[Watch] From Green Chilli To Pani Puri, This Place Offers Different Varieties Of Rasagollas

Bhubaneswar: Call it ‘rasagola’ or ‘rosogolla’, the heavenly dessert from eastern India has been passed down through generations as soft chhena balls soaked in sugar syrup. But, a shop in Ambika Kalna—a town in West Bengal’s east Burdwan district—has defied the tradition with quirky twists. The 30-year-old shop now sells rasagollas infused with green chillies, coffee, pudina, tulsi, carrot and spices of ‘pani puri.’

You name any ingredient and they mix it with chhena to dish out an unthinkable flavoured rasagolla.

But, the one that’s selling like a hotcake is definitely the spiced-up chilli rasagolla. The hot-sweet rasaoglas tantalizes the taste buds to the hilt! Freshly-prepared green chilli paste not just imparts a refreshing green colour to the ‘chena’ balls but leaves behind the strong and pungent smell.

For customers, the smell of green chillies is a welcome change from the usual sugary ‘stink’! Moreover, the aroma of ‘elaichi’ (cardamom) or date palm jaggery has been overused for ages to kill the ‘stink’, says Arindam Das, the third-generation owner of the shop.

Preparing chilli rasagolla isn’t an easy task. The challenge is to strike the perfect balance between hotness and sweetness. “The proportion of chilli paste and chhena is the secret of the dish. You can’t add too many chillies to the chhena. But, at the same time, the smell of green chillies have to be dominant. Thus, we slit a few green chillies and add it to the syrup which will be used for soaking the sweet,” reveals Arindam.

The flavoured rasagollas from this shop have travelled as far as Ghana, Kuwait and USA. “One tourist from Kuwait, who is a Bengal native, came to India only to taste our chilli rasagolla a month back after videos of our sweets went viral on the internet,” says Arindam. These sweets had also drawn the attention of bureaucrats, politicians, lawmakers and ministers from the state. “Our sweets have been served at the Secretariat (Bengal). Some MLAs visited our shop from distant districts to taste the unique varieties,” he adds.

Watch the video here: