Chits Kitchen

Rajbhog is a popular and famous soft and spongy Bengali sweet recipe prepared from Chenna, Saffron, Dry Fruits stuffing and Sugar syrup. It is a juicy sweet that is cooked and soaked in Sugar syrup. Chenna is extracted by curdling milk with Lemon Juice or Vinegar. Rajbhog Sweet is similar to Rasgulla. The process to prepare Rajbhog is similar to Rasgulla with some additional steps such as addition of Saffron or yellow colour and use of dry fruits course powder for stuffing. This stuffing can be prepared with different dry fruits or with Mawa.

Milk is one of the most popular food items which is used to prepare a number of recipes, either by using the milk directly or using its derivatives. One of the most frequent derivatives of milk used is Chenna. Chenna is used to prepare varieties of sweets such as Rasgulla, Rasmalai, Rajbhog, Malai Chop, Cham Cham, etc. Initially whenever I prepared Rajbhog sweet, it never came out good. It was not as spongy as it should be. I then kept changing my way of preparing the recipe with different tips and variations. Finally after lots of trial, it came out good. Now I frequently prepare it and it comes out soft and spongy every time. I will be sharing all the tips and variations to prepare the Rajbhog recipe.

To make Rajbhog, heat the milk till it comes to boil. When the milk starts boiling, switch off the stove and allow it to cool for 4-5 minutes. After the milk cools down a little, add Lemon Juice to it and stir the milk till it curdles. Add lemon juice as per requirement. Some milk requires less lemon juice to curdle while some require more. It depends upon the quality of milk. So keep the lemon juice handy. After the milk completely curdles, green coloured whey is formed separating it from the chenna. Strain the chenna with muslin cloth to separate it from the whey water. Rinse the chenna with cold water to remove the sourness and acidic taste. At last squeeze the muslin cloth to remove the excess water from the chenna. The chenna should neither be too dry nor should have too much moisture.

Take the chenna in a large plate. Add Maida and Yellow or Saffron food colour. Knead the chenna until it becomes soft and smooth. Take small amount of dough and roll it into small ball. Flatten it and then add the stuffing of Dry Fruits at the centre of the ball. Cover the stuffing by closing its edges. Roll it again to make smooth balls without any cracks on the surface. Roll the balls in the same manner for all the dough. Here we are using Dry Fruits Coarse Powder stuffing. You can replace it with Mawa stuffing. Please visit Homemade Mawa or Khoya for preparing khoya at home.

Now prepare Sugar Syrup by adding Sugar and Water into a large flat pan. Boil it till all the sugar dissolves. When the sugar syrup starts boiling, add the Rajbhog balls into the syrup and cook it for about 20 minutes by covering the pan. After 20 minutes the balls will be cooked and the size of the balls will double itself. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool down. Keep the pan covered till the Rajbhog completely cools down. Rajbhog is ready to serve. Serve it chilled by garnishing with Saffron threads and Dry Fruits

To make soft and spongy Rajbhog, below are few tips that you can follow:

1. Quality of Milk: To make soft Rajbhog, use full cream milk instead of toned milk. Cow’s Milk is best for preparing this sweet recipe. If you do not get Cow’s milk, you can still use other type of milk. Buffalo’s milk has more fat, so it makes the syrup little oily. Also it makes the dough little oily while kneading. Due to this reason I mostly prefer Cow’s milk. Also quality of milk decides the amount of lemon juice required to curdle the milk. Some milk requires more lemon juice to curdle while some milk requires less lemon juice. Keep sufficient amount of lemon juice handy with you.
2. Cuddling of Milk: After boiling the milk, switch off the stove. Allow it to cool for 4-5 minutes so that the temperature of the milk comes down to 80 % of its initial temperature. Cooling of milk helps in getting spongy Rajbhog. If you are in hurry, you can also reduce the temperature of the milk by adding cold water to it. Adding of Lemon Juice directly to the boiling milk will make the sweet little hard. So to get soft and spongy Rajbhog, add the lemon juice only after cooling the milk slightly. Also add the Lemon Juice into the milk in batches. The amount of Lemon Juice or Vinegar required for curdling the milk depends upon the quality of milk. Some milk easily curdles with few tablespoon of lemon juice while some milk requires more of it. So keep the lemon juice handy while curdling the milk because you never know how much of it will be required.
3. Moisture Content in Chenna: Chenna should have appropriate amount of moisture. It should neither be less nor should be more. If the moisture content is high, there are chances that it may break while cooking. If the moisture content is low and is dry, the Rajbhog balls will become dense, flat and hard. It will not be spongy as it should be and will be rubbery. If in case the moisture content is high then you use extra all-purpose flour to prepare the dough and if the moisture content is less, then use slight amount of water while preparing the dough.
4. Time taken to knead: The time taken to knead chenna depends upon the pressure at which you are kneading. In normal course 10 minutes of kneading is enough. However you must see that the dough is soft and smooth. Also there must not be any grainy part in the chenna. Do not over knead as it will make the dough greasy. This in turn will make the sugar syrup oily. Oily film will form on the surface of the syrup. Stop kneading as soon as your palm starts becoming oily.
5. Preparing Rajbhog Balls: The size of the balls depends upon your choice. Remember that on cooking the balls, the size will double. So prepare the balls accordingly. You can make the balls of size 1 inch. Increasing and decreasing the size depends upon you. Roll the balls in your palm to make the outer layer smooth so that there are no cracks on the surface. If there are cracks on the surface, there are chances that it may break while cooking.
6. Consistency of Sugar Syrup: To prepare the Sugar Syrup, use flat and wide pan. The consistency of the sugar syrup should not be thick. To make the right consistency of syrup, use Sugar and Water in the ratio of 1:4 that is for every cup of sugar use 4 cups of water. If the sugar syrup is thick, add extra amount of water into the syrup and if it is thin, add extra amount of sugar. To add extra sweetness to the syrup, you can add extra sugar as per your choice. Addition of Cardamom and Rose Water is optional. You can skip both the ingredients or you can use both of them. Also you can use any one of them. It adds extra flavour to sweets. While cooking the Rajbhog balls, there are chances that the syrup may be become thick. In that case add warm water as per requirement. To prepare Rasgulla or Rajbhog, the consistency of the balls should be thin so that it can be easily absorbed by the chenna balls.
7. Cooking Time: The Rajbhog balls should be cooked in a large pan so that it gets enough space around itself to expand. The balls become double the initial size. Cook the Chenna Balls for at least 20 minutes under medium to high flame so that is completely cooked and they are spongy and soft. Cook the balls with the pan covered. After the balls are cooked, allow it to cool down to room temperature with the pan covered. If the pan is uncovered, the Rajbhog balls may shrink.
8. Cooking Temperature: Cook the Rajbhog balls for at least 20 minutes under medium to high flame. The temperature should not be high as it may break the balls while cooking. While cooking there must be formation of bubbles which in turn will cover the surface of the chenna balls and will cook properly. If the syrup is boiling rapidly, lower down the temperature slightly.
9. Resting Time of Cooked Rasgullas: When the Rajbhog balls are properly cooked, switch off the stove. Before switching off the stove, cover the pan with lid. After you switch off the flame, allow Rajbhog to cool down to room temperature with the pan covered. This helps in maintaining the sponginess and softness of Rajbhog. Do not open the lid unless it is completely cooled or else the Rajbhog balls may shrink and become flat and hard.
10. How to get proper colour of Rajbhog: The colour of the chenna should be white. It is because it will give the original color of Saffron food colour or yellow food colour when added to chenna. To give a proper colour to the Rajbhog balls, you can also add colour to the sugar syrup. You can use either saffron food colour or yellow colour or yellow lemon colour. Also use of refined white sugar is recommended. If you are using market bought open sugar, there are chances that the sugar may contain impurities which in turn will change the colour of the syrup to pale yellowish. So I recommend you to use refined white sugar.

Do rate this recipe and leave your valuable feedback in the comment section below after you prepare this recipe at your home. Also share this recipe with your friends and relatives through facebook, twitter, instagram and pinterst.

Try our other sweet recipes such as Besan Ki Barfi, Rasgulla, Malai Chop, Cham Cham, Balushahi, Gulab Jamun, Besan Ke Ladoo, Rajbhog, Boondi and Rasmalai.

You may also like our other sweet recipes:

Halwa Recipes

Kheer Recipes

Cake Recipes

Mithai (Sweets)

Let’s start preparing tasty and delicious Rajbhog Recipe…

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5 from 2 votes

Rajbhog/Rajbhog Recipe/Rajbhog Sweet/Kesar Rasgulla

Rajbhog is a Bengali sweet prepared from Chenna and Sugar. Chenna is prepared by curdling Milk by adding Lemon juice or Vinegar. Chenna is then mashed and then rolled into small balls. The balls are cooked in sugar syrup to prepare Rajbhog.

Course Desserts, Side Dish, Sweets

Cuisine Bengali, Indian

Keyword Kesar Rasgulla, Rajbhog

Preparation Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Passive Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings 10 pieces

Calories

Author Recipe by Chits

Equipments:

• Wide and Flat bottom pan
• Strainer or Channi or Colander
• Muslin Cloth

Ingredients:

For Rajbhog Balls:

• 1 litre Full Cream Milk (or 4 cups)
• 2-3 tablespoon Lemon Juice or Vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Maida or Corn flour or Semolina
• 1/4 teaspoon Saffron Food Colour or Yellow Food Colour
• 4 cups Cold Water

For Stuffing:

• 2-3 tablespoon Crushed Dry Fruits (Cashew, Pistachio, Almonds)
• 1/4 teaspoon Cardamom Powder (Optional)

For Sugar Syrup:

• 1 cup Refined White Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Cardamom Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Rose Water (Optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon Saffron Threads
• 4 cups Water

Instructions:

Preparation of Chenna for Rajbhog:

• Take the Full Cream Milk in a large pot.
• Heat the Milk over medium flame till it comes to boil. As the milk is heating, keep stirring regularly so that no thick layer over the milk is formed. Also milk should not stick at the bottom or else it may burn.
• After the milk boils, switch off the flame and allow it to cool for 4-5 minutes before adding vinegar or lemon juice.
• Initially add 1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice and stir the milk for some time. Then again add the second round of lemon juice. Stir until it curdles. If it doesn’t curdle completely then add more lemon juice.
• Stir the Milk till it completely curdles and chenna is formed with green coloured whey separated from it.
• Take a large bowl and place a colander (channi or strainer) over it. Place a muslin cloth over the colander. Strain the curdled milk with the muslin cloth.
• To remove the sour and acidic taste of lemon or vinegar, add cold water and rinse the chenna. It also helps in stopping the chenna from further cooking.
• Squeeze the muslin cloth tightly to remove the excess water from the chenna. There must not be moisture in the chenna.
• Place a heavy weight over the chenna for some time or hang it for half an hour to remove the moisture. If you want you can skip this step. However, if you are skipping it, then squeeze the chenna slightly more to remove the excess moisture.
• When the moisture in the chenna is completely removed, take it out from the muslin cloth and place it in a large plate. The chenna should not be too much dry nor should have too much moisture.

Kneading of Chenna and Preparation of Stuffing:

• Take the Chenna in a large plate. Add All-Purpose Flour (Maida) and Saffron Food colour or Yellow Food colour to it. You can use Corn Flour or Semolina (Sooji) in place of Maida. You can also use the combination of these ingredients but the quantity should be appropriate.
• Mix all the ingredients and knead them till they are soft and smooth. Knead the chenna for at least 10 minutes.
• Do not mash the chenna too much to make it greasy. When you start feeling that the dough is becoming little oily, stop kneading. Keep the dough aside.
• Now take all the Dry Fruits such as Almonds, Pistachios and Cashews. Crush the dry fruits into slightly coarse powder.
• Add Cardamom Powder to the crushed dry fruits. Adjust the quantity of Cardamom Powder since we will be adding it in sugar syrup also.
• Mix all the ingredients to prepare the stuffing. Keep it aside. Cardamom Powder is optional here. You can skip it if you want.

Preparation of Rajbhog Balls:

• Take small amount of chenna from the dough. Roll it into small ball.
• Flatten the ball and then place small amount of dry fruits stuffing at the centre.
• Pull the sides of the dough and cover the stuffing completely by sealing the edges.
• Roll the ball with your palm till the outer layer is smooth and free from cracks. Keep it in a separate plate.
• In the same manner, prepare the Rajbhog balls for the remaining dough. Keep all the balls aside in a plate.

Preparation of Sugar Syrup:

• Take a large flat pan or kadai. Add 4 cups of water and heat it.
• Add Sugar, Cardamom Powder and Saffron Threads. Boil it till all the sugar gets dissolved.
• Next add Rose Water to the syrup and allow it to boil under medium flame for few more minutes.
• If you are using normal sugar bought from the market, it may contain some impurities. To clean the sugar syrup from the impurities, add 1-2 tablespoon Milk to the sugar syrup and boil for few more minutes. As the sugar syrup is boiling, the impurities will start floating at the surface. Remove the impurities with the help of spoon or you can strain it with muslin cloth. If there are no impurities, move ahead for the next steps.
• As the Sugar Syrup is boiling, we will add the Rajbhog Balls to cook them.

Preparation of Rajbhog:

• As the sugar syrup is boiling, add the Rajbhog Balls one by one into it.
• Cover the pan with lid and allow the balls to cook for around 5 minutes under medium to high flame.
• After 5 minutes, open the lid of the pan and flip the balls. Cover it again and cook for around 15 minutes under medium to high flame with lid covered.
• As the sugar syrup is boiling, you will see that froth bubbles are being formed. The bubbles should keep on forming as it helps in cooking the Rajbhog from all sides.
• While boiling, the sizes of the balls will double its original size. On total, cook the Rajbhog balls for at least 20 minutes with pan covered with lid. After 20 minutes switch off the stove.
• Allow the cooked Rajbhog along with Sugar Syrup to cool down completely. Do not open the lid or touch the Rajbhog balls unless it has cooled down completely or else the Rajbhog will become flat.
• To check whether Rajbhog is completely cooked or not, take the Rajbhog and dip it into a cup of water. If it sinks, it means it is cooked.
• The other method to find whether the Rajbhog are cooked or not is by pressing it. When we slightly press it with our fingers and then release our finger, the balls regain its size. It means it is cooked.
• If the Rajbhog balls are not properly cooked, boil them for few more minutes.
  
• Bengali Rajbhog is ready to be served. Serve it by garnishing with Saffron and Sugar Syrup. Serve it chilled.
  

Notes:

1. Keep stirring the milk continuously while boiling the milk so that thick layer or malai over the milk is not formed.
2. Cow’s Milk is best for preparing soft and spongy Rajbhog sweets. If you do not get Cow’s milk, you can use other type of milk also. Remember to use full cream milk only. Buffalo Milk has too much of fats, so it leaves fat easily while kneading. Also there are chances of fat floating on the surface of the sugar syrup. However you can prepare the sweet with buffalo milk also.
3. The amount of Lemon Juice or Vinegar required for curdling the milk depends upon the quality of milk. Some milk easily curdles with few tablespoon of lemon juice while some milk requires more of it. So keep the lemon juice handy because you never know how much of it will be required to curdle the milk.
4. To prepare soft and spongy Rajbhog, moisture content in chenna is very important factor. The chenna should neither be too dry nor too wet. It should be slightly moist. If the moisture content is more, it may break while cooking. If it is less, Rajbhog will not come out spongy and soft and it will be hard.
5. While preparing the dough, mash the chenna till it is soft and smooth. Do not over mash it or else fat will start coming out and ultimately this fat will make the sugar syrup oily. A layer will be formed in sugar syrup. So, just 10 minutes is enough for kneading and preparing the dough.
6. To prepare the dough, you can replace the All-Purpose Four (Maida) with either Corn Flour or Sooji (Semolina). It is useful in binding the chenna.
7. While preparing the balls, ensure that there are no cracks on the surface of the ball or else it may break while cooking.
8. Use wide and flat bottom pan to cook the Rajbhog balls. It provides enough space for the balls to expand itself. Also use 1 cup of Sugar for every 4 cups of Water to prepare the Sugar Syrup. You can add extra sugar to make the syrup sweeter.
9. Use of Cardamom Powder and Rose Water is optional to make the sugar syrup. You can skip it if you do not prefer its taste. However I would suggest you to use it for extra flavour to the sweet.
10. If you are using normal sugar, there are chances of presence of some impurities in it. It changes the colour of the sugar syrup to pale yellow. So, to remove those impurities add 1-2 tablespoon of milk into the sugar syrup. After some time you will observe that the impurities has started floating on the surface of the syrup. Remove them with the help of spoon. If there are no impurities floating on the surface, go ahead and prepare the Rajbhog Sweet.
11. While cooking Rajbhog, if the sugar syrup becomes thick then add warm water to decrease the thickness. It helps in absorbing the syrup easily. Do it whenever required. Also cook the sweet under medium to high flame. Bubbles must keep on forming while cooking.
12. While cooking the Rajbhog balls, we see that the size of the balls becomes double but shrink back on cooling. The lid should not be opened for long time or else it may shrink. Let the pan be covered before switching off the stove. Also after switching off the stove, keep the pan covered until the sugar syrup completely cools down. It helps in making the Rajbhog spongy.
13. The total time for cooking the Rajbhog balls under medium to high flame should be at least 20 minutes to get soft and spongy Rajbhog.
14. The milk whey left behind can be used to prepare atta dough or in dal and curries. It is very nutritious.
15. If you find it tedious to prepare and stuff the dry fruits stuffing, you can skip this process and prepare Rajbhog without stuffing.