CURRY AND SPICE: BEET ER SYRUP E ROSHOGOLLA

We are tired way too much, the man had to go to his office, I cannot keep my eyes open neither am I in the habit of sleeping at unearthly hours. My eyes are feeling heavy, Cristine says there is under eye puffiness and dark circles too. My readers deserve a "Subha Bijoya" and "Happy Dussehra" greetings from me today, I must share for them what I wished to. Do you know there are sweets piled up in the refrigerator? I do not know what to do with them, the man will be travelling soon, the son loves sweets, Cristine does not, I have to say a no to sweets for few days now. Yesterday night, I had overdosage of metamorphine, is it so my head is literally rolling since this morning or the blood sugar level has reached 500? Cristine scolded, I did not even tell the husband, he will shout at me " daktari korbena nijey nijey!" We do not bother the son with any trivial family matters, so he is unaware of most of the things. This is wrong on our part I think, we should have involved him in every little thing, probably then he would not have been so oblivious of what is going on inside the the four walls of his home.

Of all these 5-6 days of festivity, he accompanied his parents to the festive venue only once, then totally refused. Mumma did furnish him with extra perks to have whatever he loves in the Puja venue, he has spent them at wing stick, sushi platter, those Japanese rice joints, etc. We do not know if he was alone or with friends or with his special someone. We have no idea if he is at all dating any girl or not. What I have learnt is that he is clever unlike his mother, he remains focussed on building his career, its his top priority now. Oh God! please keep the dreamers and poets alive, else I would die of asphyxiation. He may not achieve an excellent result in IB but he will get through what is his prime interest at this moment. At least, I seek everyone's blessings for him. I found my brother very happy yesterday afternoon hearing that his nephew did not go out during Durga Pooja following him. All that selfie duo you see in their FB stream is nice but not a full proof truth. They did not go out for a single day during puja and I am not buying the story that his wife was too happy with him, he has gone after his father who hardly understood his woman's pulse but would have loved this homemade sweet Roshogolla or Rasgulla with a twist BEET ER SYRUP E ROSHOGOLLA cooked by his daughter.

Let us come to this particular sweet Roshogolla.... that is chena / paneer / South Asian cottage cheese balls in sugar / stevia syrup. It is a regular affair at thishome. The more we practice roshogolla making at home, better they get. The husband wants the syrup more sweet, I prefer lightly sweet, the son loves Roshogolla, Cristine enjoys everything desi except our sweets. I had in mind a sweet share today obviously and felt let me get a twist to the regular Bengali Roshogolla or the subcontinent's Rasgulla, anyway I have to keep one ingredient that my loving native islanders would use extensively. So, the use of fresh Beetroot juice instead of the usual sugar syrup served the purpose. If we have embraced cuttle fish balls, they should also try my BEET ER SYRUP E ROSHOGOLLA. Beetroot is an amazing vegetable with a lot of benefits. We do not really love it in all form except for in some recipes. That does not lessen it's health benefits, it's contribution as a natural sweetener is unmatched. I used way lesser amount of stevia powder in this dish than I would have in an usual rasgulla only because of the beetroot juice.

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE HOMEMADE PANEER / CHENA / COTTAGE CHEESE]

FULL CREAM FRESH MILK : A LITRE [GIVES YOU 9-10 STANDARD SIZED]
LEMON JUICE : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
WATER : 2-3TBSP

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE BEET ER SYRUP E ROSHOGOLLA]

THE HOMEMADE PANEER
BEETROOT JUICE : 2MEDIUM TEA CUP
SUGAR OR STEVIA POWDER : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4
WATER : 4-5 COFFEE MUG
CHOPPED PISTACHIOS TO GARNISH

PROCEDURE :

Let us extract the beet root juice first. For that, we would peel and wash a small sized beet root. Chop it. Add them to the blender and to it 1 small tea cup of water. Blend at high to get a smooth paste with a pause. We will strain it to get the juice.

Add the milk to a heavy bottomed vessel, put for boil. Mix together the lemon juice and the few table spoons of water.

Let the milk come to boil. When it has boiled for 2-3 minutes, slowly add the lemon water 1 spoonful at a time.

As soon as the milk gets curdled, we will switch off the gas stove.

We will place a clean piece of white cloth on a clean sieve and drain the whey immediately. Store the whey to use in curries later. Wash under water and tie the cloth to the kitchen tap.

I always feel that the best is to keep it pressed under a heavy something. Anyway, after an hour I have got the below thingi.

Now we will knead it with the middle of our palm. I cannot use cornflour, baking powder, semolina in my roshogolla dough, so what you get is pure chena / cottage cheese in the dough.

I knead the chena dough for 10-12 minutes. I think some more time of kneading may give me more spongy Rasgullas.

Cristine prepares smoother balls, so she is entrusted with this job!

In a clean, deep bottomed vessel take the water, beetroot juice, sugar or stevia powder and the green cardamoms. Put for boil.

When it starts boiling, scums would form. We will discard the scums leaving the green cardamoms.

In the boiling beetroot juice and water mixture, we will add the cottage cheese balls gently.

We would immediately cover it with a lid and let boil at high heat for 12-15 minutes. Thereafter, we would boil them at medium heat for 10-12 minutes.

Please Note : Roshogolla syrup should never be allowed to get sticky, add warm water in the process if only required. Do not open the lid unnecessarily while cooking.