What is Rajbhog ?
It is the Bengali sweet full of flavor. You can call it the richer cousin of Rassogulla /Rasagulla/Rasabhari. This is basically a bigger kesar rasgulla recipe with some dry fruits in between. It is a good way of feeding milk to picky kids on some days. However, you need to guard the sugar intake with kids. Saffron or Kesar is a powerhouse of anti-oxidants & has cancer preventing properties. Thus it is better than feeding kids creamy cake. You can always squeeze a bit for the kids so that sugar syrup is removed. After all, the only way to enjoy sugar all life long is to actually eat less sugar.
Jump to:
You can find rajbhog sweet served in prasadam during festivities in many Krishna temples. This chenna sweet is immensely popular whether it is in Rajasthan or Bengal. Rajbhog mithai is also one of the most canned recipes. Many companies like Haldiram's, Sugarless Bliss, Nanaji, Ghasitaram's, Vijay Dairy, Bikaji, Bhikaram Chandmal sell canned version. Nowadays even candies and cakes with rajbhog flavor are available. You can make this day or two before the party at home. Making it with fresh ingredients is just another feather in your cap. You can also offer it as bhog during Dussehra and Navratri/Navratre as it is gluten free and has no flour added.
Which milk to use for rajbhog ?
The choice of milk is very important to get that texture. This is the same for recipes such as Rasagulla or Rasmalai. Ideally if you can use pure Cow's milk then that is the best milk for the recipe. However if that is not an easy option then we can do a combination of full fat milk and lite milk.
How to make chenna or paneer for rajbhog ?
1. Heat milk in a pot, once it has boiled, turn off the heat. Allow to cool for 5 mins . Add lemon juice/vinegar slowly to the hot milk to make fresh paneer.
2. Drain the excess water from the cheese.
3. Take the cheese out from the cheese cloth.
4. Start kneading/mashing the cheese.
How to make rajbhog?
- Crush the saffron strands in mortar and pestle with 2-3 tsp. of fresh paneer.
2. Add saffron mix to paneer
3. Knead into a smooth dough
4. Take small amount of paneer and stuff chopped pistachios in it.
5. Shape them into round smooth ball. Repeat for all of the paneer.
6. Meanwhile, heat sugar syrup in a pot. Add the cheeseballs, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Do not open the lid more than once in between , just for separating the balls .After you turn off the heat, keep the lid covered for 10-15 minutes at least.
7. Refrigerate for 5-6 hours. Serve chilled. Optionally you may garnish with chopped pistachios before serving.
Read the Kesar bhog sweet recipe below:
Kesar Rajbhog recipe
Ingredients
For chenna/cheese balls:
- 1.5 liter full fat milk
- 1 liter lite milk for better texture, else use 0.5L full fat milk
- 2 tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice
- 12-14 strands of saffron/kesar
For the stuffing:
- 1 tablespoon pistachios sliced
- 1 tablespoon almonds sliced
For sugar syrup
- 500 grams 2 cups sugar
- 1 ½ litre water
Instructions
Steps to prepare paneer/cheese from milk
- 1. Heat milk in a pot, once it has boiled, turn off the heat. Allow to cool for 5 mins .
- Mix 2 tbsp. of lemon juice/vinegar with 2 tbsp. water and slowly add to the milk as it starts to coagulate.Add more lemon juice to the milk until the cheese and the water is clearly separated.
- Strain coagulated milk in a muslin cloth. Drain it in a utensil beneath the sieve. This will separate chenna or cottage cheese.
- Pour a cup of cold water on the cheese to remove any bitterness residue of lemon.
Steps for Rajbhog/cheese balls
- Crush the saffron strands in mortar and pestle with 2-3 tsp. of fresh paneer.
- Mix this with chenna so that you get a beautiful yellow color.Mash once again.This would take close to 30 mins or until you get a smooth dough.
- Keep a aside 2 tablespoon of cheese/chenna ball separate and mix it with pistachios and almonds for the stuffing.
- Divide remaining cheese into small parts so that you can roll it into small 10-12 balls of same size.
- Add small part of stuffing to each chenna ball and roll it into a smooth ball.
For the sugar syrup:
- Add 6 cups of water to sugar and let it boil in a pot.
- Add 2 tablespoon milk to the syrup to remove any impurity of sugar(if impurity exists)
- When the syrup is boiling, add the balls one by one(5-6 at a time) and cook it on high flame(covered) for 10 minutes.
- Do not open the lid more than once in between , just for separating the balls .After you turn off the heat, keep the lid covered for 10-15 minutes atleast.
- Transfer the contents to a serving bowl except the sugar syrup and cook the next batch
- Let it cool further in the refrigerator for a minimum of 5-6 hours.
Notes
You may skip Step 1-4 by using dairy paneer from the market. However texture might differ depending on the quality. Homemade paneer is always better as you know what you are using. Optionally, you may add cardamom powder or elaichi powder in the syrup.
Nutrition
This is very little difference between rasagulla and rajbhog. While rasagulla is just made of the chenna or fresh paneer, rajbhog ingredients contains saffron and little stuffing.Rest all is pretty much the same.Don't get carried away with in the rajbhog vs rasgulla debate,both taste awesome.
While Rajbhog is cooked in clear sugar syrup, rasmalai is cooked in sugar syrup and transferred to a pan with sweetened milk i.e. the ras.
Read our other kesar sweets recipes
Please share your inputs..