are over 300 years old, provide the evidence of rasgulla offering ritual in Puri.[14]

According to folklore, Pahala (a village on the outskirts of Odisha's capital Bhubaneshwar) had a large number of cows. The village would produce excess milk, and the villagers would throw it away when it became spoilt. When a priest from the Jagannath Temple saw this, he taught them the art of curdling, including the recipe for rasagulla. Pahala thus went on to become the biggest market for chhena-based sweets in the area.[15]

Nobin Chandra Das

The rubbery variety of Rasgulla was introduced in present-day West Bengal in 1868 by a Kolkata-based confectioner named Nobin Chandra Das. Das started making rasgulla by processing the mixture of chhena and semolina in boiling sugar syrup in contrast to the mixture sans semolina in the original rasgulla in his sweet shop located at Sutanuti (present-day Baghbazar). His descendants claim that his recipe was an original, but according to another theory, he modified the traditional Odisha rasgulla recipe to produce this less perishable variant.[16] According to the Bengali culinary historian Pritha Sen, in the mid-18th century, many Odia cooks were employed in Bengali homes who arguably have introduced Rasgulla along with many other Odia dishes.[17]

Bhagwandas Bagla, a Marwari businessman and a customer of Nobin Chandra Das, popularized the Bengali rasgulla beyond the shop's locality by ordering huge amounts.[18]

Modern popularity

In 1930, the introduction of vacuum packing by Nobin Chandra's son Krishna Chandra Das led to the availability of canned Rasgullas, which made the dessert popular outside Kolkata, and subsequently, outside India.[19] Krishna Chandra's son Sarada Charan Das established the K.C. Das Pvt Ltd company in 1946.[20] Sarada Charan's younger, estranged son Debendra Nath established K.C. Das Grandsons in 1956.

Today, canned rasgullas are available throughout India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as in South Asian grocery stores outside the subcontinent. In Nepal, Rasgulla became popular under the name Rasbari.[6]

The Indian space agency, ISRO is developing dehydrated rasgullas and other dishes for Indian astronauts in its planned manned mission in 2016.[21]

In 2015, the Odisha government initiated a move to get Geographical indication (GI) status for the rasagulla made in Pahala.[7] On 30 July, the people of Odisha celebrated "Rasagola Dibasa" ("Rasgulla Day") to reaffirm Odisha as the place of the dish's origin.[22]

Preparation

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on

To prepare rasgulla, the cheese (chhena) mixture is formed into small balls. These balls are then simmered in a sugar syrup.[23] It can also be prepared using a pressure cooker[24] or an oven.[25]

  • Chhena divided into balls
    Chhena divided into balls
  • Chenna boils being boiled
    Chenna boils being boiled
  • Rasgulla being taken out of the syrup
    Rasgulla being taken out of the syrup
  • Served with dry fruit toppings
    Served with dry fruit toppings

Variations

The traditional Odisha rasgullas are softer and creamish in colour than Bengali rasgullas. The Bengali rasgullas are whitish and rubbery.[26]

The Pahal Rasagola from the Pahala area (located between the cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack) is also popular in India.[27]

  • Bengali Rasgullas
    Bengali Rasgullas
  • Reddish rasgullas from Pahala, Odisha
    Reddish rasgullas from Pahala, Odisha
  • Bikali Kar Rasagola, Odisha
    Bikali Kar Rasagola, Odisha
  • Rasagola from Bhubaneswar, Odisha
    Rasagola from Bhubaneswar, Odisha
  • Baked rasgulla - a Bengali variation
    Baked rasgulla - a Bengali variation
  • Kamalabhog, an orange-flavoured Bengali rasgulla
    Kamalabhog, an orange-flavoured Bengali rasgulla

Derivatives and similar desserts

Along with Chhena Gaja and Chhena Poda, Rasgulla is one of three traditional Oriya chhena desserts. Due to Rasgulla becoming associated with the Bengali cuisine, the Odisha Milk Federation has tried to popularize chhena poda as the signature Oriya dessert.[28][29]

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.[30]

Rasagola Dibasa

On July 30, 2015, on the day of "Niladri Bije", a social media campaign was started by using a hashtag #RasagolaDibasa and it later became a main-stream celebration as the maiden day to celebrate Rasgulla's origin to be Odisha. The hashtag was trending for a few hours all over India as the second most popular twitter hashtag.[4][22][31] Odia newspaper Sambad and FM Radio Radio Choklate in collaboration with the confectioners of Pahala celebrated a rasgulla exhibition-cum-awareness event in Bhubaneswar. Sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik made a sand sculpture in Puri Beach depicting "Niladri Bije" and Jagannath offering rasgulla to Lakshmi.[32]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rasgulla.

References

  1. ^ Sahu, Deepika (2 July 2012). "Discover Odisha's 'sweet' magic". The Times of India.
  2. ^ "History of rossogolla now just a click away". The Times of India. 15 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Of luchi, rolls & roshogolla in Durga puja". Daily Bhaskar. 29 September 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Rasagola originated in Odisha- Did you know?". Zee News. 30 July 2015.
  5. ^ Sonali Pattnaik (18 July 2013). "How to make…Rasagolla". The Hindu.
  6. ^ a b Alan Davidson (21 September 2006). The Oxford Companion to Food. OUP Oxford. p. 1880. ISBN 978-0-19-101825-1.
  7. ^ a b c d Bhattacharya, Mohapatra; Kajari, Debabrata (31 July 2015). "Citing Rath ritual, Odisha lays claim to rasagulla, WB historians don't agree". Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  8. ^ "Trinity take 'adhar pana' on raths". The New Indian Express. 5 July 2009.
  9. ^ Subhashish Mohanty (3 July 2012). "Lord placates wife with sweet delight".
  10. ^ "Sweet and sermon return for deities". The Telegraph. 26 July 2010.
  11. ^ Jagabandhu Padhi (2000). Sri Jagannatha at Puri. S.G.N. Publications.
  12. ^ Krondl, Michael (Summer 2010). "The Sweetshops of Kolkata". Gastronomica Journal. 10 (3): 58–65.
  13. ^ Sarat Chandra Mahapatra (1994). Car Festival of Lord Jagannath, Puri. Sri Jagannath Research Centre.
  14. ^ Mohapatra, Debabrata (29 July 2007). "Researchers Claim Rasgullas Were Born In Puri". The Times of India. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  15. ^ Madhulika Dash (11 September 2014). "The Food Story: How India's favourite sweet dish rosugulla was born". Indian Express.
  16. ^ Sankar Ray (31 July 2011). "Where is the creativity that gave us the Rosogolla?". DNA.
  17. ^ Bishwabijoy, Mitra (6 July 2015). "Who invented the rasgulla?". Times of India. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  18. ^ "How the rasogolla became a global name!". rediff.com. 16 November 2011.
  19. ^ Piyasree Dasgupta (29 October 2011). "Sticky Sweet Success". Indian Express.
  20. ^ Bishwanath Ghosh (29 October 2014). Longing, Belonging: An Outsider At Home In Calcutta. Westland. p. 177. ISBN 978-93-84030-60-5.
  21. ^ Ramaswamy, Ram Kumar (16 June 2012). "Isro astronauts to savour idlis, rasgullas in space". Asian Age.
  22. ^ a b Ramani Ranjan Mohapatra (30 July 2015). "#RasagolaDibasa trends as Odias reclaim iconic dish". Hindustan Times.
  23. ^ Lois Sinaiko Webb (1 January 2000). Multicultural Cookbook of Life-cycle Celebrations. ABC-CLIO. pp. 309–. ISBN 978-1-57356-290-4.
  24. ^ Tarla Dalal (17 November 2003). Desserts Under Ten Minutes. Sanjay & Co. pp. 69–. ISBN 978-81-86469-84-2.
  25. ^ Tarla Dalal (2006). Low Calorie Sweets. Sanjay & Co. pp. 42–. ISBN 978-81-89491-34-5.
  26. ^ "The Sweet Bypass on NH-5". Upper Crust. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  27. ^ Rimli Sengupta (9 January 2012). "Kling Canoes At Tamralipta". Outlook.
  28. ^ Rajaram Satapathy (15 August 2002). "Sweet wars: Chhenapoda Vs rasagolla". The Times of India.
  29. ^ "Chew on This: Chenna poda". Metro Plus Kochi. The Hindu. 11 April 2009.
  30. ^ Nutrition Information For Rasgulla. Livestrong.Com. Retrieved on 6 December 2012.
  31. ^ Jyoti, Dhrubo (30 July 2015). "Revenge is sweet: How Bengalis made rosogolla their own". Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  32. ^ "Odisha celebrates 'Rasagola Dibasa' with great fanfare". 31 July 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
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